Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 26th July 2015

A day of make do and mend: make do with an 800ft cloudbase (i.e.. below the height of the airfield) and mend what ever came to hand to repair.

Thus Roger Appleboom and Pete Harvey attempted to mend the old quad bike whilst Chris Owen repaired the chairs in the clubhouse one of which had lost a screw from the chair back which was, astonishingly, nowhere to be found. A suitable alternative was, however, and hence the clubhouse no longer resembles the aftermath...  

Even the trees are in the cloud today

Sadly, and after much innovation in adapting our glider battery chargers, to charge up the quad bike's battery, Roger and Pete had to admit to defeat when the battery was found not to be accepting a charge -  its condition described as 'terminal' it was despatched to that graveyard known locally as Crowndale Tip.  Their quest to repair the bike's choke also came to a conclusion when they realised that a new handle was needed – hopefully one can be sourced at Roger's garage and fitted next weekend.  

Outside the weather continued to be cloudy, wet and windy and so, with no let up forecast in the Met Office update received around 1030, and the airfield a habitat more suited to sheep than aviators (see photo), once lunch had been consumed we decided to call it a day.

Martin Cropper