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Welcome to the Cumbria Soaring Club Website
The Home of Paragliding and |
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| November's Picture | 5 Oct 2008 - Action on Wolf Crags. A dreadful Saturday was followed by a brilliant Sunday so the PG/HG community decamped to Wolf Crags. Doddick Fell on Blencathra in the background which is 4 miles away! Photo by Heather Stevenson. |
| Got a good picture of flying in Cumbria? Get it to the webmaster and the best of the month goes here! | |
| Please read the site alerts page before flying |
STOP PRESS
The Cumbria Soaring Club needs your help! Please see the articles page.
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November is Membership Renewals time for most of us! For those of you not using Standing Order, you should soon be receiving a renewal notice in the post. If you don't and you're not on Standing Order renewal, please let me know, gan.gan@virgin.net so I can print out and send you the form. Thanks, Paul Gannon, Membership Secretary.
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Next Social Meeting at The George Hotel (Conference Room), PENRITH.
Thursday 27th November 7:30pm
Guest speakers will present:
Richard Jennings - Adventures in The Himalayas.
Chris Field - Rainbow Beach.
Dave Horne - A Spanish Inquisition.
Kitt Rudd - An Afternoon's Skive.
Pete Askew - Flying with Turkeys.
Mike Cavanagh – Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?
Lance Greenhalgh - Fear Ferrata in your Dolemites.
A bar is available within the Conference room (on the first floor) - lots of opportunity to have a beer and a chat with your mates.
To recoup just a fraction of the massive appearance fees demanded by our guest stars :) it is suggested non CSC members donate £2.
Location with loads of free parking nearby. www.lakedistricthotels.net/georgehotel/directions.htm
If you’re not there – We’ll talk about you!
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We are lucky to do our flying in one of the most beautiful areas of the U.K. and it is thanks to the goodwill of the farmers and other landowners, who allow us access to the hills and fells, that the CSC sites are open to all visiting pilots. The Club does not, at present, operate a 'Members Only' policy on any of its sites.
In order to maintain this situation, it is vital for all pilots to stick to the Site Rules. Please use our online Sites Guide for up to date information relating to access to Cumbria Soaring Club sites.
The Cumbria Soaring Club holds an annual event called the 'Lakes Charity Classic'. The aim of this gathering of pilots is to raise money for local charities and, in past years, we have donated substantial sums to; The Calvert Trust and 'Flyability; Mountain Rescue Teams based in and around the Lake District area; local village halls and other benevolent charities.
Although you don't have to be a member of the CSC to fly in our area, we welcome members from all parts of UK and abroad and we would appreciate your support. So join our Club and support flying in the area. The Club's annual fees are very low and the flying is fantastic. If you wish to join the Cumbria Soaring Club then please get in touch with the Club Contact or complete the Membership Application Form.
It's a common misconception that the Lake District is "open" land and is owned by the National Park - it isn't! The Lakes is an area of mainly mountains and rough fell with the limited amount of flat valley space at a premium. The main crop is sheep, in particular the Herdwick sheep. This is the bottom end of the farming community. It's hard work and you don't find many rich farmers here. The Lake District Planning Board keeps a tight rein on development so that they can't just replace a wall with a barbed wire fence.
By and large the farmers are great folk. They're a bit wary of strangers but if you take the time to talk to them, you'll have a great time. Don't forget that their dominant crop is the annual lambing which just happens to coincide with the start of our main flying season. Lambing comes late to the Lakes with the high fell flocks lambing in April and May. Their second crop is the grass in the valley fields. So if a field looks long and lush then it's usually about to be cut. Don't land in it as that's the animal food supply for the winter.
So
- All land in the Lakes is owned by someone
- Folk generally don't get too concerned about land above the intake wall, the highest wall on the fellside
- Valley land is valuable. Treat it with care and stick to the footpaths
- The walls have taken centuries to evolve. They take a lot of work to rebuild. Don't climb over them.
- Lambing time is the main time in the year when the farmer makes his money - don't fly if a site is closed
- There are some rare birds nesting in the Lakes - keep away from nesting sites
A couple more things to remember when flying here. First, most of the ground away from the valleys is rough. There aren't many sweeping carpets of grass. Be very careful in picking your landing site as a meeting with a rock doesn't help the complexion. Second, mobile phone coverage in the Lakes is poor. The planning board doesn't like the masts so there aren't many of them. Also, the fells tend to get in the way of a good signal. In most valleys away from the honeypots, you will not get a signal. You're unlikely to get a signal until above 1,000/1,500 ft and then only when you can see somewhere populated. If you intend to fly the high fells, make sure someone knows where you're going.
Last point on footpaths. If you use a OS 1:25,000 map then the green footpath lines can be a figment of the map draughtsman's imagination. Sometimes, they don't exist on the ground. The green track up Blencathra across Blease Fell is an example. Look for the black pecked lines that are barely visible - this is where the real track will be.
SITE ACCESS INFORMATION FOR PILOTS
USE OF CSC SITES
IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND OUT, AND THEN TO ABIDE BY, THE RULES AND RESTRICTIONS THAT APPLY TO A SITE - BEFORE YOU FLY!! . A FEW CSC SITES ARE SUBJECT TO MINOR RESTRICTIONS ON USE. BECAUSE THE SITUATION IS CHANGING ALL THE TIME WE PLEASE ASK THAT YOU CONTACT THE FARMER AND/OR THE SITES OFFICER PRIOR TO FLYING ANY SITE.
Information on Cumbria Soaring Club sites
The Cumbria Soaring Club Sites Guide is available on-line through the Sites Guide menu button on all pages
CSC Sites Information Service Tel: 015395 61969
Cumbria Soaring Club Sites Officers contact details:
Northern Sites Officer: Gordy Oliver 07830 281986
Southern Sites Officer: Andy Plimmer 07974 641924
If in any doubt about the status of a CSC site, please contact the Sites Officer before you fly. If you find any problems with a CSC site then please notify the Club Contact (e-mail or 01768 780297) OR leave a message on the CSC Sites Information Service number (01539561969)
NOTAM FREEPHONE NUMBER: 0800 515544
RED ARROWS AND ROYAL FLIGHTS: 0500 354802
SITE WARNINGS
Only sites with active warnings are shown below. See the sites guide for details of all sites
RED - Site closed. Do not fly!
AMBER - Warning in place. Site can be flown but abide by warning
GREEN - site instructions revised recently
WINDER
The CSC requests that no pilots fly on this hill. We DO NOT have any permission to fly on this hill and, by ignoring this request, you will seriously put at risk our access to more important and valuable CSC sites both in the North and South Lakes areas.
Click on the Icon for the Link
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WeatherJack |
| Regional Atmospheric Soaring Prediction Weather forecasting for free fliers, including information on all the key parameters that keep us in the air. Quite complex but very thorough. The RASPTable is the simplest interface |
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| XC Weather 3 hour wind history and 5 day forcast on a clickable map. Also available for France, Germany, Italy and Spain |
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| BBC Good basic stuff from the Beeb. Watch the latest forecast on the mini viewer or follow the links for Keswick, Ambleside or Kendal. Click here for the BBC Cumbria page |
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| 5 Day Synoptic Charts 5 days worth of synoptic charts on one page - from a Dutch site using UK Met Office data. Alternatively use this site to click through 5 days |
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| UK Met Office The link is for the North West England area. Follow links on the page for weather in other areas. Lake District page here |
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| Sandside Weather Nifty little site giving real time weather data from Sandside near Arnside (Kent Estuary) - SE Lakes |
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| Lorton Weather A similar site for Lorton in the NW Lakes |
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| Keswick Area Weather Realtime weather data from a group of schools in the Keswick area |
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| Lake District National Park 'Weatherline' 5 day forecast for the Lake District with links to the BBC 5 day forecast for Keswick and Windermere. In the winter, the CSC Treasurer trudges to the top of Helvellyn several times a week to bring you the Fell Top conditions |
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| Mountain Weather Information Service If you've seen the daily synopsis posted in various places in the Lake District, this is where you get it from. It appears to be a Scottish site but it also covers the Lake Distict, the Peak District and Snowdonia. The forecast is a pdf form |
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| Skylink Lots of weather information for the UK including real time data |
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| Weather Underground International weather information site |
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| WeatherOnline Weather site with many forecast charts including wind arrows for the United Kingdom |
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| BHPA Weather Links A link to the BHPA weather links page |
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| Roger Brugge's Weather A page on the Reading University site with a comprehensive list of weather sites |
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| Cloud Appreciation Society A web site and society dedicated to clouds. Lots of superb photos. The section on the Morning Glory cloud in Australia is especially recommended. |

