Scale Soaring UK

A break in the heavy rain clouds this afternoon revealed a cumulus-streaked blue sky above the cliff, and a forest of vibrant Autumn colours below it.

There was a fresh Westerly straight on the cliff.

Clearly, model gliding needed to occur... and there being nobody else around these parts, I decided it would have to be me.

It's amazing how quickly you can throw together your gear when the chance of an impromptu fly presents itself. My batteries were charged up, so I just threw the Ka6 over my shoulder (not literally) and set off up the hill.

The view from the top was so pretty I could well have joined the group of photographers clustered at the top of the cliff trying to capture the scene, but there was flying to be done.

Transmitter in one hand, I offered the Ka6 to the breeze, and she leapt out my hand like a dog with a scent.

For 10 minutes or so I just revelled in the simple beauty of soaring flight. The Ka6 rose higher, buoyed up by a wave of rising air that had raced 40 miles from the Pennines but now found itself funnelled upwards by the abrupt escarpment of the North Yorkshire Moors. I barely touched the sticks, just drank in the views and felt privileged that my little model plane was part of it, glinting in the sunlight.

A DG500 from the Yorkshire Gliding Club came over to make friends, circled around my model, then ran off back down the ridge, curiosity sated.

Before I knew it, 90 minutes had slipped by and the sun was sinking sleepily towards the distant dales. The track back down the hill would be slippy from last night's downpour, and dusk turns to darkness quickly at this time of year. I turned downwind for a landing....

With more height than I knew what to do with, I flew a long, long way downwind, way behind the hill. Although I love this site, I've learned that it can generate a savage rotor off the edge of the sharp cliff, which can flip even a weighty scale model on its back with indecent haste during those vulnerable last few seconds of a landing approach.

I walked back a hundred yards, then picking a point on the grass a few yards in front of me, I guided the model in a long shallow dive towards me, juggling elevator and brakes to level it off around 3ft height, allowing it to settle on its wheel and trundle the last few yards.

I can't think of a more restful and therapeutic way to spend an Autumn afternoon atop a hill.