Sugar Hill  -  paragliding

 

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Status

Open all year round.
 

Wind Direction / Details

SW.
1km ridge, 35m high.
 

Restrictions

This is suitable for all levels of pilot.
Only 5 PG can be in the air at any one time.
 

Sensitivity

The club has experienced few problems with Sugar. A family called Bland own this site; please be courteous and take all the usual measures to ensure zero impact.
 

Location

OS Grid Ref SU 238 786, Landranger 174, Pathfinder 1170.

 

What3Words: ///stems.gravest.skirt (https://what3words.com/stems.gravest.skirt)

 

Directions
Follow the direction for Liddington but carry on past Liddington to the cross-roads and turn right.  Follow road until arriving at two car parks either side of the road.

Parking

In the car park / lay-by on either side of the road.
Be aware that car thieves have operated in this area.
 

Access

Along the footpath marked on the map.
 

Take Off

Approximate elevation 205m/673’ AMSL.
Near the track by the fence at the top of the ridge.
 

Landing

On the slope or in un-cropped field in front.
 

Hazards

The site is thermic. However, the rising ground in front of the ridge limits the area in which thermals can form and they will generally be small and bumpy.
 

XC

The thermals tend to lift from the field out in front or break off from the woods at the back of the field behind take off. Follow the high ground of the chalk escarpment north-eastwards.
Uffington Castle has proved to mark a reliable thermal source. The crux is getting back up after the long glide from cloudbase over the chalk ridges near Uffington into the low ground in the Vale of the White Horse.  After that the Thames pretty much marks the Brize Norton airspace - stay south of the Thames, and the airspace becomes much easier after Oxford.