mick morris <<mickymorris>>
writes:

I was with Nev Almond on Milk today. He is now in the White Horse
in Cley, north Norfolk, awaiting retrieve (which is en- route). Cley is 167
miles from Milk Hill.

Just had a call from Nev. With the turnpoints (including one in the North Sea)
it will be 175-178 miles. Apparently the first bit from Milk to Wantage was
straight line without turning.

This is Nevs entry in the leavesley forum here:
http://www.leavesleyaviation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2102&p=9493#p9493

Well, finally the longest UK hang glider flight is now held by a rigid wing (it
had to be put right!) The flight was from Milk Hill (near Devizes) to Cley next
to Sea on the Norfolk coast, about twenty miles east of the Wash. The straight
line distance was 167 miles, with the final turnpoint around a mile out to sea.

The distance with two intermediate turnpoints (that the UK XCL allows) should be
closer to 175-180 miles, as I deviated east from the intended goal north of
Skegness as the trough came in from the west and started shutting the sun down.
Base started at 4000ft, rose to 4600ft, with a small blip to 6000ft+ at the
north sea coast in convergence. The flight was a mix of some amazing fast
stretches (like 10-20 minutes straight-lining at 50-60 Mph airspeed), some
tip-toeing in the blue to get around airspace, and a few moments lucking out
very low in big blue holes.

Landing was frightening, with the remnants of a mild sea breeze being present,
and the wind switching everywhere, I simply could not determine which way to
land - I couldn't even find a tree sheltered paddock to negate the wind, so in
the end I bisected SW (Wind) and N (Sea Breeze) and lucked out with a crosswind
landing (damage limitation, worked well).

A big thanks to Tim King and Malcom Beard for the 450 miles round trip retrieve.