Judith's blog

On our walk yesterday, we spotted the Ropes and Ladders High Activity course right next to the National Slate Museum. We’ve always wanted to do a tree top/canopy activity thing, but in France, where we have seen them most often, they are usually closed when we pass by in autumn/spring. We got there at opening time and were the only people there. Jim, our personal guide, was a lovely lad originally from Bakewell, so we had a lot of places/experiences in common.

I only got my camera out of the car nearly at the end, but we did the middle (20 feet up) and high (40 feet up) balancing, climbing, tight rope course and then the zip line. The giant swing was a bit like a fairground ride and then we had to climb up a 25 foot pole, stand on a small platform on top of it and then leap towards and grab a trapeze. It would have been less scary if the wind hadn’t been rocking the pole. We had another go at the rope course and then went off for a cup of tea. It was really good, and a long held ambition fulfilled.

We had planned to go to Bangor, Penryn Castle and then Lladdona beach. But instead Jim suggested we go to Newborough on Anglesey. There’s an amazing beach there and you can walk along to the island of Llanddwyn.

We had a read, snooze and picnic first and then set off on the walk to the  island. It’s such a huge beach that the sand density varies, so you could be walking on firm sand one minute and then be sinking down with every foot step the next. Negotiating a comfortable route made it a lot more interesting. We finally got to the little island and light houses. There are still wardens’ cottages and it’s a nature reserve, so lots of wild flowers. On our walk back the tide had gone out further, almost doubling the size of the beach.

It’s been a lovely three days away, with warm sunshine and stunning views. We spent over 14 hours walking and did over 1000 m of ascent. My knees really need a rest now. Looking at the forecast, they’re going to get it!

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The forecast was for sunny and hot weather (27C in land, 24C at the coast), and given that this is our last full day in Spain, we decided to go to the beach. I’ve not been swimming in the sea this calendar year and that had to be rectified before we leave.

There was a bank of sea fog at Roses in the morning, so we did more packing and sorting, while we watched the webcams to check the weather situation. As soon as it started clearing, we set off. We had a few concerns when we drove through the fog bank, which had now moved inland to Figueres, but by the time we were close to the coast, it was sunny. A few guys were sitting with their gliders open on launch at Sant Pere de Rodes, but we had no regrets about not bringing the gliders. Today was a complete relax day – we’re going to be spending 24 hours in the car from tomorrow, so no desire to rush around trying to fly.

Nobody was swimming when we put down towels, so I was the first in. It was cold getting into the water, but once swimming, it was lovely. If you stayed close in, the warmed sand radiated proper under-belly heating. I stayed in for about 25mins and then dried off in the hot sun, before going for a big lunch on the front and a walk into town. We couldn’t stay all day because we have too much to do. We have various people borrowing the the house, so it has to be cleaned and cleared properly and that takes time. So three hours sorting at home and then the traditional welcome/farewell cava session with Fina and Fidel, our neighbours.

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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.

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Geoff writes: the cloud was forecast to come in quite early and shut off any activity, so we decided on an early day at the beach, then back to do some work. In fact, the cloud came in late, and people were flying much of the afternoon at San Pere. Still, we had an interesting, if somewhat tiring, day at Roses, one way and another.

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Geoff writes: we finally closed the conference at 8.30am this morning. A great four days – something over 2,000 posts in the 16 sessions. Brilliant feedback as usual, and everyone saying how much they look forward to next year. People increasingly prefer this type of  conference to the face to face workshops they attend – the level of interaction is a lot greater, the level of debate is a lot higher (this is NOT Twitter!), more people get actively involved, they’re cheaper, and, of course, they can attend from home.

In the afternoon, we were hoping to go flying, but as expected the weather is getting worse now. So whilst it was still sunny, it was much too windy to fly, so we went to the beach, having a look at a place we’ve never been to before, Platja d’Aro, and the town nearby, Castell d’Aro. They were OK, but like most resorts, they use the winter to do repairs, so it had a sort of unfinished look. In summer, I guess it will be extremely busy. And it has some high rises on the front, which we really hate. There are nicer places, but good to get out of the  house.

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So the plan for today was to get up really early and get on the first lift at Masella, ski until lunch time and then drive across the valley to France and fly at Targasonne.

However, yesterday the top temperature at Masella was 16C, and today was supposed to be warmer. Mike wasn’t confident about the forecast being good for flying at Targasonne and I wasn’t feeling 100%. So we scrapped that plan and instead we went flying at Sant Pere de Rodes. Since it was my monthly day off flying, I was designated driver.

Matthias and Jesus had gone up the hill earlier and we met up with Mike and Oriol in Palau Saverdera. Once at the top, we could see the thick inversion below us. Matthias had launched and gone straight down, so we all waited around and then Jesus launched for an extended top-to-bottom. Mike flew next, but Oriol had to wait a while, as the wind started switching north and only thermals were bringing it on. He got off and had the longest flight of the day, working weak thermals under the inversion layer.

By this time it had switched north properly and Geoff walked across to the other launch and flew there, landing on the beach at Port de la Selva. I drove down to get him and we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the sun, looking at shoals of fish and being groomed by some shaggy dogs to be their playmates.

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We posted a message on the Parapent Girona list last night, but nobody wanted to come out to play at Bellmunt today. On a Thursday it’s too much of a lottery whether there will be anyone there and it’s too much hassle to walk back up, so we decided to do something else. Since tomorrow’s adventure is more laborious, we decided to go chill out. With a forecast of 21C at the coast, it was a bit of a no-brainer… head to the beach.

Geoff took his bike and I took my blades and we did the St Margarida – port at Roses and back trip, with a stop off for lunch on the seafront on the way. It was a good job I took some shoes in my rucksack, as the loos were up a spiral staircase, which would have guaranteed some broken bones if attempted in roller blades – if indeed they had let me into the place in them. After, we had a paddle, a snooze and read in the sun and then headed back to do some work. Less than 3 weeks before we open the next conference. Better make some progress at editing the presentations…

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