Cumbria Soaring Club

Welcome to the Cumbria Soaring Club Website   The Home of Paragliding and Hang-Gliding in Cumbria!
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

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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

Site	Link	Alert Details
Barkin Fell		Take off at the very top of the hill. Alternatively, you can use the field to the left of the walk up path - there's a small group of trees in this field not far from the fell wall. NO SCRATCHING near to sheep and lambs - stay well away from all livestock.
Barton Fell		Please ensure you stay well away from the trekking ponies. DO NOT fly north of Aik Beck until after 5.00pm.
Bewaldeth		Site reopened. Keep away from the sheep and no dogs. New rules for usage. Access by car: Please park on the hard (muddy) standing by the motor cross track. If this is full then please DO NOT park on any grass as it will cause much wear of the ground. If there is no space then park near the Lakes camp site, by the main road and walk up the track. Footpath: A new footpath has been marked with Bamboo canes. This is situated between the two original access paths and traverses around the south of the gorse bushes. Please only us this path to access the hill side, as the old worn footpaths have been the main stumbling block to reopening the site. Numbers: A voluntary limit of 20 gliders max is to be established to try and stop over crowding of the site on busy days. Note that as it is an essential training site for low air time pilots, they and local schools will have priority over this. If difficulties are incurred in the future we may have to close the site at short notice. Please do not take off or land from Binsey's slopes; there's no problem if you fly over but don't scratch.
Blease Fell		Please do not land below the fell wall unless you can land at Threlkeld football field. Only land there when it's not being used for a game.
Burnbank		Parking fee of £1 to be paid per person (not per car) to farmer and permission to fly granted before going onto the site.
Buttermere Moss		Please ensure the farmer at Wilkinsyke Farm is notified PRIOR to flying the site. He needs to be able to shut his dog away for safe keeping whilst we fly. Make sure you call in - if he's not there then leave a note!
Lowca		Try not to fly over the field to the south east of take off (shown on map with the 70 metre contour). Horses are kept in this field. If the horses seem agitated then try to keep away.
Swinside		DO NOT (under any circumstances) land in the fields below the wall
Walla Crags		SAFETY: This site lies in the path of the busiest military low flying corridor in the country. THIS SITE MUST BE NOTAM'd prior to ANY MID WEEK FLYING.(Tel: 0800 51 55 44 - SITE CODE 17.078 GRID REF: NY 277 214). WALLA CRAG IS NOW A NOTAM ONLY SITE (for ALL mid week flying). Any pilot who is known to have flown on Walla Crag 'mid-week' and has failed to carry out the correct NOTAM procedure WILL BE NAMED AND SHAMED. Continued abuse of the SITE RULES governing flying at Walla Crag WILL RESULT IN THE SITE BEING CLOSED and measures put in place to prevent future flying at the site.
Whinfell		HG site only- (NO PGs at any time)

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

	WeatherJack The font of all meteorological knowledge for free fliers! Lots of links and tutorials. The daily rating is now finished but still a good place to start
	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
	XC Weather 3 hour wind history and 5 day forcast on a clickable map. Also available for France, Germany, Italy and Spain
	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
	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
	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
	Sandside Weather Nifty little site giving real time weather data from Sandside near Arnside (Kent Estuary) - SE Lakes
	Lorton Weather A similar site for Lorton in the NW Lakes
	Keswick Area Weather Realtime weather data from a group of schools in the Keswick area
	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
	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
	Skylink Lots of weather information for the UK including real time data
	Weather Underground International weather information site
	WeatherOnline Weather site with many forecast charts including wind arrows for the United Kingdom
	BHPA Weather Links A link to the BHPA weather links page
	Roger Brugge's Weather A page on the Reading University site with a comprehensive list of weather sites
	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.