Judith's blog

Geoff writes: each day, the forecast for the next day is good, but then gets worse the closer we get. Today, there were big clouds threatending rain all day. In the end, there were just a few spots of rain, but the clouds were very big. We did attempt an evening flight, but even then the clouds were still towering, so in the end decided not to bother.
 

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The forecast today looked unlikely, but there was an outside chance it would work. That chance seemed less likely when I spotted a cunim over El Mont at 11.30am (10.30 really given that the clocks have only just changed), which seemed a tad early and didn’t bode well. So all plans for flying at Sant Pere de Rodes were ditched and plan B was to drive past Santa Brigida, if it was flyable we’d do that, if not, we’d head to the beach.

With the big development all around us, we decided to do a job first and go to Olot to argue with Telefonica to get our land line back. They were actually very helpful, but don’t get me started on Jazztel…

Then off to Santa Brigida, where the wind was too strong, from the NW and with a massive cloud sitting above it. How many more inidicators do you need that it’s NOT flyable? As we drove towards Girona/the coast, the clouds just got blacker and more ominous. Then it started pouring. We ditched the beach plan and decided to go into town and visit Jesus in hospital. He’s recovering from his nine hour operation to fix his pelvis, and is sitting up reasonably comfortably. He won’t be able to walk for three months, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Afterwards we went for a quick walk round town and a sandwich before coming home to start the packing for our return to the UK next week.

See photos of today.

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What a rush around day! First thing into Olot to get the van serviced, then back home to have coffee with Veronica (there was Geoff thinking he was the only English in the village!) and then back to get the van. However, there’s a hole in the transmission that needs to be repaired and it all got a bit complicated, but suffice to say, we couldn’t go to fly in Berga with Nicky. Instead we decided to try our luck at Santa Brigida with Tomas, Marc and Joan.

It was clear even before we got there that it was windy, but we went up anyway to see if it would drop. Tomas is a professional balloon pilot and he keeps a supply of helium in his truck to blow up balloons which he releases to check wind speed, direction, etc. before he launches. It was incredibly thermic, and the wind turned at times, so we blew up balloons to try to see what rotor looks like. This of course inspired lots of silliness – and in the end I got to do something I have always wanted to do, but never got the chance… talk funny with helium. It was hysterical!

We never did get to fly, but we had a really nice afternoon…

See photos of today.

See video of me talking funny.

See video of Joan talking funny.

See video of Marc talking funny.

See video of me doing ‘Helium Happy Birthday’.

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Geoff writes: an excellent day which I managed to miss, partly because of laziness, and partly because our one Spanish mobile, which has all our Spanish contacts in it, is now in Ireland with Judith, rather than here where it would be useful. So I had no way of contacting others.

I went to Bellmunt first, where there were four people flying. I didn’t want to take the car up, because I didn’t want the hassle of getting it back, especially if I went XC, which was easily possible today. It’s not top landable, and it’s a two hour walk (for me, with a glider) back up (hence the laziness).  I waited in the meeting place – the cemetery! – for a while, but no-one else arrived. There were some people at a parachute zip line and packing event, so – not having a phone – I had no idea when they would turn up. So I decided to go to Santa Brigida, confident it was on there, and that there would be people there – and it’s top landable, and an easy hitch back for the car if you land out.

Much to my amazement there was no-one there, even though it was flyable. Again, I waited a while, but no PGs turned up. Not wanting to fly alone – I’m never that happy doing that, and certainly not when no-one knows where I am and I don’t have a mobile – I eventually gave up, went home, and had beer and sandwiches on the balcony.

Really, though, I shouldn’t have been so lazy, and just gone up Bellmunt.

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Geoff writes: we may be good tour guides for other people, but not so good when it comes to ourselves – today was a completely messed up day.

The forecast looked OK for flying, and it was sunny here, though with some big clouds (as you might expect with the ground so wet), but plenty of blue, so off we went to Bellmunt. But as soon as we came out of the tunnels on the other side of the pass, there was complete cloud cover, and the launch, and most of the ridge, was in cloud. So we phoned others to warn them not to bother, turned round, and went to Santa Brigida, where it was sunny, but too far west, and with the wind picking up. So after chatting in the landing field for a while, we consoled ourselves with the thought of going to the Olot carnival this evening – a massive affair, which should have been yesterday at 5.00pm, but was postponed to today because of the rain yesterday. It’s a great event, with many really impressive floats, and we always enjoy going. 

As we drove there, we saw a couple of floats heading the wrong way – and after we’d parked and were walking in, we saw more and more people in costumes, also walking the wrong way. We finally asked a policewoman, who said it was finished – it had started around 11.30 – whereas we had assumed it would be the same time as originally planned – and we had checked their web site this morning, just to make sure, but there was no mention of a revised time.

To add insult to injury, we were soaked by the street cleaners…

The forecast for the next couple of days is rain, but better after that. And yesterday, there was 50cm of new snow at Masella.

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Geoff writes: today is the last full day for Mick and Wayne, and it had a deteriorating forecast. Skiing was written off as an option – the first two days were enough for Wayne. Flying, though, seemed possible, before the wind came in later. In the end, after some indecision, we decided on Sant Pere de Rodes, mostly because if it was not flyable, or after flying if it was ok, we could then do other stuff, like go to the beach. Also, Mathias, who lives near there, thought it would be a good day.

We were up early, and so had time for a quick visit to the famous tree house. I guarded the car and gliders, whilst the others went inside. This is the only place where there is a real risk of theft from cars – mostly because once you are in the maze, you can be meters from the car, but still not able to get out to stop any thieves.

Then on to meet Marc, to go up Sant Pere de Rodes. At this point, I decided we were in a hurry to get there before the wind picked up. On the drive up, we saw a glider flying, so knew it was still ok. After giving a bottle of wine to the car park attendant, who always lets pilots park free, we did the route march up to launch. As we were walking up, it still seemed fine, though maybe top end.

On getting to launch, we saw the sight pilots always hate to see – a glider in the bushes just below launch. We rushed down, and found Jesus, a friend of ours, conscious, but obviously badly hurt. No-one else was there – he had been flying with two others, but they had bottom landed, and as far as we knew at that point they did not know Jesus had crashed. Marc immediately called for a helicopter, and we did what we could to make Jesus comfortable. At one point  he stopped breathing for a while, but we managed to get him started again; he also went briefly into shock, and was unconscious for a few seconds, but again came around. We kept him warm, and kept talking to him.

Very soon (in fact, a very fast response) the medics arrived by helicopter (by the end, there were three helicopters from different branches, bringing more medics, firemen and police ). They stabilised him, and finally he was winched off to hospital.

As it turned out, one of the other PG pilots had seen the accident, but I think maybe hadn’t realised quite how serious it was. He had bottom landed – top landing is extremely difficult here – and driven back up, but then it is also a 15 minute walk to launch from the parking. Jesus was extremely fortunate we arrived when we did, and so were able to call the emergency services relatively soon after his accident.

He has a broken pelvis and internal bleeding, but is stable, so hopefully, this has had a happy ending. Wayne even found his vario/GPS, which he was very worried had been lost.

As always, the helicopter pilots were amazing, hovering and dropping off medics over very steep and difficult terrain.

Needless to say, we didn’t fly afterwards – and also the wind had picked up considerably by that point (but even if it hadn’t, I doubt any of us would have flown). Instead we had a picnic looking at the spectacular scenery, then went for a walk along the beach.

Not the best day ever, except for the fact that our friend is alive, and hopefully will fully recover.

See photos of today.

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Geoff writes: today we had to pick up Wayne and Mick from the airport – they’re visiting for a few days. This meant skiing wasn’t an option, but it seemed that maybe flying would be, in spite of the easterly forecast. After a morning cleaning up (we only do this when we have visitors) we went to Santa Brigida, where the wind was on, but it was very gusty. Very sunny, very warm, very thermic, but maybe about 10km/h too much. In the end, we had to leave for the airport, though it probably would have dropped off enough for an evening flight.

We came home from the airport via Besalu, which was really nice in the evening, with all the lighting of the old part. Warm too. And we saw three otters swimming down the river.

Then back home for food, drink and games. A pleasant evening.

The forecast for the rest of the week until last night had been wall-to-wall sunshine. Predictably enough, as soon as we have visitors, the forecast deteriorated dramatically, and it doesn’t look too good for Tuesday, so we decided we would go skiing, and hope for the best.

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