Over the Bank Holiday weekend I took part in the Ultralight Single Seat Rally (USSR), a flying event whose aim was to fly as far as possible in 50 hours, starting and ending at the same point. We started at Sywell aerodrome in Northamptonshire. Andy and I were aiming to get to Scotland and set off heavily loaded with full fuel tanks and bivy kit.

Over the first two and a half hours we flew 100 miles with a good tailwind past Leicester, Nottingham, skirting the eastern edge of the Peak district and Sheffield, eventually being forced down by strong winds near Barnsley. We landed on fast trim making barely any headway. After refuelling we waited for the wind to drop but it moved round to the west so we decided to change our route and fly east with the wind. Taking off late afternoon we flew south of York to Filey, just south of Scarborough covering 75 miles in two and a half hours. We slept in a field after a very good curry at a local Indian restaurant.

The next day we had a late start after trying to find out what the wind was going to do. We followed the coast down from Bridlington and had a superb flight along a 15km stretch of coastline a metre or so above the sand. Turning west to avoid the wide Humber we encountered a headwind and progress slowed to a crawl. We landed to refuel near Scunthorpe and slept a few hours while the wind switched back and forth. After a hairy take-off slightly uphill in unpredictable winds we set course for Skegness aiming to follow the coast and avoid thermic conditions further inland. Sadly my motor started losing power 15 minutes into the flight and I was forced to land. Although a huge disappointment not to finish, it was the best journey I’ve had so far on the paramotor. Andy made another 30km that evening but also had to retire from the event after breaking a propeller taking off the next morning in unpredictable winds. Huge thanks to Mary for driving three hours to pick me up after I’d walked for an hour and a half with all my kit. See below for the route… it was meant to extend up to Gretna, but that will have to wait until next time.