I started the day with an early dash to Swindon to be interviewed by BBC Wiltshire about Head In The Clouds: The Best Stories From 50 Years of Free Flying (get your copy from the Cross Country website, or ask your local independent bookshop to order it for you)

Then breakfast at the Honeystreet Mill Cafe preceded a busy day on the hill, since it might be the last good cross-country day of the season. It started slowly, with even the skygods failing to get high enough to go. We saw a few get high above Milk Hill White Horse, but then the excessive shade over our hill moved away, and a big gaggle set off. I launched when I saw the next lot going up, and soon found myself in a decent climb.

The gaggle seemed to dissipate at the top - some charging forward, some heading back to the hill. I shared a second climb with a blue Alpina and a blue-and-yellow Dudek. Before Wootton Bassett the Dudek found us a lovely thermal. I then started to worry about the airspace (having forgotten to bring a Simple Air Map), and conceived the crazy idea of flying west of all the grey circles on my Skytraxx. Luckily, I soon realised that I didn't need to do this - it would be quite easy to go through the gap between Cotswold Airport and South Cerney.

I topped up nicely before crossing the lakes, but after that Cirencester and an easy retrieve looked tempting. I hadn't expected it to be quite that easy, though: Chris Williams very kindly messaged me offering a lift. He already had Ken Wilkinson on board and we picked up Helen Barnes on the way back to the hill. A lovely September day.