January 2009
Monthly Archive
Friday, 16th January 2009
Geoff 16 Jan 2009 | : Boring stuff
Geoff writes: it looked like a really good day from the sky, lots of nice cumulus after a dull start. But we decided to stay in and work, partly because Judith was suffering from a cold and not really up to flying, and partly because we’ve got a lot of work to do.
Might have been a mistake though……
Thursday, 15th January 2009
Geoff writes: Another warm, sunny day. We went skiing, at La Molina. It was a little busy, but not too crowded at all, especially once we got a bit higher, and away from all the beginners. The forecast was for a lot of high cloud, but that never appeared, and it was sunshine all day, with very light southerly winds. The temperature has definitely improved this week, but the snow was still good – not melting on the slopes, in spite of the warm sun, and still really nice to ski on. Just the occasional icy patch.
Spending the evening working – as the conference gets closer (we open next week), there is more and more to do, mostly administrative stuff like processing new delegates.
Wednesday, 14th January 2009
What a tupsy-turvy year we are having… the weather is nice but the flying less than average. On paper today should have been excellent. High pressure, strong tramuntana (5/7 on the Beaufort scale at the coast) and post cold front.
We got to Santa Brigida (I’m getting sick of the sight of the place, when is it ever going to go south again?) and it looked great. I got into the air first and struggled to stay up. I hooked a thermal beyond the monastery and got back up, but this set the pattern… one minute up, the next below ridge height. It was thermic, but it was difficult to work them and they didn’t go very high. I top landed when it got very scratchy again and Geoff joined me. A little light lunch later, Geoff launched again and went down. We gave it up as a bad job and went home.
Tuesday, 13th January 2009
We had a lazy day. It was probably flyable and definitely skiable, but we decided to do something we haven’t done for ages… bum around the beach.
We’ve been meaning to go back to the Greek/Roman ruins at Empuries for years and went there today. Geoff sees this as the perfect tourist attraction. You get ancient monuments (two cultures for the price of one), sun, sea and education for the bargain price of 3 euros. It was interesting walking around the site, but our visit to Pompeii makes everything Roman seem less amazing.
We went cycling/blading and then found a little island you could rock hop to to read our books, have a picnic and chill out. Bliss.
Monday, 12th January 2009
We finally made it up to the slopes! Nicky’s toe is still too swollen for ski boots and Mark decided at the last minute not to come, so Geoff and I headed up to La Molina. It was freezing when we left home, but on arriving the sun had been shining a couple of hours and it was actually quite warm.
Gorgeous skiing conditions – sunny, empty and with great snow. The disabled skiers world cup was on today, so we were provided with interesting stuff to look at on the ski lifts on the way up too.
The skiing was excellent, though we finished around 3.00pm – we were pretty tired. But it was an excellent day.
Sunday, 11th January 2009
Geoff writes: Finally, the weather is changing, and getting a lot better. Warmer and sunnier. We flew at Santa Brigida today, meeting up with our friends Nicky Moss and Mark Graham. Actually, it was very crowded with a lot of people from Barcelona coming up to fly. Most people we have seen at the site in one day all winter.
It wasn’t an epic day, but it was flyable most of the day. The best height was around 650′ over, but mostly it was quite scratchy. But fun, and all four of us flew during the day. Ending up with beers, and food at home.
Tomorrow, skiing!
Saturday, 10th January 2009
Judith 10 Jan 2009 | : Boring stuff
More rain. Mustn’t grumble too much though, as it’s good working weather and we have a lot to do for the conference. Better forecast from tomorrow…