Sunday 9th August was a beautiful day. I took the family down to Barry’s field just outside Guildford where there is a lovely field. There is lots for the children to look at, chickens, ducks, tractors, aeroplanes, model gliders, paramotors etc…
We packed a picnic (and took the Paramotor down too!) I had not flown for a good 6 weeks so wanted to check whether I could still do it! The plan was to find a shady spot, set up camp for Diana, Sebastian and Daisy, and have a picnic. They then went for a lovely walk and I took off with a plan to fly to Petworth (about 30kms away) via Charter House School, Dunfold (a disused airfield where they film parts of Top Gear) and on to Petworth before flying back to Barry’s field.
I took some photos of Charter House School but then realised when I was over Dunfold, that my camera was flat – I had forgotten to recharge the batteries. This was annoying and it was even more annoying when my GPS batteries ran out too! School boy error!
I was only about 5kms from Petworth (over a place called Kirdford) before I decided to turn back to be on the safe side. I had a map, but still, I felt lost without my GPS. I made a mental note to practice more without the use of a GPS in case my batteries run down again!
Back at the field, an hour and 15 minutes later, Diana was out walking with the buggy and I landed and watched this enormous scale radio controlled glider being towed up by a (model) tug! It was very impressive!
It was an acrobatic glider and I watched it fly upside down performing stall turns, 4 point rolls and doing fast fly by’s over the field. These gliders don’t come cheap – I believe that one would set you back about £4,000! The tugs are cheaper at around £1,500 - so I am told?
Another great day out. Sebastian loved pointing out the all the gliders... (one of his first words!) Glidor, glidor, glidor...!
We are currently in the Gran Sabana in Venezuela. A wilderness of savanah flatlands and magical Tepuis rising high out of dense jungle. Michel Carnet, Ben and I are flying paramotors and it is wild - like something out of a glossy magasine! Yesterday, we flew 30km over dense jungle and past a small tepui called Chiri Cayen before landing in an indian settlement where the locals looked bewildered when we landed on their football pitch. It was a surreal experience! We carry SPOT gps positioning systems and satelite phones so that in the case of real emergency we can still be found. A local pilot told us how his friend went missing and was never found - he was swallowed by the jungle. It is a committing place when you fly over the jungle. We have been having fun on the flat lands testing our Italian miniplane paramotors and our Dudek Synthesis 34 wings. We fly in the early morning at sunrise and late in the afternoon when the conditions calm down. It is very hot. Internet connection is slow but here are some photos... 
