Cleeve Common, Uk – Location Review

Cleeve Common – Cheltenham, Uk

Cleeve Common is one of those mysterious locations that people hear the odd whisper about but never really know where it is or what it’s like. Tucked away in the Cotswolds at over 1000ft high it’s one of the highest flying locations in the UK. Home to a small number of local flyers, you can almost be sure that you won’t spend half your session avoiding other flyers but boosting big airs and catching the thermals you get at that altitude.

Most wind directions work well, no big trees to create turbulence, only 3 massive pylons to avoid. A westerly direction is probably the worst as the wind is blasting up the side of the hill causing it to be gusty in areas and also prone to the odd updraft whereas other directions are very smooth with almost beach like winds, nothing but a green backdrop and sky for miles. One of the major downfalls with Cleeve are the sheep and cows which are free to roam everywhere from April to December. Having their poo flung up your bare legs in the summer and peeling it off once it’s dried in the sun is not the nicest thing although it is always amusing when you watch your mates get spanked and splattered in the stuff. Luckily it doesn’t smell too bad as it’s literally only mashed up grass. Usually after a quick run up and down of the common on your board or buggy and they wonder off to eat some more grass.

The actual size of the Common is fairly large, big enough for around 15 flyers not to have to worry too much about where they are going. As a general rule stick to where the grass is short, that kinda marks out the boundary of where we can fly. The terrain is fairly smooth in places with two flat runs. The rest is fairly bumpy but still fine for all board and buggy at speed. Cleeve has probably one of the most beautiful sunsets and as the sun sets down behind Malvern hills the wind really smooths out and always picks up – perfect for night flying! Yes I have had a few sessions.. scary stuff when you rely on a full moon to light up the Common and the odd camera flash, but it’s truly an awesome place to go for that sneaky evening session after school or work.

As for winter – Cleeve probably has to make one of the top UK snowkite locations. For the last 2 years we have been blessed with masses of snow and plenty of wind.
This December just gone, myself and Tim Harley had almost a week’s worth of snow kite sessions with consistent wind. It’s probably our only chance in the year to truly
go exploring Cleeve and find new things. One of our favourite spots we found was a 15m wide gully – from which the wind was blasted up creating a sweet updraft. Here
we were able to get some sick shots of big kiteloops and boosts over the gap. Many flyers who joined us for snowkiting came from as far as London and Portland just to
experience the amazing conditions on offer.