The Easterly blew and blew. It’s the only direction that Portmoak doesn’t have some kind of soarable ridge. Dry, fine and sunny conditions continued - lovely weather to be in Scotland in general.
Wednesday had a little thermal activity with HMS scratching for 25 mins in the blue. Thursday looked a bit better, both RASP and Skysight suggesting the thermals that didn’t get shredded by the 20kt+ wind would reach over 3000 ft.
Still cloud on the Firth of Forth at 1pm (Stewart Henshall)
Ron, Dan and Gordon called it day after Wednesday and headed South on Thursday. James in 877 and Stewart in HMS stayed for the week, and it paid off.
Bishop Hill and Portmoak from the South (Stewart Henshall)
Totally blue local conditions meant every climb had to be hunted, and then nurtured. The thermals that didn’t get shredded were small and inconsistent. But they were there, in predictable areas when we returned to them. For the first hour it was a struggle to get above 1500 ft, but gradually it got better. Even then, it was difficult to complete a circle in consistent lift, and the thermals always always wriggled around. The best climbs achieved were up to 3500 ft - by which time we had drifted at least halfway across Loch Leven - and then had to punch upwind again.
Ben Lomond and snow on the Cairngorms (Stewart Henshall)
HMS roamed a little, making it 10km upwind to the Freuchie turnpoint once, and wandering around the East facing shallow slopes on the Lomond Hills. Certainly not a cross-country day, but enjoyable soaring over beautiful Scottish scenery.
James Smart in 877 in pursuit (Stewart Henshall)
As the afternoon wore on the climbs got weaker and 877 succumbed to gravity after 4h 37m, HMS had a better last climb then, called it a day after 5h 10m. We had at least achieved something on our trip!
HMS' Scottish adventures (Stewart Henshall)
Next time some wave please Portmoak! - Stewart Henshall
