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.


Sunday 15 April 2012

Brrrrrr

Hirwaun Common - Sunday 15th April

The morning hardly had a cloud in the sky, but that northerly wind coming in from the Brecon Beacons was bitterly cold.

Mark and I arrived at the mark by about 9.30am and we quickly launched and flew for a few minutes before the cold forced us to land and try to warm up again. The lift was patchy but we knew from experience that it wouldn't stay this way.

Roger turned up with his Valenta Capocino, a lovely looking 2.65m model with carbon wing, and by this time the lift was improving all the time, with some pretty big thermals coming through also. This was followed by Chris with his Strega and Mini Vec amongst others, and then Clarke, a visitor from Canada who flew his Mini Vec and Destiny.

By this time the lift was HUGE, as were the thermals and the air was smooth as silk, but I think the cold got the better of us as one by one we began to pack up around 2pm to make a move home.

It's not often I pray for a northerly wind in the summer but, this place could be truly amazing when the summer thermals come through.

Happy flying people
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