I am exhausted after a two-day flying frenzy over the weekend. I celebrated not being at work by driving three hours to South Wales with Tom to fly at a ridge site called Pandy. It is a six mile ridge with incredibly beautiful views over a patchwork of fields. We arrived at 10am and walked up to the top looking out over the mist-shrouded fields far below.

On our first flight we were in the air for over an hour and we went six kilometres along the ridge in the smooth lift. Tom was taking photos from the air and we were immensely glad to be there rather than back in London! For a while we had the whole ridge to ourselves before more people started arriving and the skies became rather fuller. We drove back to London tired but very happy.

The next morning we were due to try out our new paramotors just outside Brighton. Michel Carnet, (seven times British paramotor champion and total sky god!), test flew my wing and engine, making it look easy. The engine is a 4 stroke 175 Bailey powerhouse which is surprisingly quiet, especially when compared to the more common 2 stroke machines. After a couple of hours of ground handling I was exhausted. The engine weighs over 30kg but once you are airborne the wing takes the strain and you sit back and relax! That’s the theory anyhow as I didn’t do any flying that day. I will wait for a more favourable wind direction and hope to be up in the air soon.

Tom had his first flight which lasted 45 minutes or so and once he touched down he couldn’t stop smiling. I can’t wait for my first powered flight… what’s the wind doing now?!