Walking
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Saturday, 1st January 2011
Posted by Judith on 02 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Walking
We were hoping for the first flight of the year today, but it wasn’t to be. Like yesterday, if we had been desperate, we could have found somewhere to throw ourselves off, but it seemed a waste of a day where we could do something else. Geoff felt rotten with the cold, but I was much better, so Nicky and I set out to the Argelaguer tree house. I haven’t been since March, and the owner is always working on it, so we wanted to see what progress he’s made.
The new entrance is now through a tower which we christened the ‘voodoo temple’ because he’s made all the barriers around the platforms out of walking sticks made with real birds heads, animal feet or weird looking faces. It wasn’t at all pleasant. The builder has added loads of strange paraphenalia (like in the old days of the previous tree house), so there are teddies and toy rabbits hanging from trees, wild boar heads staring out at you and endless other toys and things. The labyrinth is much, much bigger and there are new towers too. And one that’s collapsed, but we didn’t want to dwell on that while we were climbing another…
After getting thoroughly muddy, we headed to Banyoles for something to eat. We were ladies what lunch for the day and polished off a three course meal, half a bottle of wine and a couple of coffees before walking it all off with a loop round the whole lake. We had a lovely day and then went home for a siesta that never happened, but had leftovers curry and more playing the labyrinth game, before having an early night.
Wednesday, 15th December 2010
Posted by Judith on 16 Dec 2010 | Tagged as: Walking
We’ve been waiting for the temperatures to go down enough to go skiing and today they finally did. However, alongside the cold snap also came a hefty wind. We had a weather warning of stong tramuntana winds at the coast (gusts up to 125km/h), mistral in the Ebro valley and winds of up to 90km/h in the Pyrenees. Not much fun going skiing when the wind stops you from actually getting up any speed.
Johnny called us about going flying, and I assumed that if it was on, it would be really good at Santa Brigida. We decided to do something else though, which was go for a walk I have been wanting to do for years.
Toroella de Montgri, near L’Estartit, has a 300m, near conical hill above it, with a square castle on top. You can see it for miles. The views from the top are supposed to be stunning and there’s no road up the hill, so if you want to see them, you have to make the effort to walk up. It’s part of the GR92, so a well trodden path and well marked, no need for maps, etc.
We arrived in the town and went in search of a spot of lunch before the walk. With the incredibly strong wind, it was bitterly cold, and I realised I had not brought enough clothes with me. Crucially, I forgot a hat and gloves. We wandered around the old town and were really impressed by how nice it is.
Once on the path up the hill, Geoff took pity on me and got out his hood, so I could have his hat, since my ears seemed about to drop off. Although very windy, we were in the lee of the hill, until we came to a saddle and met the full force of the breeze. It was pretty much like walking up a volcano in Lanzarote… hold on to all your posessions or you lose them. Once at the top, the views were indeed impressive. You can see the Medes islands (allegedly some of the best diving in Europe is around them), the Bay of Roses, the plains around Figueras and of course the Pyrenees.
The wind noise inside the castle was deafening, but we went for a stroll along the castle walls and had to hang onto the railings to keep steady. Once you’re standing on the castle walls you can also appreciate why they built the castle where they did. 10/10 for defensive position!
Rather than taking the same way down, Geoff spotted some green arrows pointing over part of the steep cliffs which are under the castle. Excellent – the direct way down. Many of the rocks were so worn, they were polished and really, really slippy, and with the wind as well, it turned into quite an exciting descent. Half-way down we encountered a stunning cave, and ended up having to skid down a rock fall to get back to the path.
By the time we got back to the car, I was frozen, so we decided to go to Peretallada for a coffee. It’s a walled medieval village, with many streets too narrow for cars. One street still has deep furrows from horse-drawn carts and the whole place is very atmospheric. We’ve been before, so know it’s packed with restaurants and cafes, but just our luck, not one was open. We then tried neighbouring Palau-Sator and drew and equal blank. I was getting colder and colder, so in the end we just drove home and made our own coffee.
On arriving back in Castellfollit, there was a half moon with a double halo (red and green) around it. I’ve never seen anything like it, but wish I could have taken a photo for posterity. And we spoke to Johnny later… it was epic conditions at Santa Brigida. Very thermic, very buoyant and he’s in love with the Niviuk Zion.
Saturday, 4th December 2010
Posted by Judith on 06 Dec 2010 | Tagged as: Holiday, Walking
The forecast was for strong winds today, and getting stronger as the day progressed. Although Fritz hinted that he thought it might be possible to fly today, we wrote it off when it seemed to pick up a lot over breakfast. We drove past the south coast and didn’t see anyone flying, but then again, the palm trees seemed to be doubled over.
We headed over to the north side of the Timanfaya national park to do the hike recommended by the information centre. The Montaña Blanca trail took us on a rocky path through a lava field into the crater of a little volcano. We then walked along a better path to Montaña Blanca, while we looked for the path up to the crater. We eventually found it, but the wind was getting stronger. We spoke to a German couple at the bottom of the sloping path and they told us that the wind on the edge of the crater was really strong, so much so that they had been scared walking down and had relied on their walking sticks to keep themselves balanced. They suggested we take our glasses off as both of them had nearly lost theirs. We decided to walk up part way and see. As we climbed higher, the gusts got stronger and stronger, blowing down little rocks and making us crouch down, to keep steady. Another group of Germans came down the hill and reported conditions where it was difficult to stay steady on your feet and one said she was nearly pushed over by the wind.
We had a lengthy discussion about how sensible it would be to carry on. The forecast was for increasing winds in the middle of the day and I was already concerned about the conditions half way up, never mind in the dip of the crater, where there was a strong venturi effect. In the end we decided there’s a difference between doing something dangerous and just being foolhardy, so turned back and walked back down. We were really disappointed though not to see the crater.
As we walked back along the bottom of the volcano, I estimate the gusts to have been about 45 – 50mph and occasionally we were bent forward walking into the wind. It was hard going. Once back round the volcano we spotted another path (which hadn’t been on our map) and eventually found the way up. The path up took us through the pyroclastic flow between the two volcanoes and you got to see the swirling mass of broken lava up close. The path here was much more sheltered and the wind wasn’t an issue until we got to the rim, where we sat down to admire the view. It was getting on by this time and we decided it was time to head back. Our walk took over four hours in total and we decided to head back to the coast in search of a sandwich via La Geria, Lanzarote’s wine growing region. It is a deep black landscape of man-made hollows, some with protective walls built around them, to protect the vines from the incessant wind. As I stopped to take a picture, I had to hold onto the car door to stop it being blow open violently and I had to walk nearly diagonally to be able to walk into the wind.
A couple of kilometers later, we could see the backside of the flying site of Macher and to our complete and utter amazement, there were hang gliders flying! I couldn’t believe that the conditions could either be so different, or that they would be so crazy. With much head shaking and tutting, we drove down to Playa Quemada to see if we could get something to eat and a beer when even more amazingly, we saw paragliders in the air. Admittedly, they were taking off about 30 or 40m AMSL, and it still seemed strong, but four of them managed to get a short flight before darkness. Incredible.
We had been following the air traffic control strike on the news and internet, but it seemed like the government’s intervention would work and we would be able to get our flights home no problem. Geoff had a skype chat with our pilot friend Roger, who had had to divert to Marseille, and was stuck there while his passengers were bused to Girona. Asked if he thought the military coming in would solve the problem he said “Sure, if they use enough ammunition”. The air traffic controllers here really didn’t make any friends this weekend, particularly when it was revealed that their average salary is 350,000 euros.
Sunday, 21st November 2010
Posted by Judith on 21 Nov 2010 | Tagged as: Trying, but failing, to fly, Walking
We woke up to a sunny day, but it started windy, although it soon dropped. Nicky wanted to go see some volcanoes, so we went to Croscat, the hollowed out volcano. Next stop was Santa Pau. By this time the wind was picking up again, but Marc confirmed that the wind was light in Santa Coloma. We decided to try to fly at Santa Brigida, but as we got closer we could see the duvet effect, which means high winds. We carried on regardless, but it was clear it was far too breezy and 180 degrees off. Since we were there, we took a walk round Amer village, which took all of five minutes.
Nicky decided to go home, and we drove back to do some work. When we got back to Puig Sacalm, the duvet effect was the biggest and most impressive we’ve ever seen.
Saturday, 20th November 2010
Posted by Judith on 21 Nov 2010 | Tagged as: Miscellaneous activities, Walking
No live sessions over the weekend, so we’re having some time off and just doing the minimum to keep the conference ticking over. We need a rest before the actual conference starts – both to preserve our sanity and our wrists/mouse fingers. We were hoping we would be blessed with good flying weather as Nicky was coming up for the weekend, but the day started with rain and wind. By lunchtime the sun was shining, but it was still too windy. When Nicky arrived we just had time for a walk round the cliff/village and then dinner.
I haven’t had much time or inclination to cook recently, but having a visitor gave me the chance to plan and cook a small feast. We had asparagus gratin for starters, then carrot, almond and feta terrine wrapped in vine leaves with a green pepper-corriander salsa and lemon sorbet for dessert.
Nicky claimed not to be very good at games and then wiped the floor with us on her first ever go at Labyrinth. No good indeed!
Sunday, 31st October 2010
Posted by Geoff on 31 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Walking
Geoff writes: we woke up to rain, but the forecast was improving, and whilst probably not flyable, it looked like it might be sunny later. So we decided to go for a walk to Cap Norfeu. This is a stunning headland, just north of Roses, with sea on both sides. When we arrived there, the sun was out, and it was warm – and hot walking around it! A 4km walk took us about two hours, with stops to look around hermits’ caves, and for a picnic.
We got back to the car, and drove to the nearest beach for sunbathing, timing it spectacularly badly, just as the sun went in. We stayed for a while, had a snooze, then drove to the top of the next hill, back into the sun – and realised the cloud we were under whilst on the beach was a growing cu-nim. So we were sat on the top of the hill, overlooking Roses, in the warm sun again – whilst behind us was a massive cu-nim, with thunder and lightning. A bit strange.
Next on the tourist itinerary was a dolmen, since Wayne had never seen one. 5000 year old tombs, there are loads of them round here. It’s just a giant cemetery….
And finally, down to the promenade at Roses, a walk along the beach, seeing some of the brilliant sand art, coffee and beer, and back home.
Where we celebrated the end of the summer PG XC League, and confirmed that Judith has won the prize for highest placed DHV1/2 (EN B) glider, coming 35th overall. A brilliant achievement!
Tuesday, 12th October 2010
Posted by Judith on 13 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Boring stuff, Walking
Ok, so we seem to be having the worst weather in Europe. But at least we have kind friends who keep us up to date with how nice it is in the UK and who helpfully point out that we left too soon and should have stuck around longer.
After a night of hard rain, it actually stopped at 11am and brightened up a touch. Not enough to go flying (even if it had got flyable, our gliders would have got soaked and muddy), but we decided to go for a walk instead. We did the ’round the cliff’ walk to check out how much water there is in the river and to check out the damage caused by the deluge. Quite a few trees have come down, but nothing like a few years ago when the water level nearly came to the bottom of the cliff and flooded the allotments on the other bank.
In the hope of finding an agreeable forecast, I had a hunt around the internet trying to suss out when the next non-work day would be. I’ve decided to abandon the local RASP, which had this as the local forecast for today:
Complete and utter codswallop! Berga was marked as yellow, with a high thermal updraft strength. Except the webcam showed the mountains behind Berga were clagged in most of the day. And you can see why:
The only really accurate forecast was the synoptic:
And here’s some actual photos from our village. Thermals? My arse!