I DID IT!!!!

Yep, Spishy togged up with parachute and ready for take off in this shot.

To see the aerial shots you'll have to look at my blipfolio in the helpfully titled "gliding" folder.

The things we do for a blip.. I don't think I would have done it had it not been for all the encouragement from you my blip pals. Thank you all for egging me on :-)

I called in to the pilot's hut early this morning and luckily they were happy to take me up on the first flight of the day.... Woohooo.....
This gave me hardly any time to panic myself out of it.

No sign of Trev or Twipod today but Steve, Tim, Richard and Mark were really lovely, informative, calm and really just brilliant! I even got to help them get the gliders out of the hangar and help with the daily safety checks.

By the time I was strapped in to the cockpit I honestly was not nervous at all, thanks to Steve who piloted me. It's weird because you get to sit in the front with pilot behind you. I had to strap my camera to my arm so it didn't knock into the controls.

I had about 5 seconds of blind terror as the glider accelerated, pulled by the winch, and lifted in to the air. I felt like I was standing on my head, ears popping, stomach churning (thank God, I kept my porridge down) and then all of a sudden there is silence and you are up in the sky gliding about.

It is the most fantastic experience and I could see for miles. What I saw;

The most shocking sight was seeing a brown haze over London.... Amazing being able to see The Shard glinting in amongst it.
I saw a Jumbo Jet taking off from Gatwick.
I told Steve which road I lived on and he banked steeply down so we could fly over it..... fortunately the outside has just been painted so I could see the dazzling whiteness of it from the air.
Much more fabulousness but I can't find the words to articulate it all.

Landing was surprisingly smooth, not as scary as take off.

Really pleased I did it. I'm not an adventurous or confident person so it has been a boost for me.

Quite strange to be in a German glider over Kenley Aerodrome which played a part in the Battle of Britain!

I'm still not quite back down to earth yet.