About A470 Soaring


This is the blog for a few guys who spend their time flying radio controlled gliders, or slope soarer's, from the many and varied slopes around SE Wales.

This usually begins at the northern end of Cardiff, driving north up the A470 up to the Heads of the Valley's and the southern fringe of the Brecon Beacons. But the A470 road continues its windy way all the way to N Wales.

There are many slopes available for most wind directions, the most famous being the area between Nant-y-Moel and Treorchi known as The Bwlch, which has some of the best slopes and flying in Europe with many F3F competitions being held there each year and visited by many fliers from Europe and around the world. At 1500 feet (450m) above sea level, there is usually more wind than not, and certainly more than at sea level.

If you require any further information, are new to slope soaring or are visiting the area, please contact Steve at steve.houghton59@gmail.com . I look forward to hearing from you.

Take a look at Page 2 (look below and to the left here) for Google maps of our most popular Flying Sites.


Thursday, 9 June 2016

Rhossili Flying Trip

Hi guys

Those of you who know me, know that I like to spread my wings and fly in other areas around the country, variety being the spice of life as they say. And although I still think that the Bwlch and other slopes around SE Wales are the best in Britain that I have flown from, it is still good to try the slopes that others rave about so that I can form my own opinion and extend my knowledge.

There are three premiere coastal sites to fly from in England and Wales. The Orme at Llandudno in N Wales, (which the modelling press rave about as being "the best in GB"), St Agnes Head in Cornwall, which I love flying and personally I think is better than the Orme, and Rhossili in SW Wales.

Rhossili is the closest to me, being about a 1 ½ hour drive away, and ironically is the only one I haven't flown, and I need to put that right. So after this weekends PSS meet at the Orme is over, (and btw the weather for this is looking total pants), I am going to keep an eye on the weekend weather forecasts in the coming weeks, and once a favourable westerly is forecast for a Sunday, I'm going to make the trip and have a full day there.

It will be a short notice trip but if anyone fancies coming along with me, I'd be most welcome of your company. I will keep you all posted here or on the Slope Soaring in Wales Facebook group page.


We used to have a great fella called Roger who used to fly with us at the Bwlch. Sadly Roger is no longer with us, but Rhossili was his favourite place to fly, and living in Swansea it was very local to him also.

Roger used to love making videos of his flying adventures, so here are a couple of his videos flying on the big hill at Rhossili.


48" foamie Acrowot,slope soaring in 25mph from Cliff Hanger on Vimeo.

Phoenix 2m slope soarer in good lift from Cliff Hanger on Vimeo.
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