Have glider will travel... a week long road trip through England's rolling hills. Photo: Jerome Maupoint
If you could bottle the feeling of a summer’s road trip, just friends, wings and sky, then this is it. No one reveals the soul of our sport better than the photographer and writer duo of Jerome Maupoint and Hugh Miller.
Friends for years, when their early shared passion for free flight gripped them both, they have maintained a friendship that sees them meet up to share adventures and flights around the world.
This time it’s Hugh’s own backyard: the magic hills of England and the Border country of Scotland. Big, uncrowded sites and empty skies are on offer as the pair criss-cross the country in search of the perfect day.
It’s noon on the second day of our adventure, and we’re 1,500m up over the Scottish Borders. I’m coring a thermal that pours up to a cloud above like golden syrup off a spoon into porridge. It’s thick, consistent, and it knows where it’s going. I haven’t had a climb this good all season.
Mike Cavanagh and Barney Woodhead are on the radio discussing tactics as they attempt a triangle. Wind turbines scythe slowly below us, and the big hills beckon downwind. The flying today is like Governador Valadares in Brazil on a strong day, though the air is crisp and almost alpine.
Mike and Barney fly together a lot, and in some ways they’re an unlikely partnership. The CEO of Ozone, Mike is a fairly quiet Northerner who would still happily eat some free cold chips than pay for a curry. His grin is perpetual, and his love of flying came way before Ozone. On the other hand, there’s not much quiet about Barney…
If you can’t wait for the cold of winter to vanish and the first bubbles of spring to arrive, then this is for you: it’s summer in a bottle.
• Got news? Send it to us at news@xccontent.local
