This article is intended as a list of some of the well-known and less-well known kite-flying sites¹ that h2g2 researches have used and enjoyed, plus a few that ought to be avoided. It is currently in no particular order, but may be re-arranged as more contributions are made. If you wish to add your best or worst flying locations, please add them to the 'conversation topics' below, and I will update the main entry.

---I would like entries from as far afield as possible, starting with Welsh and Scottish locations (has anybody flown at Pendine Sands, or the Hebrides?)---

---Can I ask any passing Scouts not to move this article through the system until it seems reasonably complete---

'Afore Ye Go

Some of the better kite locations are quite secluded, and often subject to hazards like rapidly-incoming tides or even quicksand. Make sure that somebody always knows where you are and when to expect you back, and if possible take a fully-charged mobile phone with you (in a waterproof case!). It is also advisable in some instances to take a GPS unit with you; if you need to call rescue services to an isolated location, it will help them find you a lot faster if you can give them an accurate map reference.

East Anglia

Lowestoft South Beach

The most Easterly point you can fly a kite on land! The sand is pleasant and clean (especially during the tourist season, when it is raked almost every day), but soft away from the water. It is perfect sand-castle sand. The beach is narrow near the town end of the beach (North end), and crowded in good weather, so usually suitable only for small single-line kites. There is a lifeguard presence in season (look for the flags). Further south (towards Pakefield and Kessingland), the beach is wider and quieter, though popular with dog walkers, and it is a good idea not to get too close to the piers.

The Kessingland end of the beach is used by a number of buggiers, and is wide enough for quite a number kite-surfers. There is a kite store a couple of streets from the shore, stocking all major brands of power and traction kite. They have a regular, official presence on Kessingland Beach, so good manners dictate that you pop to their distinctive 4x4 (the only one allowed on the beach) and say hello before you set up. Contact the shop before you go, as they may be on the beach...

There is also a beach North of Lowestoft, but that is used more by recreational walkers, and part of it is a nudist beach.

Great Yarmouth

A wide, firm beach of gritty sand and small gravel. Very good for buggies, but it can be crowded with tourists in Summer. Ideal for power and stunt-kites, rather than buggies and ground boards.

Further north, between Great Yarmouth and Caister-on-Sea the beach gets a lot emptier, but is clear and breezy. The wind is messed up at very low altitude by small dunes, which present a tempting challenge to KGB riders, but picnicing tourists can crop up in the oddest spots. Stick to the open beach for a good long run, with a steep slope to the last few feet before the water. The Prom extends quite a long way from Great Yarmouth, so it is possible to find a decent spot fairly close to toilets and a coffee shop.

Southwold

A very nice, windy beach, but narrow in front of the town, so stick to single-line kites. South of the town the beach widens, and traction kites and surf kites have been seen in the distance, but this researcher has never managed to reach that far.

North West

Allonby to Beckfoot

North of Workington and Maryport on the Cumbrian coast, this beach is almost unused by kiters. In very windy weather, it is almost deserted. Very flat, but also very tidal, the beach is huge at low tide, especially at the Beckfoot end, but disappears very quickly when the tide comes in. Watch out for the water coming in at odd angles across the beach and cutting you off. Check the tide tables to decide whether to bring your kite surf gear or your buggy gear.

The sand itself is quite dark and dirty (it contains sea coal), so it can stain clothes and kites. Try and land your kite on a dry patch to keep it clean. Apart from the villages of Allonby and Beckfoot, there sre very few facilities along the beach. There are lay-byes along the coastal road to and past Allonby, but these are getting smaller and fewer as the sea erodes them away. It is a good idea for buggiers and surfers to use GPS to navigate the near-featureless shoreline and find your starting point, or to let the coastguard know where you are, should things go drastically wrong.

London

Blackheath

Recommended by Only living boy in New Cross - The Good, The Bad and the Average:

The South Coast

Recommended by Kat - Scouting for You:

Between Portsmouth and Southampton it's often quite difficult to find good places to fly kites as there seem to be pylons in all the nicest spots. However Portsmouth/Southsea seafront has lots of grass areas just back from the beach and lots of people fly kites there, and because it's right on the coast it's usually pretty windy.

Another good place to fly kites on the south coast is in Hillhead next to the sailing club. It's a quick walk down from the main parts of Hillhead or Stubbington, there's a carpark, and on race days (most weekends through spring to autumn) the club allows non-members in for drink and sandwiches.

In Lee-On-The-Solent a good place to fly is the sliproad into the sea outside the old HMS Daedalus base. It's on the beach side of the main road into Lee and as long as the wind isn't blowing strongly back onto the road then you're perfectly fine. Obviously it's a bit of a weather dependent spot, but it does mean you can run down the road afterwards for fish and chips.

Ascension Island

How remote can you get?!? This report is edited from comments made by a chap called Dave Thurlow on the Poole Kiteflyers site:

Being in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, there's usually some wind. Unfortunately, it may be coming from across the island.
Green Mountain (2816ft) and various cinder cones from dead(ish) volcanoes churns it up a bit.

The beaches are not suitable for buggying because:

(a) the sand is beautifully soft and

(b) it's full of holes some 6' across and up to 2' deep, dug out by nesting green turtles.

These also present a hazard when running backwards with a kite.
(The holes, that is, unless you're flying under a full moon, in which case you may fall over a turtle. Since they are a protected species, this would be frowned upon.)

Other sites: The beach south of Georgetown is maybe getting a bit close to the airfield, even though several days can go by without a single aircraft movement. (Come to think of it, if you spoke *very* nicely to the air traffic controller, maybe he'd let you buggy down his 3500m runway. On the other hand, maybe he won't. But he'd probably pass the time of day with you.)

The only other beach is English Bay, and you wouldn't want to get your kite tangled up with the BBC transmitting aerials... The only flat-ish areas inland are covered with jagged lumps of volcanic clinker, lying just where they fell during an earlier erruption, as well as large cacti, and Mexican thorn bushes. Altogether, this amounts to an environment that would reduce any kite to shreds on the first unplanned landing.

Note that every few months, all aerial movements are banned for some 8 hours while the Americans perform a missile test. (The missile is launched from Florida, aimed at Ascension, and blown up some 20 miles short of the island. Usually. I caught the last plane home before the test.)

In short, don't go there to fly kites. But if you're going anyway, just put one or two in your bag. I flew my Rolands Frog. (Maybe that's why I didn't see any turtles.) And don't forget the sun cream - you'll just *lurve* the climate. And there are some superb walks on Green Mountain and elsewhere.

I cut my teeth flying a Flexifoil 6ft Stacker at both Long beach (Georgetown) and North East Bay. Amazing places to fly a kite. Mind, you must look out for the Frigate Birds that form a stack high above your kite to 'dive bomb' it. The secret is to lower the kite a bit during their dive, then bring it back up again when they are below your max height!

The wind is constant and warm, sunglasses and hat a must.
Althought a bit far to travel to just to fly your kite, if you are going that way anyway pack your kite!