The advance party in the shape of John Allan with KP arrived at Lleweni Parc on Wed 1st April and flew the following day for the best part of 4 hours making use of a convergence running from Ruthin up to the wind turbine farm. Shaun Dayman and Nick Harrison with JDD (now 202) joined the party travelling up on the Saturday. No wave to start with on Sunday, however the westerly wind was sufficient for the ridge to be working with thermal streets forming to the front of the ridge. 202 flew for a couple of hours and then an hour and a half whilst John in KP having flown for 5 hours found some wave to the west of Denbigh late afternoon and climbed to 12,400ft over the Conwy Valley, landing a further two and a half hours later!
Monday was a scrappy thermal day with KP and 202 scratching low down and locally for an hour each before landing in the challenging crosswind conditions … some more successfully than others! Late afternoon the Eagle (BBB) and DD3 possee arrived in convoy with Bumblebee also in tow and in time for a group dinner at The Dinorben Arms – generally nice main courses all around, shame about the puddings!
Tuesday was the best day with the SSE wind generating wave over the The Dee Valley. Chris Gill lead the way in LEW with a 4,000ft aerotow down to Corwen. KP, 202, DD3 and BBB followed.
The Eagle crewed by John Pursey and Alan Rappaport guided initially in the blue conditions by Chris turned Barmouth Station on the Welsh coast as did Phil Morrison and JB in DD3. John Allan not to be outdone by anyone and enjoying the views over Cader Idris and Lake Bala flew Corwen NE to Barmouth Station sufficiently repeatedly to rack up a 300km task before returning to Denbigh.
There were some late thermals over the windmills on Wednesday which kept KP aloft for an hour. Meanwhile Chris Gill flew with John Pursey in BBB in hopeful anticipation of him possibly flying the Eagle at CE26.
Thursday brought mixed conditions made the most of courtesy of Chris Gills expert local meteorological knowledge. KP, 202 and BBB managed an hour or so each in some weak wave and ridge lift first thing. We then all took to the sky again towards the end of the day following the passing of a cold front making use of some late afternoon ridge lift. The fast approaching wall of rain and hail from the west though forced everyone down an hour later onto runway 27 in close succession. For those who are not familiar with Denbigh the runway is only about 5m wide and you need to roll to the very end of it having landed. You are not meant to come to a stop halfway down the runway or land or deviate onto the grass either side. No pressure!
Thanks to John Pursey as always for his culinary commitment and expertise. His offerings never disappoint!
The Eagle, DD3 and Bumblebee possee will continue northwards although as yet to an undecided destination … so watch this space! – Shaun Dayman, John Pursey, John Allan
