October 2009
Monthly Archive
Saturday, 24th October 2009
Judith 25 Oct 2009 | : Beach, Party, party, party...
We were hopeful that we would be able to fly Puig d’Afrou today, despite the forecast NW wind. The copious cava of the night before came to bite me and I was really hung over. Because I felt so ill I offered to drive for the lads and we set off to La Cellera. We could see wave bars in the Pyrenees from the outset and this didn’t bode well. On the drive up the hill we met Xevi who confirmed it was W at the top with only the odd waft up the south face. The wave bars were coming closer, so we canned the day and went to the beach. A good decision in retrospect, as it was W at Santa Brigida too.
We drove to St. Feliu de Guixols and we had a swim in the sea and a walk. Roger kindly offered us beers and snacks at his place before we all went to the fiesta in Girona. At the fiesta there were castlers, the human tower builders, of which there are associations all over Catalunya. There were two teams competing for who could build the highest and most elaborate towers. They each reached six levels high, with the big strong guys at the bottom and the last child up the tower being about 4 years old. The blue team built a six level tower and then built a five level single line in the middle, which they kept standing while the rest was dismantled. The guy at the bottom who was supporting the four people above him was sweating like mad!
When it was finished we went to the correfoc. My favourite! It involves fire – lots of it. You dance with (or in the case of Geoff and Wayne run away from) devils wielding fireworks at head height. You and thousands of others follow a procession of drummers around the narrow streets of Girona whilst devils chase you with fireworks at your feet, next to you, above you, etc. Hats or hoodies are essential if you want to keep your hair. With the music, fire and smoke it’s completely crazy.
At the cathedral they did a big drumming display and then set fireworks off on the steps before spooking the crowd by letting off huge fireworks in the midst of everybody. Then the chasing began again. In another square they had placed containers of fire on the ground which you had to negotiate (bearing in mind there were hundreds of us in the square) while they thew bangers at us. They had hung Molotov cocktail bottles in the trees and there were buckets of fire on the steps out of the square and more being chased with fire. Brilliant!
By the time we left we were too exhausted to think about going on any rides at the fair.
Friday, 23rd October 2009
We really wanted to take Wayne flying at different sites while he was here, but the forecast turned out windy. Only place to go in strong northerlies is Santa Brigida.
We all had various flights, got high, got low, top landed to have a rest, have lunch and do some sun bathing.
Xevi turned up and so did Roger later. We have not seen him yet since we got back so we caught up on the news. Customary beers were had by all…
Later nice dinner followed by way too much cava.
Thursday, 22nd October 2009
Judith 23 Oct 2009 | : Holiday
What a disaster today was!
The forecast was for rain in the morning but clearing from the south by lunchtime. There was no chance of flying, so Wayne and I decided to go to Barcelona. The day was doomed from the start. We decided not to take the bus basically outside the front door, but to drive to Figueras to take the train. I’ve only been to the train station there once, but was convinced I could find it again. Half an hour later I asked a passerby and found I was on the wrong side of town. The signposting in Figueras was clearly done by the local kindergarten – when existent totally random. We got to the station eventually, but had to wait for over an hour to get the next train, which stopped at every chicken coup from here to Barcelona and took over two hours. On the way, it started to rain…
First stop was Sagrada Familia, the crazy Gaudi cathedral. I had been waxing lyrical to Wayne about how great it was to climb the towers, fantastic views, etc. We paid our 11 euros but the inside of the cathedral is full of scaffolding, so we didn’t linger long and headed for the tower stairs. They were closed due to rain! No warning before we paid, no refunds. What a scam! 10 quid to see a lot of scaffolding, and a bit of cathedral.
By the time we left, it was pouring, so we went to the nearest bar for lunch and we lingered there until we could face the rain again. By this time the rain was accompanied by thunder and lightening. We made it two blocks, but despite our rain jackets, we were getting wet so we sheltered in a cash point vestibule for half an hour while we watched the roads turn into rivers. There is no drainage in Barcelona, it just flows down to the sea…
The day was getting on by this time, and we decided on some indoor activities, but this meant walking to a metro station. Two minutes walking in the deluge had us pop into an Everything is 1 euro shop for disposable plastic macs to wear over our rain coats. Our tops stayed relatively dry, but our bottom halves and shoes were sopping. I was wearing trainers and felt I had two mobile puddles with me.
We were going to walk past La Pedrera on the way to the metro but despite knowing where it was and seeing the roof of it in the distance for some reason we walked past it without actually seeing it. Since we had failed to do anything successfully other than lunch, we threw in the towel and went to the train station to go home. Soaking wet, all we wanted was to get home and changed, but the next train wasn’t for over an hour, at which point we were then told that due to adverse weather conditions all trains were delayed. It was a long, long day!
Wednesday, 21st October 2009
Judith 21 Oct 2009 | : Holiday
Geoff writes: Wayne arrived for a few days holiday, timing it perfectly to get the really bad weather. Basically, it rained most of the day, so we went for a big lunch and a siesta. It did clear a little late afternoon, so we managed to go to Besalu and have a nice walk around and a beer. Pretty cold though – not exactly like it is supposed to be.
Highlight of the day was the Besalu sausage shop – although it’s not a patch on the famous Castellollit sausage museum.
Tuesday, 20th October 2009
Judith 21 Oct 2009 | : Boring stuff
The first day of rubbish weather here. Good opportunity to catch up and try to get ahead with some work.
Monday, 19th October 2009
We finally made it to the beach today. Hurray!
We would have liked to go to Berga, but had a meeting at 11am, so would not have made it in time, so instead we went for a leisurely anniversary lunch in Roses and then slept off the wine with a snooze on the beach. I was determined to go for a swim, but the wind was picking up and it got a bit chilly so I procrastinated for a while, but then stuck my feet in for a paddle and it was fine. It was so nice I stayed in the water for ages, drawing amazed looks from the Spaniards who were wrapped up is shawls and/or jackets.
Nils is coming round tonight on his way home from a festival in Zaragoza where he was performing, so it will be lovely to see him. And even more of an excuse to drink Cava!
Sunday, 18th October 2009
On paper today should have been better than Saturday. I had assured Felix yesterday that if he had to choose between the weekend days today would be the day. He didn’t come out yesterday because of my advice. Boy, did I feel bad when we got to Santa Brigida and the wind was NW (the hill takes SE). Thermals were bringing it on, but the wind in the bottom landing field was consistently somewhere between SW and NW, but mostly WNW. You’d expect it to be a bit of a washing machine out front. We caught up on the last six months worth of news, had a picnic, Felix did some groundhandling, Geoff read and I went for a walk and we were all going to write off the day at 4pm when Marc, Lluis and another pilot arrived.
By this time the wind was light at the bottom and Felix launched. He managed to maintain a while but then went down. Shortly after Marc launched and went straight up. Lluis followed him and they got as far as the end of the ridge to the east. We got ready fast (too fast – I forgot to put my ballast in) and launched. It was easy to stay up, and there was lift everywhere. I thermalled a bit and then dropped onto the east ridge. There I hit a line of convergence and I straight-lined it all the way to the road beyond St. Climent de Amer. I punched through the inversion and got there at 3250′ AMSL and I could easily have landed at La Cellera, but decided to boat about admiring the scenery. This is the furthest I have ever pushed forward and got back, so it was worth spending the time sight seeing. Visibility was unbelievably clear – you could see the houses at Roses, the cathedral at Girona, sea all along the coast (as far as Tossa de Mar) and of course the Pyrenees. Just stunning. Lluis was up there too, but he got even higher. Geoff, meanwhile, didn’t quite get into the lift I had, but had a lovely boat about at 1200′ ATO, and thoroughly enjoyed his flight. Felix too flew again and had a nice time.
On my return to Santa Brigida, it had picked up a lot and I couldn’t top land. Without ballast I was getting buffeted around a bit and decided to do the sensible thing and bottom land, even if this meant a walk back up the hill. Geoff had similar problems and we both ended up at the bottom by choice. Not that it was easy to get there – there was lift everywhere.
Luckily for us Lluis top landed and brought our car down. There were a few firsts for Lluis too, so we had a big excited chat about our little adventure.