22 February 2009

farthing common

sign man had put his red dot in the wrong place
I wasn't 'here' I was up by the arrow above by the car park

Not to be confused with Farthing Corner, Farthing Common is a low slung bowl about 10 miles South of Canterbury. Many years ago the site was listed on the web as requiring local club membership for access and use. The bowl has now been designated Permissive Access by Natural England, by my reckoning that means anyone can fly there (but I didn't tell you that!).


such trivialities have never stopped me flying!


So what does Farthing Common give you that other sites don't? well it's a rare beast in Kent as it'll take a north westerly very nicely thankyou! Goodwind gave it a go today with a quick spin in the brisk spring breeze. The lift is good enough, not outstanding but it works fine. The hill has a shallow top then a steep drop off for about 60ft. The air is smooth on top but gets choppy down below the ridge line. Behind is a high bank of trees that provide a good dose of lift higher up.

north west face with shallow top and steeper base


Landing is unconventional- stand about two thirds the way down the shallow upper slope, fly the model down and out, below the lip then turn back into the hill with a wide turn round behind yourself but in front of the trees. Turn into wind and pop down onto the grass.


this'll take west and south west

If you're passing give it a go, but do keep an eye out for public and bulls.

10 comments:

  1. Is there an access road - none shown on the map I can see.

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  2. Access is very good an A road follows the bowl round with parking at the top. Cross the road thru a stile and you're there.

    It may not serve as a reasonable slope for paragliders due to the trees, though the upper slope areas may be ok for ground handling

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  3. sorry it's a B road, have a look here...either way access and parking is A1

    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.123351,1.048765&spn=0.010114,0.016093&t=h&z=16

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  4. Have looked in more detail and to save problems for anybody the below post code can be entered into a Tom Tom unit and it will take you there.
    Postcode is CT18 8DH

    This will take you to Farthing Common - the little wooded triangle - park there and you need to get over the road (B2068) and the bowl is there - Good luck Peter Bruce.

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  5. Excellent Pete,
    I will let everyone know tonight

    Thanks again

    Dave Cook

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  6. "Excellent Pete,
    I will let everyone know tonight"-Dave Cook

    HELLO!!!!! that's quite all right you guys.....
    just talk over my head on my web site and pass on NO thanks at all for the heads up!

    Some people need to learn some manners.

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  7. ok then goodwind, thanks for the heads up. ;)- mr fantastic.

    happy now??

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  8. extatic!

    as William of Waykeham said

    'manners maketh the man'

    so have you boys given it a go yet? how'd you get on?

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  9. not bad. it was ok.

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  10. The club in question was the East Kent Soaring Association and when I was a member about 20 years ago, we negotiated with the landowner for its use on the rare occasions that a nor'westerly blew. We did on one occasion hold a big slope aerobatic competition there which was very well attended.

    EricF

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