rkn704

I am looking for slope soaring sites within easy reach of Chippenham ideally with South or South West facing slopes.

Knapp Hill and Walkers Hill at Alton Barnes have both just received 'No Flying' notices from English Nature. Last year Olivers Hill at Devizes got a notice from the land owner to the same effect.

Cherhill White Horse does provide North to North West flying but wind from this direction seems to usually come with plenty of rain. I'm not keen to fly at Westbury White Horse but will probably have to in future.

Due to work and family commitments my available flying time is fairly restricted, a site I can get to in the evenings after work would be ideal. I'm a beginner and in need of plenty of practice.

Help Please

Thanks

Rich

psydeviant

hello , i also live in wiltshire and are in the same position, my main flying site is at the white horse , flyable from WSW moving round north to NE, on a ENE wind we fly around the back or bratton side of the horse,(its not great there ) we also can fly at cley hill on SE/NE winds but yet again its not fantastic and not much good unless its foam wings or other EPP models due to it being a little bumpy on landing, we have been flying at roundway altho theres a no doing anything sign on the gate, flying /paragliding/talkin /breathing your not allowed to do anything there, but hey we have nowhere to go so tuff, we've flown there on a few occasions and the farmer said nothing even though he saw us walking to the slope wiv all our kit, there is white sheet hill near maiden bradley but as your near chippingham that might be a bit far for you, they also like you to join there club if you fly there(so i hear), if you already have BMFA insurance then its more money to cough up to fly(im not a member at white sheet but i hear they can be a bit funny about new faces up there, why im not sure, i personaly have never flown there but looks like i will in the future because it seems that all the slopes seem to be getting ban notices, i predict the white horse will be a noflying zone soon as its quite a public place and there is always lots of people walkin about , ive seen some near misses on my days out, it only takes a old granny to moan about it and hey presto banned, let us know if you find anywhere what ever the direction and i will do the same , cheers jim

DrRat

I am still jealous in spite of the closures - I used to live very near you (Calne) and go flying quite often - now I've moved to Germany and all the hills are covered with trees!

Sorry to hear Oliver's Castle and Knapp are closed - they were good places to fly (Oliver's is where I lost my slope-soaring virginity : )., and generally favourite (after Cherhill) places of mine to go.

I flew a couple of times a little way east of Knapp hill at Martinsell hill (a bowl) for Easterlies (rare) - looks excellent on a map but it does have a few trees at the bottom. First flight of my phase 6 there. Also there's hardly any space at the top for landing (unless you don't mind hopping over into a field), but that just makes it more fun.

Also I flew on the southerly slope west of Knapp Hill (at Milk Hill) - was pretty good I think. However, maybe the restrictions extend to these places too.

I went down to Whitesheet a couple of times and flew as a visitor with no trouble.

You can also fly at home with my
[link=http://www.rowlhouse.co.uk/sss/]slope sim[/link] - I set up terrains for Cherhill and Oliver's castle too a while back so I can dig them out if you want!