SE - ESE |
Souther Fell |
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| Status : | Amber | ||
| Status Message : | During the Covid19 period: - Ensure you follow any current BHPA/Government guidelines (including refraining from flying if requested). - Please be sensitive to local concerns: park with consideration, respect requests of locals and avoid confrontation. - Fly with greater safety margins than normal. - If you do get involved in any dispute please inform the Site Officer as soon as possible This site is sensitive and subject to these rules: 1. Max 10 in the air at any time - the new farmer will be checking this and the site will have to close if the numbers limit is exceeded 2. Mandatory use of radio on CSC frequency 143.700. This will enable communication between pilots flying and those on the ground waiting - please share airtime around. 3. Its OK to use bottom landing field. It might have some sheep/lambs. Farmer has requested that we please don't all land at once 4. There are sometimes cows in the fields next to the landing field -If so, please avoid overflying as you set up your landing approach. |
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| IMPORTANT - Restrictions on use | This site is EXTREMELY SENSITIVE! USE FIELD L2 ONLY OR OTHER OPTION IS TO SIDE OR TOP LAND ON THE FELL LOW BECKSIDE FARM WILL, where possible, provide an alternative field to L2 if it has stock in it. - L2 and other bottom landings unavailable at present due to stock still being in fields IT IS NO LONGER NECESSARY TO OBTAIN THE CSC WINDSOCK FROM LOW BECKSIDE FARM BEFORE FLYING Only call here if there is stock in the landing field (see landing notes for details) It is imperative that visiting pilots DO NOT FLY this site without first contacting the North Sites Officer. It has taken a lot of work to get this site back - it was very nearly lost for good. Please restrict numbers (10 at any one time as an ABSOLUTE maximum). Teaching groups please always give priority to qualified pilots due to numbers restriction. DO NOT LAND in any areas heading towards Carrock Fell - THIS WILL POTENTIALLY LOSE US THIS SITE, AN EXCLUSION ZONE EXISTS AROUND UNDERCRAG FARM DO NOT FLY IN THIS AREA (500M RADIUS AND 1000FT @ NY 363308). Contact North Sites Officer for more information (07966 153668). Old (near fellside) landing Field marked L1 is now Closed (effective from December 2015) after a serious landslide the farmer has re fenced the field. Please do not use this field as, to get back to the road, you need to climb over the farmer's fences, which is obviously NOT Acceptable. If John is not there and there is no stock in field L2 on the map, it is OK to put our windsock into this field. If L2 cannot be used due to stock, and Low BECKSIDETHE cannot provide an alternative, use fellside. |
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| Last Updated : | 10/02/2021 at 16:46 by Rick Livingstone | ||
| Last Reviewed : | 14/03/2020 by CL | ||
| Wind : | SE - ESE | ||
| Nil Wind : | No | ||
| Grid Ref : | NY355291 | Height (AMSL) : | 1700' / 519m |
| Site Code : | 17.015 | Top to Bottom : | 950' / 290m |
Location
NE Lakes - SE of Blencathra
Details
An excellent site, renowned, like its neighbour Carrock, for light winds. Also thermals well. Wave and convergence are occasionally found at the south end. It is also possible to launch from the south end to fly Blencathra in SSE winds.
Site Officer
Rick Livingstone : 07761187016
Postcode for Sat Nav Systems (read the Health Warning!)
CA11 0XR - This is the closest mail delivery point to the flying site and is positioned at:
Mungrisdale. The postcode centre is where the road coming north from the A66 suddenly turns to the west before you turn left for the Mill Inn and site parking
Getting There
Turn off the A66(T)Penrith to Keswick main road following signs to Mungrisedale. Follow minor road to Mungrisedale, then double back to follow a tarmac road (past a good pub) through a gate. Various, but limited, parking places in laybys along this road.Do not block any farm or field access points.
Although it looks a bit of a drag to walk back from Landing field (L2) to cars, it's really not far as there is a footpath and bridge over the river just north of Low Beckside Farm, bringing you out near the first gate.
Getting to takeoff
A path leads diagonally across the face of the slope from NE to SW.
Permission to use site
For a bottom landing field; Low Beckside Farm, Mungrisedale (only necessary if there is stock in the field)
Hazards
Be wary of penetration problems in strong winds, being blown back could be worrying in the extreme!
Power lines along the eastern end of the landing field.
Being blown back at Souther would be very dangerous. If you are concerned about windstrength, it is not much hardship to leave your kit at normal take-off and walk to the top to to check.
There is a farmer nearby who is not keen on flying activity. If confronted please remain polite and walk away.
To avoid aggravating the situation, some local have started to park before the village of Mungrisedale and walk up from there. (this is also easier for access from the landing field)
Take Off
Landing Areas
Land in the official field (permission from Low Beckside Farm is necessary only if there is stock in the field) Ask at the farm
THIS SITE IS NO LONGER IN THE WINDSOCK SCHEME
Flying
Easy top landing and slope landing, if bracken areas are avoided.
XC potential
Good thermal producer, and quite easy to get away, but the sea is only about 35 km downwind. Possible to cross to Carrock Fell if wind is off to the East, or onto Blencathra if off to South.
Photos
Click on the photo for a full size image.
| A view of Souther Fell from the south end of the ridge looking NE. The track up through the bracken can be seen. Photo by Mike Harper |
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| General view of the ridge from the South West end, looking North East towards Mungrisdale. Launch is typically from just above the bracken line, to the right of the red wing - or much lower down on a good day if you can avoid the bracken! Photo by Dave Horne. |
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| Looking to the South west and down onto the Souther Fell ridge. View of the launch location above the bracken, with two gliders still on the ground - Ken West (CSC) and Andrew Maltby (NHPC). Photo by Dave Horne. |
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| Aerial shot of the side landing area - very tricky if there's any lift about! Landing is above the road and you do pretty well if you land on one of the more grassy areas in the roughly triangular section (the area with the glider in it). Otherwise you have to indulge in a fair bit of gardening - depending on the season - to remove bracken from the lines and wing. Photo by Dave Horne. |
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| Looking down on the L2 landing field (see site map). The field is centre right with a tractor on the road in the left hand corner. Photo by Mike Harper |
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| A closer in view of the L2 landing field. Photo by Mike Harper |
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Local Information - Pubs/Food etc
Nearest pubs to the site - for post flying debriefing only! You may find details of other facilities here
No pub details are available for this site. Send your recommendations to the webmaster.
This page shows records for this site. Some of the older records are not very detailed. More recent records may have an igc file available You can right click and download this to your PC. You can then use IGC Flight replay to view the flight.
| Paragliding |
| FAI Triangle | |
| Distance : | 29.2km |
| Date : | 29/04/1998 |
| Pilot : | William Carradus |
| Open Distance XC | |
| Distance : | 60.0km approx |
| Date : | Unknown |
| Pilot : | Hugh Miller |
| Notes : | Landing near Moffat, Southern Uplands, Scotland |
| Hang Gliding |
No hang gliding records available for this site
Data Resources
Follow the links to see the site in Google Earth and Google Street view. To access the former, you will need to have Google Earth installed on your PC. You can also upload your flights to GE - use GPS Dump (Links Page) to convert a variety of GPS file formats to a GE kml file.
| Link | Resource Type | Notes |
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Google Earth - Car Park | |
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Google Earth - Landing | |
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Google Earth - Take Off | |
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Google Street View - Parking | The Google car driver obviously hadn't come across gated roads before. You can go through the gate and there are some limited parking spaces on the left. Make sure that you leave room for tractors |
Souther Fell Map |
Legend |
