On Monday I was asked to give a talk about the local red kites. Nothing unusual about that, I get to do it quite often. But the people I was talking to were the Welland Gliding Club. When flying they look out for thermals to give themselves extra lift. Kites do the same and so they often find themselves in close proximity to each other, giving some marvelously close views. All of which obviously piqued their interest.
Very kindly, one of the members of the club offered to take me up in his glider so I could get the impression of what a kite must feel like. Now, I have to admit that I am not the best flier in the world, so the idea of strapping myself into what is effectively a plane without an engine did make me think twice. But pretty soon I found myself sat in the front seat whilst Mike ran through the safety briefing and explained how the instruments worked. And then it was time to be off. The winch rope was attached and we started to hurtle along over the grass. One brief hop and then we were up, up into the air. After some intial nerves I soon got into it as we rose up to 1000 feet. It was marvelous to see the local countryside spreading out in front of us and looking down it really made you appreciate how good a kite's eyesight must be to spot food from up there. We drifted around whilst Mike pointed out local landmarks, and then all too soon it was time to return to earth again.
It really was a mervellous experience and I can highly recommend it to anyone.
Ready for take off!