We are off! Update after day1 in the air.

We had a very good first day of flying.  We managed to cover about 300km which included the first significant sea crossing from Northern Ireland to Scotland.

The first leg was flown with Fergus Taylor, who joined me for this crossing, to see me on the way.  John Drew followed on the ferry from NI across and was about 4hrs behind me for the start of the day.

The crossing was flown in perfect conditions, which not only made the flying a pleasure, but also made the boat crossing perfect.  Philip and Stephan Scallan, were accompanied by Sinead Creagh and David Burns. Huge thanks to Philip for bringing the boat up by road from Wexford. She was able to keep up with us flying about 50-55kph all the way.

Thanks to Fergus for the lovely crossing photos.

The first landing in Scotland was alongside a petrol station in Creetown, where I re-fueled and had a cup of tea, before heading on my way.  The next flight took me from Scotland to a spot in Northern England, above the Lake District.  I stayed here waiting for John and the campervan to catch up, and where we had a lunch stop, before we heading on across the Pennines for the next leg.

This flight was interesting!  Low cloud and increasing winds through the mountain pass kept me alert, as we moved East and away from the last significant mountains ahead all the way down the East Coast.

I took off in 20+ degrees but by the time I got up the Pennines, it was Cold!! After another hour in the air I was very cold and eventually had to land as soon as I found a flag giving me some ground wind information.  At one point in the pass, the ground speed was up to 75-80kph, which was expected as the wind funnelled though the gap.  It would have been better to have been higher at this point, but cloud base was less than 1000' above the road at the mountain top.  Wind moderated and settled some 10k down the road.

How Ironic that the first two people I met in Scotland were mowing the grass on the adjoining football pitch!

I was able to drop my dry suit here along with the two floatation devices and marine VHF, smoke cannisters etc.

​Next flight was lying light and free again.

Unfortunately after a good start we are stuck in Bernard Castle now waiting for the rain to stop!