January 2010
Monthly Archive
Monday, 4th January 2010
Pretty crummy forecast, although it didn’t rain. My parents are off on holiday for a month, so I took them to Girona where they caught the train to Barcelona airport. They treated me to a slap-up farewell lunch on the way.
Geoff had to stay at home to do some work.
Sunday, 3rd January 2010
Judith 03 Jan 2010 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
I’ve tagged this ‘trying, but failing, to fly’, but really it was more a case of trying, but not bothering, to fly. The forecast for today had been really bad, but the promised rain never materialised and although it was cloudy, the wind was SE and it seemed worth a go.
When we arrived Enric was doing a pre-lunch top to bottom and advised us that there was no wind on top. We had tea, sandwiches and our books, so we decided to have a parawait. It briefly wafted on to the hill but only enough for a launch, not a soar, so we waited some more. Then Joan arrived and we chatted and waited until the next Joan arrived. The second Joan is also quite partial to a little wait, so he joined in the fun. What little breeze there had been died to nothing, but we managed to persuade the first Joan to give it a go. Good man that he is he did, but had to forward launch to get off and then did a ‘salto de gallina’ (a chicken jump). We didn’t even bother getting it out of the bag.
Saturday, 2nd January 2010
Geoff writes: the forecast wasn’t too bad for today. light winds, sunny most of the day before the front arrived, and we thought it would be flyable. But on arriving at Santa Brigida, it was very west. We went up anyway, assuming it would come on, as it usually does. Lluis, Ivan and Oriol were already there, waiting for it to turrn south.
Then the front seemed to arrive very early, and the sun disappeared behind lots of high cloud. But surprisingly, the wind did come on, and we prepared to fly. It never really came on properly, it stayed very west, but it was surprisingly buoyant, and we did fly for a short while – it was probably flyable for about an hour, but we flew less than that – I landed, after getting around 400′, assuming it would come more on; and Judith landed to put her contact lens back in the right way round. Landing was, as ever, a mistake, and people (Felix and others had arrived by then) were getting lower, and eventually all except Ivan bottom landed.
The advancing front had stalled, and the cloud seemed to be receeding, so Judith and I waited for the sun to reappear, which it did briefly, but never long enough to make it worth launching in the increasingly light winds. In the end, we had a beer and a chat with Felix, who had walked back up to retrieve his car. Judith told him the (true) story of the German doctor who had confused my forehead with my (non-existent) foreskin. Apparently an easy mistake to make in German.
Friday, 1st January 2010
Judith 01 Jan 2010 | : Walking
Normally we always try to fly on the first and last day of the year. Last year we managed the first, but not the last and this year we haven’t managed the first either. It was clear from the forecast that it would be too windy and Meteocat live data was showing gusts of 47mph.
Given the fantastic visibility we are having at the moment, we decided to go to Xenacs. This is a recreation area/natural park not far from Olot and it has the viewpoint of the volcanic area, so you get amazing 360 degree views of the mountains, volcanos, etc. The walk up is a nice gentle stroll though woods. It’s a lovely place, but it’s closed during the week with a big barrier and there is nowhere to park outside, so you have to either walk 5km up the hill or come back at a weekend or public holiday. Since today is such a holiday, we packed a picnic and the camera and headed up there. It was closed. Arrggghhh!
Nothing for it, we turned around and drove up to the castle above Montagut that we can see from our house. Visibility was indeed stunning again and we could see the sea, Sant Pere de Rodes, the Montgri massif, etc. We’ve never seen it so clear before. While we were trying to eat our sandwiches we were harassed by a kitten which would not take no for an answer and Geoff eventually took pity on it and let it use him as a climbing frame.
Thursday, 31st December 2009
Judith 01 Jan 2010 | : Walking
I’ve been struggling with a cold since Christmas and although we’ve been meaning to go to the beach and make the most of the warm weather, I just haven’t felt up to it. Today though, I pulled myself together, drugged myself up with Lemsips and we went walking at the coast.
I haven’t been to the Cap Norfeu since Christmas Eve 2005 and Geoff even longer ago, so we decided to go there. The further east you went today, the better the weather and I predicted that the gap between two fronts would give us sunny weather. It was windy, but once you were out of it, it was hot.
We walked all round the cape, soaking in the views of the sea and snow covered Pyrenees. Visibility was incredible. There was no haze at all, so you could see every village between where we were and the mountains. After the walk, we went to the little beach east of Roses and basked in the sun. It was so warm I went for a paddle in the sea and regretted not bringing my bikini. A French group had a family swim and volleyball match – which is unusual. It’s usually only the mad Brits and Germans who will swim after November.
Tonight dinner with my parents and happy new year to everyone.