December 2009
Monthly Archive
Sunday, 20th December 2009
Forecast for today was wall to wall sunshine and lighter winds than yesterday, although more west. We got to Santa Brigida and found Enric, Xevi and a new pilot already there. The wind was on and birds were circling…
Geoff launched first, but it turned very west, so he came in to top land. We all waited a little while to see what would happen and of course the person with the least experience is always the first off. He’d gone down before and was told to stick closer to the ridge the next time. He took this advice to heart, so much so that he flew sideways through two trees before he had cleared the front. Talk about ‘hugging’ the ridge. He was rewarded with his best flight to date, thermalling up to 640m (2000′) and doing a top landing to cap his day.
Geoff and I launched and it was very thermic, but the wind was mixing it up a little. As the afternoon progressed the westerly became more established. It’s flyable in west, but you want to check that the wind doesn’t come all the way round and you find yourself in rotor. Eventually everyone got low and top landed, except Marc, who overshot and then had to scratch a long time to get back up to land near his car.
Come 3.30pm most people had written off the day and we were skeptical whether the wind would come on again. However, patience paid off and I launched again at 4pm and had a float about. Joan and Albert got their partially packed gliders back out and had a quick flight too.
Amazingly, despite it having been west all day long, Albert and I landed in the bottom in an east wind.
Saturday, 19th December 2009
Geoff writes: A classic Tramuntana day at Santa Brigida – a shame we messed it up, unlike some others!
We left home later than usual, for no good reason. Leaving Castellfollit and driving through Olot, it was howling, and north. In fact, it was north almost all the way to Santa Brigida. As we got closer, we could see a couple of paragliders high above – so leaving late clearly was a mistake. As we got into Amer, the village at the bottom of the hill, the wind dropped and became south, as almost invariably happens in Tramuntana. We rushed up, got ready, waited for a cycle (the gliders in the air were back at launch height) and launched.
I went forward into the valley, found a thermal and started circling, without really trying, assuming the day would last till dark. Meanwhile, back on the ridge, Xevi, Enric, Oriol and Judith were also climbing out. I flew slowly back to the ridge, and Judith left her thermal, whilst the others stayed in it. It started to get a bit more scratchy, and a bit bouncier, and I top landed. The wind dropped off to nothing on top, and west in the bottom, and Judith came in too. A few others went down to the bottom. A couple of minutes after Judith landed, the wind was strong north.
However, Xevi, Enric and Oriol were getting higher, and pushed forward, eventually hitting convergence. Oriol came back and bottom landed. Enric pushed forward (although probably downwind at the height he was) to La Cellera and landed there.
We waited around for an hour or so, but the wind never really came back on – it was very switchy, both on top and in the valley.
Really, we should have been there earlier, and not been so casual when we actually were in the air. But having said that, it rarely switches direction so early, so it was a little unusual in that. Still, it was an exceptionally good day, at least for three people!
Friday, 18th December 2009
Well it wasn’t a classic Tramuntana forecast, and we were a bit too close to the centre of the low pressures to the north, so it wasn’t a classic day. There was some discussion on the Parapent-Girona mailing list as to whether it was worth going or not. Nani posted a message saying we would go, but the news from Xiliu in La Cellera came back that the Coll de Gria, the strong westerly wind which flows from the Susqueda dam down into the valley, was “Hipo Huracanado”. At that point Nani bowed out, but it was a sunny day and who wants to work when the sun is shining? All indications on the way looked good and at Amer it was south, if a little breezy.
We sat it out and then Roger came from Girona airport and the sky clouded over, the wind dropped, and we all flew. We all got bloody cold. It was nothing special, but at least we got in the air.
Thursday, 17th December 2009
The forecast was significantly nicer north today, so we headed up into the mountains to go skiing. The weekend forecast had promised much snow on Monday, but this didn’t seem to have materialised. There wasn’t much snow on the way up and only a fraction of La Molina is open.
In Masella there is now 11km of skiable piste, but the school parties have arrived, so the lower slopes are quite churned up. Thankfully, they have opened the long top red run, although you have to get up there by button lift. Neither Geoff nor I like them. He had issues staying on them and they play havoc with my crummy knees.
We had anticipated it being very cold and the temperature gauges in Ripoll were giving -4°C. However, when we got to Masella it was overcast and therefore not as cold as we feared. By lunchtime the cloud had cleared, the sun had come out and the cold westerly wind had picked up. The views were stunning, but it did get a bit chilly.
Wednesday, 16th December 2009
Judith 16 Dec 2009 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
We was scuppered by the forecast!
Yesterday the forecast indicated that it would be better for flying today in comparison to the rest of the week. Skiing would be fine any day. So we opted to fly today, ski tomorrow and Friday. It was lovely and sunny this morning, and the warm front wasn’t due until late this evening. Decision made, we had a lie in and then did some work, as the sky progressively clouded over. We had posted on the Parapent Girona list that we were going out, but as we left the house we were less and less optimistic. It was strong west wind and no sun to bring it on. By the time we got to Olot it was pretty clear it was going to be rubbish, but you never know, so we continued. By Les Planes de Hostoles (8km from Santa Brigida) we couldn’t kid ourselves any more and no hoping it would be on would make it so. So we turned round and came home to do some work.
Tuesday, 15th December 2009
Judith 16 Dec 2009 | : Holiday
We were dreading waking up to more rain, but the morning dawned sunny. We toyed with the idea of driving back up to Erice to see what we missed, but our plane was leaving at 12.30pm and once we had a clear view of it, we could see that it was clagged in with a big cloud enveloping it.
The Rough Guide wasn’t very complimentary about Trapani, but the town has obviously changed a lot since it was published, because we really liked the place. Far from crumbling and run down, it had nicely restored palazzi, wide streets and lots of pedestrian areas, as well as sea on both sides of the old town. We wandered around soaking up the sun, sights and sea air until it was time to leave.
At the airport we got our final view of Erice – still in cloud. It started raining just was we taxied down the runway. Back home it was grey and the Pyrenees have a dusting of snow again.
Monday, 14th December 2009
Judith 16 Dec 2009 | : Holiday
The reason we wanted to come to Agrigento was to see the Valley of the Temples. A huge archeological site, which has barely been excavated. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site and contains the remains of what would have been the largest Greek temple ever built anywhere, had it been completed. We started our tour in the museum and if we had lingered to see all the exhibits in detail it would have taken all day. We looked at as much as was feasible and then moved out to the site. Amazing temples which have been rebuilt, columns shaped as men and a lot more. By lunch time it was time to try to fit in something else. We had wanted to go to the Roman Villa at Piazza Amerina, but there just wasn’t time, so we drove back towards Trapani to see Erice. It was a fairly boring drive made interesting only by the speed Geoff drove to get there in daylight and the vagaries of the local drivers. During the two hour drive the sky got blacker and blacker, but it only started to rain as we got up to Erice.
Erice is a medieval town perched on top of a 800m high rock which rises above Trapani. There’s nothing new in the village, other than the pylons which lead up to it. The streets are sometimes so narrow you have to walk single file. It is also apparently the cleanest town in the whole of Sicily.
Although we hate rain, we got out of the car and got our cagoules on and walked into the town via one of the city wall gates. All roads are cobbled in a pattern of squares, and these were designed for summer use. When it’s wet they become so slippy they’re treacherous – even with my flying/walking boots. We hadn’t got anywhere near the pretty castles and the famous folly when the rain got harder and we sheltered in a cafe for a bit. When we got to the other edge of the town (and to the stunning views of the bay to the north) it was nearly dark, but we could make out the sea, mountains and the street lights of the villages far below. In daylight it would have been amazing. We walked round to the first castle and spotted the strange little folly below. It was too dark for photos, and Geoff turned round and said “wow, look at the orographic cloud coming in!”. Hey presto, two minutes later we were enveloped by cloud. We could hardly see 10m ahead, never mind views, follies or castles. And then the rain really started. We negotiated our way back to the car, tottering down the slippy streets as if we were two old folk trying not to step on the lines in the pavement. Occasionally the fog was illuminated by a flash of lightening and clap of thunder which made us jump. We were soaked. I haven’t seen rain like this since I last went to Barcelona with Wayne.
The drive down the mountain was exciting. We snaked our way down hairpin bends that were so sharp it was tricky getting round them in a Fiat Panda with a great turning circle; while the wipers were on max setting; we could barely see ahead in the fog and above us the storm raged. All this was no problem at all – it was the anticipation of some mad Sicilian driver overtaking us on one of the bends while chatting on his mobile phone that was disconcerting.
We got to Trapani, where some of the roads were partially flooded. Thanks to the sat nav, we finally found the street where our hotel should have been, but guess what… no hotel. I got out of the car to ask someone, and by the time I had shown them the reservation and walked the 30m up a hidden alley to the B&B, it was paper mache. We waited in vain for the rain to stop and then got back into our wet coats and boots (urgh!) and looked for a restaurant. Like in Spain, most of them seemed to have their rest day on a Monday. We walked some way from the B&B and found nothing open. I knew there were places near the sea, but we hadn’t brought the guidebook in case it got too wet and we didn’t know where we were. In the end we ate microwave pasta at a greasy spoon three doors down from the B&B. What we reaslised the next day was that we were 100m from the main drag along the sea, which full of places to eat. We’d just missed it in the dark and rain!