Flight

Cold crisp springlike day � arrived early, but not much lift to be had. Suddenly, it got soarable easily, and the Sky squad were soon up to 1800 ATO. Came down after half an hour, due to freezing hands (and the end of the cycle). Warmed up, and had a few flights, before landing to wait a cycle. Was explaining thermal cycles to red-ribbon pilot when next thermal arrived, and I was off in it. Dave the Mechanic in it too, but he went forward for some reason, and I was left alone, to thermal up to about 2,300 ATO. Thermal was moving upwind a lot, and I spent a while coring the 1.5 up when there was a 4-up to be had. Adjusted properly, and got to base at around 3,300 feet. Flew in the murk to to a gap in the clouds, where I got a good pasting for my efforts, and eventually a very weak climb in the middle of two clouds. I should have stayed there, slowly drifting, but impatience saw me go for a nearby cloud, that just produced shade and sink. Now on the speed bar to get the glide angle back up to reasonabe figures. I plummeted to the University before getting any lift at all, and what there was was rough and uneven. This drifted across the A27 and the railway, before I gave up on it, and glided in lift along the trees alongside the A27, to a landing in the only un-cropped field I could see in reach. While packing up, I was approached by a local, who introduced himself to me. It turned out that he was interested in PG (had been to Airworks to talk about it), and told me where the bus went from. Walking past his house, he then invited me in for a cup of tea, then decided it was his mission in life to take me to the Dyke, which he did. 'Drop in any time' where his last words.. .That;'s the sort of retrieve I like. After that not much happened, and then it sea-breezed with a vengeance.