A gust of wind raises the image of the red Welsh Dragon into the air on flagpoles around the country. This national symbol is deeply rooted in the country’s legendarium, notably the stories collected in the Mabinogion, as well as the legends of King Arthur and appears in numerous other surprising places like the Football Association of Wales and the Welsh women’s suffrage movement of the twentieth century. And like the dragon, a gust of wind can lift the wing of a paraglider into the air, to soar through the skies above this beautiful country, whose landscape is infused with myths and stories.

Blessed with mountains and hills, sea cliffs and reliable winds from the Atlantic, is a fantastic place for paragliding. Experienced pilots can make long journeys over stunning scenery in various parts of the country, but it isn’t just reserved for pros. Many of these pilots bring paragliding to the masses by taking people on tandem flights, while others are instructors who pass on their skills to all those with a dream to fly. If you’d like to get involved with either of these experiences, please keep reading to find out more.

Where are the best places to go paragliding in Wales?

• South: Cardiff and Swansea, the biggest cities are on the coast of the Bristol Channel, and both are within easy reach of paragliding locations. From Cardiff, the nearest is inland, outside the town of Pontypridd. This is the heart of the Welsh valleys, where rivers wind toward the sea and villages sit on their banks. Swansea’s local launch sites are around Rhossili on the beautiful Gower Peninsula, a specially protected area with a fantastic coastline and green interior.

• Brecon Beacons: This upland area is protected by a national park. Several ranges make up the landscape of the park, including the Brecon Beacons themselves and the Black Mountains, as well as lakes, forests and valleys. There are many launch sites in this region, some of which, like those around Merthyr Tydfil, are near to population centres of South Wales. Others, such as Hay Bluff, Pandy and Blorenge, near Abergavenny, are well known by hill walkers, but best experienced from the air.

• Pembrokeshire: Another of the national parks in Wales covers much of the coastline of the southwest tip of the country, in the county of Pembrokeshire. There’s nothing like taking to the air from the cliff tops and sharing the skies with seabirds such as gannets and puffins. There are large populations of both of these bird species which mainly nest on uninhabited islands like Ramsay, Skomer and Skokholm, away from the shore in the Irish Sea. Popular holiday destinations like Tenby and St David’s are all well served by paragliding launch sites. From Fishguard, you can fly across the Afon Teifi to see the town of Cardigan from above.

• Ceredigion: This county in central borders the Irish Sea in the wide sweep of Cardigan Bay. It’s possible to launch on hills that surround the regional capital, Aberystwyth, glide over the waves with views of the town’s castle, harbour, and beaches in one direction, and the island of Ireland in the other. Inland, the landscape rises up to the Cambrian Mountains. As well as providing peaks and slopes for launch sites, the low population density makes this a paragliding destination characterised by peace, quiet, and pristine surroundings to contemplate.

• Snowdonia: Although the mountains of Snowdonia National Park aren’t used by schools for tandem flights or training, we can’t leave this beautiful area in northwest off the list. Numerous high altitude ranges make up this mountainous part of the country, the highest of which rises to the peak of Snowdon at 1,085 metres above sea level. Recreational pilots know of a whole host of slopes and ridges which are perfect for getting their paragliders airborne and starting a journey above the magnificent scenery of Snowdonia.

What are the options for organising an experience?

- The easiest way to fly by paraglider in the skies of Wales is a tandem flight, because someone else - an experienced pilot -will take care of the details and carry you as their passenger. You don’t have to worry about checking the weather forecast, choosing a launch site, preparing the equipment and finally carrying out the flight, you just need to wait for instructions and enjoy the ride! The meeting point and duration of a tandem flight depends on the meteorological conditions, but you can expect to get about 25-30 minutes in the air, during an experience that lasts a couple of hours.

You can enhance your tandem flight experience by arranging a photo and video package. Cameras attached to the structure of the craft will capture images of you and your pilot in flight, against the backdrop of the stunning aerial scenery.

- Completing a tandem flight is enough to convince a lot of people to take up this sport as a hobby, and one of the best places in the British Isles to learn the ropes is right here. A taster day is a popular option for newcomers to the sport, in which you’ll learn a lot and get the chance to fly, either solo or tandem depending on your preference. To get to the point where you can fly solo as and when you wish, you need to complete a longer training course of several days. This can be done all at once, but most people arrange the sessions on individual days over a period of weeks or months.

Requirements to do this activity

Due to the fact that an ascent has to be calculated carefully, taking into account the load and the wind, there’s an upper weight limit for passengers on a tandem flight. This varies a little depending on the pilot of the flight, but it’s . If you weigh less than that, you should be able to take part in this activity, provided you’re able to hike up a Welsh hill to the launch site and move with the pilot at take off and landing.

The amazing thing about flying is that you can learn before you get behind the wheel of a car. That’s right, any adventurous spirits under the age of 17 can experience the thrill of this sport from the day they turn 14 years old, by enrolling on a training course.

Fly like a dragon in the Welsh skies, it’s an experience that you’ll never forget!