Flight

Turned up just in time as people were climbing out. Launched straight after Simon Steel into a thermal and luckily left the crowds straight away. Initial climbs petered out at 2500ft so went back to the hill a couple of times until I found a really good core out front and went with it, eventually reaching 4600ft after bimbling for ages. I saw Hugh Miller pulling big ears about 15k downwind of combe which had me panicking about airspace but after a mad scramble for the map I was happy that the limit was 5500ft so carried on amongst the many gliders all scratching in different thermals. Went on a long glide towards the A34 at whitchurch getting ever lower, eventually getting into a gotty, broken climb south of the town. Circled for what seemed like ages while a Chinnock flew very close but was getting uncomfortably close to a stand of trees in the 0.1 down thermal. Hugh M and Al Wilson climbed steadily back up having arrived a few hundred feet above me a short while earlier. Whilst packing up at least 15 gliders sailed overhead. bugger! pretty slow retrieve involving a short hitch ride in a decorators van, a bus ride and a shared taxi with Simon Steel, and two others.