Mayobridge (Carmeen)

With a WNW forecast and CPN student Gerry Johnston available, I decided on a trip to Mayobridge where I haven't graced its slopes in a long time.

Arriving in bright sunshine with cumulous clouds drifting overhead it looked promising. Gerry arrived and we made our way to takeoff where we found a brisk 14mph increasing at times to 18mph and slightly off to the North.

I took off to check out conditions and found reasonable lift which at that stage was best at the eastern end of the ridge. Occasional light thermals were drifting on to the hill but the sky was becoming fairly well overdeveloped. I top landed and spent a while with Gerry discussing the site as he had not flown there before. We were soon joined by Tony Davis and then by Geoff Dawson.

We watched as Tony and Geoff took off  and got good height at times then scratching along the hill. Geoff managed to squeeze in on top but Tony had a walk up from a field at the bottom close to the hill. They soon got airborne again and Gerry took off on a familiarisation flight and joined them. Being unused to the site and with two others in the air it was understandable that he gradually lost the lift and landed in a field close to the hill.

Whilst Gerry was packing and getting himself back up the hill I took off for another flight. Geoff and I floated about in varying lift that extended well out from the hill but was a bit choppy at times. I came in for a top landing that took a long time as the wind had picked up. At times I was going slowly backwards; at times I was almost on the ground then twenty feet in the air - but eventually I landed safely on the spot from which I had staarted my takeoff run. Tony had left by this stage and Geoff managed to get down near me. We decided that it was too strong for Gerry to carry out any useful CPN exercises and gale hanging did not appeal to Geoff and me, so we packed up.

A lone figure who had been standing by the stone wall at the top watching our landing antics came over for a chat. Turned out his name is Matt; he's an Irish News photographer who lives in Castlewellan and spotted us as he was driving past on the main road. He said that this was the first time he had ever been up on that hill and was gobsmacked by the view!