I thought the wind would be too east for Golden Ball until after the ban on flying from 1250 to 1330 for the jubilee flypast dispersal, but in fact it was southerly enough from early on. By the time I got to the hill, Jim and three others were already flying, with Steve Newcombe setting up.

Paul Jiggins (I think) got away first, followed by Jim and the other two, as Steve and I dropped out of the climb, and eventually had to land and wait. A couple of big military transports duly came past the front of the hill - mind you, they also went past the front of Milk Hill White Horse, which was not in the exclusion zone! Then they circled north of us, and finally departed eastwards.

Zsolt and a couple more had meanwhile arrived, and we all launched at 1330. The sky had got a bit more organised, and we didn't have to wait long for a nice strong climbout.

At base, I got a little bit disconcerted at the greyness of the clouds to the east and north, and decided to head west, staying over sunny ground. In fact, there were no problems with going downwing - Zsolt got to Ross on Wye and Steve past Malmesbury.

My second climb, marked by sailplanes, took me over 5,000 feet, but I lost most of it gliding south-west to a cloud which didn't work properly. From then it was a glide towards Chippenham, with a failed attempt at a low save over a farm - over which a huge gaggle of rooks thermalled five minutes after I'd landed.

Walked into Chip, train to Bath, lift back from Lesley who was coming to Pewsey anyway. A nice day out.