Orchards/Gliding Weather Watchers with Barra Best

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Here is Geoff.

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It looks like a great day in the Orchard County of Armagh.

'Well named -

'today, more than 4,000 acres of Armagh

'is dedicated to apple growing, and I'm at one of the orchards today

'to meet up with Philip Troughton.'

Philip, looking around, it seems summer's been kind to you.

Is this a normal crop?

This is a late-flowering variety,

and it has actually cropped reasonably well. In fact, very well.

There's really two reasons why we can grow apples in County Armagh,

why we do grow apples in County Armagh.

One is tradition -

there's a tradition of apple growing in the area.

The other is climate.

And, because of the influence of Lough Neagh,

there's a small area between the Rivers Blackwater and Bann,

where we get slightly less early spring frosts.

And early spring frosts is what totally determines

how many apples, or what crop we grow.

So it really is that weather-dependent for you?

It is totally weather-dependent.

What way does your season work, then?

Well, the apples come into flower in May.

This year, we had a bit of early spring frost,

which did a certain amount of damage and lessened the crop,

I would say, maybe by 50%.

But you've come at a particularly nice time of the year,

when all of these apples are very close to harvest.

And you can see the crops there are.

Could you do this anywhere else in Northern Ireland?

There's no apples grown any further north

than the southern shore of Lough.

In the UK, there are no apples grown north of Birmingham.

And we are at a level with Stranraer or southern Scotland,

so we're probably 200 miles further north

than apples are grown in the UK.

So, literally, its own little microclimate?

It's a very little microclimate,

which just happens to suit this area.

You've got quite a lot of land here,

and these aren't the only types of apple you grow.

In total, we have about 80 acres of orchard on the farm.

We started off as a Bramley apple grower,

and the variety needs other apples mixed in along with it

to produce a crop.

So that allowed us to grow lots and lots of eating apples.

And also we've planted cider apples.

How does the weather influence the taste of your apples?

It's like everything, Barra. Everything likes sunny weather -

people, animals, apples, crops.

The sunshine will increase the sugar levels in apples.

And the increased sugar levels allow us to make cider.

It's the sugars in the apples that make the alcohol.

These eating apples will be pressed into juice,

and that juice can either be pure apple juice,

or then it can be blended off and will be made into cider.

That process takes us about six months.

There's other by-products. Whenever we make a cider,

we can change that into apple cider vinegar.

Whenever these apples are pressed,

the by-product of that is basically dry apple.

And that we can send for cattle feed.

That actually increases milk production?

In a dairy herd, apples will increase milk production.

It would be a bit like the spring flush of grass.

'If an apple a day does actually keep the doctor away,

'then I've come to the right place.'

# Bright, sunshiny day

# Skies are so blue

# And I'm leaving... #

'I've come to the Ulster Gliding Club at Bellarena

'to meet Alan McKillen

'and, even though I'm taking to the skies,

'I won't be in a plane, but a glider -

'an aircraft that doesn't have an engine,

'and relies solely on the weather for power.'

-OK, Barra...

-Great.

-..let's put this on.

And, obviously, this is just for emergencies.

-I'm not going to need this.

-Absolutely, totally.

-There we go.

-Brilliant.

To get off the ground, we need a bit of help.

There we are, we'll be off in about three seconds.

One...

two...

-three. And that's us...

-And we're up! We're up!

# Sunshiny day

# Skies are so blue

# And I'm leaving... #

-And we are going to go to 3,000 feet today, Barra.

-Right. 3,000 feet?

That's quite high up for something that doesn't have an engine.

-Well...

-THEY LAUGH

'One way the glider stays in the air is by using a thermal,

'which is a stream of rising warm air,

'formed by the sun heating the ground.'

What do you know to look for at this stage?

We try and interpret the clouds ahead of us,

and we'd look for nice, young, wispy clouds,

which would be an indication of a thermal just starting to grow.

'And it's a perfect gliding day, with lots of puffy cumulus clouds.'

And you're kind of in a privileged position,

because you have all sorts of weather

coming from different directions that helps you?

A multitude of different types of weather,

and the skill of a glider pilot is interpreting the weather on the day

-and making best use of it.

-Uh-huh.

That's what the sport of gliding is all about -

extracting that awesome amount of energy

which can be in the atmosphere.

'It's time to release ourselves from the tug plane and fly solo.'

OK, off we go.

-Tell me when.

-Now.

CLUNK

-Whoo! We're doing it ourselves!

-That's it. We're on our own.

Wow, look at that. That is beautiful.

It's the weather now

that's literally allowing us to fly without an engine.

Absolutely. We are soaring.

Ooh-hoo-hoo!

It's a bit scary!

'The flying club is ideally situated

'at the foothills of Binevenagh Mountain,

'and Alan is going to use the mountain ridge to gain altitude.'

Whoo! Ha-ha!

Do you want to give me a heart attack?!

THEY LAUGH

MUSIC: Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Well, that's just a very small taste

of the energy that can be in the atmosphere, Barra.

This must be how birds feel.

This is really just harnessing the power of the weather.

Absolutely. That's what soaring and gliding is all about.

# Cos I'm as free as a bird now

# And this bird you cannot change... #

-You really do get a buzz from it, don't you?

-Oh, absolutely, Barra.

I've done a 300km flight.

The buzz when you land, the sense of achievement...

But I'll maybe come round now

-and head in the general direction of back towards the airfield.

-OK.

-OK?

-OK.

Whoo! Oh, that...

That's a long way down!

'The weather might be keeping us airborne,

'but how do we land this thing?!

'Oh-ho!

'Now I know what they mean by "A wing and a prayer".'

-Here we go.

-Yeah.

-Almost touchdown.

Whoo!

Wow.

Touchdown!

Fantastic!

-And surprisingly smooth.

-Oh, thank you.

Didn't know what to expect there.

Thankfully, I didn't need my parachute.

THEY LAUGH