June '87. Took off from Aboyne, Dee Valley, Scotland, hoping to connect with higher level wave but only lower level thermals at first. Got to Tomintoul, thermalled up into wave but not high enough to proceed without risk of losing it, got sunk, repeated the cycle for about an hour, finally got higher into mountain wave, went up the Spey valley.
Flew southwards in wave to edge of Aberdeen airspace, back west up Dee valley past Aboyne and Balmoral, into the Cairngorms. Lost the wave, descended into broken cloud and flew south to lower ground and expected to land out.
Found fantastic lift, ridge soaring, at Blair Atholl, reconnected with wave, and got to 13,000 feet. Flew down to Loch Tay, and then back to Aboyne, around sunset. Slow overall time of 10 hours 45 minutes, for 348 km covered, but that flight encompassed so many of the highs and lows of aviation that I will always remember it.
Chris N.