L_-______.- M _-___ 10The List 3— 161u|y 1992
COAST
PARACHUTING -
I Stirling Parachute Centre 'I‘homhill. Near Stirling. 0786 87748. £75 (individual on midweek course). £95 (weekend course). £85 (group of eight or more on weekend course). ()pen Thurs—Sun during daylight
WINDSURFING S A I L I N G CANOEING
O INSTRUCTION AND HIRE
O LEARN TO WINDSURF FROM £18 PER SESSION
0 RYA COURSES FROM £49 INCLUDING CERTIFICATE LOG BOOK AND ALL HIRE OF EQUIPMENT
0 DINGHY SAILING UP TO 5 PEOPLE PER DINGHY HIRE FROM £29 PER HOUR (LESS THAN £6 PER HEAD)
O CANOE HIRE [3 PER HOUR (HIRE ONLY) 0 LOCATION - MILAROCHY BAY LOCH LOMOND Nt BALMAHA ON THE DRYMEN TO ROWARDENNAN ROAD (B837) (1 MILE NORTH OF BALMAHA)
O ALSO FUNBOARD LESSONS FOR THE ADVANCING WINDSURFER UP TO RYA LEVEL 5
O ASK ABOUT OUR TIREE FUNBOARD COURSES £255 ALL IN (SEPT/OCT 92 - MARCH/APRIL 93)
TO BOOK PLEASE CALL
SEVENTH WAVE
041 353 3024 041-331 1432
DIVERSIONS (SCOTLAND) LTD.
I hours. Other times negotiable. Although
thought of by many as being the exclusive domain of Blue Peter presenters.
E gives you tuition. The flight path passes
over both Culzean Castle and the Open
golfcourse at Turnberry. A cool £4.500
parachuting is a possibility for anyone with I
a spare weekend and the appropriate amount of cash. There is an initial eight—ten hour training session to cover the British Parachute Association syllabus. which may necessitate coming back a second day. Next comes the jump: out of an aeroplane 2000 feet above Stirlingshire fields. Your parachute will open immediately and when you reach the ground there is a debriefing session plus
- the presentation of a certificate so that the
folks back home will believe you did it. There is also the option ofbeing photographed as you jump. The minimum age is sixteen and persons under eighteen require parental consent on forms provided by the centre. Over-40s require a medical certificate and applicantsover fourteen stone will not usually be accepted. 30 miles north of Glasgow.
PARAGLIDING
I Cloudbusters Paragliding School 9 Lynedoch Place. Glasgow. 634 6688 (Contact Peter Shields). All paragliding activities take place on Tinto Hill. Lanarkshire. £50 (fun day). £95 (two-day starter course). £170 (four-day student pilot rating). Additional advanced training £45. Canopies available for hire. One free day‘s tuition with every one purchased. Sat—Mon. All year round. Times negotiable. This is the cross-country cousin of parachuting. A specially designed parachute. shaped like flexible wings. is used to glide from the aeroplane to a predetermined landing area. The basic course teaches flight theory. landing falls and low-level flying
~ while to achieve an advanced pilot rating
demands 150 flights and 35 hours flying time. 28 miles south east of Glasgow.
FLYING
I Prestwiclt Flight Centre 179 Northsidc. Prestwick Airport. Prestwick .0292 76523. Trial flights £46 (half hour) and £89.50 (one hour). Open seven days all year round. weather permitting. Flights whenever required between 9am and nightfall. An absolutely exhilarating idea for a day out for yourself and two friends who can sit in the back of a four-seater AASA Cheetah while a qualified pilot
will buy you the necessary 40 hours flying for a pilot‘s licence and covers a medical and insurance. 20 miles south west of Glasgow.
I Dollar Helicopters Cumbernauld Airport. Napier Road. Cumbernauld. 0236 722100. Trial flights £95 (halfhour). £125 (40mins) and £185 (one hour). All prices plus VAT. Open seven days. all year round. weather permitting. Initial flights restricted to daylight hours. Under the watchful eye of a qualified co-pilot. you can cover any area of countryside you want at an acceptable height. perhaps taking in the Carron Valley forest and the Campsie Fells. However. anyone hoping to make inch-perfect landings on front lawns in Barratt commercials would need to invest £9,500 in a 40-hour course to get a pilot‘s licence. Fourteen miles north eastof Glasgow.
HELICOPTER TOURS
I Clyde Helicopters City Heliport. SECC. Glasgow, 226 4261. Four tours are available:
City Your £30 (£15) (Ten minutes). This fifteen-mile eye-in-the-sky tour of Glasgow takes in the SECC. the Kingston Bridge (at heights low enough to spot the cracks). the City Chambers and — all things being equal - Parkhead, Hampden and lbrox. Tragically. Firhill is omitted (unless you stage a hi-jack).
City 01 Culture Tour £40 (£20) (Fifteen minutes). Still available in 1992. this twenty-mile tour also shows you Glasgow University. the art galleries. Hogganfield Loch, the Burrell Collection and Pollok House.
Loch Lomond Tour £70 (£40) (Forty five miles in all). It’s down the Clyde to Dumbarton Rock. up to Balloch and Loch Lomond and then home via Balmaha and the foot of the Campsies.
The Spirit 01 Scotland Tour £90 (£70). The chuckle-inducing genius of this punsomc jaunt will become apparent to you when you touch down at Glcngoyne Distillery in the Campsies. Here you will be given a ten-year-old bottle ofmalt whisky. An hour after take-off you‘ll have completed the 25-mile trip, viewing much of north and west Glasgow. Then it‘ll hit you; it would have been cheaper taking a taxi to the off-licence.
One mile west of the City Centre.
BALLOONING
I Scotair Balloons Unit 3. Lindsaylands Road. Biggar. Lanarkshire.089921122. £99 per person (weekday mornings). £1 10 (weekend and weekday evenings). Times negotiable. depending on wind conditions
GREA T 0008
and season. This is the most elegant way imaginable to see the Clyde Valley: a one-hour trip in a hot air balloon with a padded. partitioned basket which takes eight passengers. After landing. everyone is given a commemorative certificate and the flight is toasted with champagne. 35 miles south east of Glasgow.
ADVENTURE
' I Alternative Leisure 15 Kyle Drive.
Glasgow. 633 3700. One hundred and eighty-acre site at Queen‘s View. near Killearn. on the A809 to Drymen. 4x4: £55 per person (reductions for groups). Changing and washing facilities. Overalls provided. Food served. Activities available seven days a week and summer evenings. Lasting all day. the 4x4 starts with the survival game. Armed with a splatmaster pistol and 40 paint pellets the aim is to navigate through dense woodland and capture the enemy‘s flag. ‘marking out' as many of their team as possible. Next is the command task. Against the clock. you must abseil over a 60-foot waterfall and down into the Dualt Gorge below. Then there is a spot of clay pigeon shooting for which all instruction is provided. Lastly. everyone can make like the Banana Splits on the Honda all-terrain buggies, racing at up to 40mph round an off-road course.
Other sports at this site include laser clay pigeon shooting. quad biking. target golfand the motion simulator. Prices vary. Large reductions for group bookings. 14 miles north of Glasgow.
I Bedlam! Paintball Games Ltd. 87 Leith Walk. Edinburgh, 555 1945 (Glasgow 333 1945). Site at Shovelboard. offthe B879to Houston. £20 per person per day. Paint pellets £7 for 50. Camouflage suit £2 per day. Thursnderflash. Paint Grenade and Smoke Grenade POA. Changing and washing facilities. Refreshments available. Players must be eighteen (sixteen with parental permission). Open in daylight hours. This is more geared towards Rambo types. Players are armed with a semi-automatic air pistol which can fire a paint pellet 35 yards. Headshots are forbidden. The site includes: Bunker Hill. on which rests the flag everyone wants. within range of a lookout tower; Bedlam‘s Village. with seven buildings and towers for a gruelling shoot-out; and Bedlam‘s Bridge. which for the unlucky ones may be a bridge too far. 17miles west ofGlasgow.
I Beaches
Ayr. Prestwick. Largs, Troon. and Loch Lomond all offer good windsurfing. although there can be a lot oftraffic(jet skis usually being the biggct problem). If you‘re looking for serious waves (up to