April 2011
Monthly Archive
Friday, 8th April 2011
The forecast for this morning was light, near non-existent, winds. There was some discrepancy over direction too, but we decided to go with the synoptic, and go to Llangollen. We decided to car share with Mark L. and got to catch up on all the gossip on the way. We were all expecting just to sit around in the sunshine most of the day, so we were amazed to see gliders high and happily soaring. A quick catch-up with Briggsy later, I got in the air. Martin had already been flying a while and said how strong the inversion was, and it was easy to get to 800′ ATO, but to get to 1000′ was a real struggle. Over the back it was completely blue and with only 1000′ it was clear we weren’t going anywhere.
I had a fun flight and then landed to have a comfort break. A few people had gone down to the bottom landing, so I decided I would go on a mercy mission and collect them. I got to the bottom junction to find Sprinty had beaten me to it! Once I got back to take-off, nobody was flying and the wind had turned completely east. We all sat around for another hour and then gave up. It was beer o’clock anyway.
I did twitter the flyability of the site, but didn’t realise that the text wasn’t sent until I switched the phone back on on the way home. Doh!
Thursday, 7th April 2011
Geoff 07 Apr 2011 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
Geoff writes: it was on at the Long Mynd all day today. It started off quite cloudy, and there was definitely some wave around, and though some people were flying we were in no rush to go up, having to deal with some stuff around the house. Later the sun came out, and the wind picked up a bit more. We eventually went out mid-afternoon, as some people (Dave and Martin in particular) were getting reasonably high – though base was less than 3000 feet (not metres) above sea level.
People were flying off and on most of the day, though there were some periods when no-one was flying, because of the winds being a bit top end. But it was fine for people who like strong wind flying. Really, I should have taken the hang glider, it was a fine day for that, but there were no HGs out at all, and just a dozen or so paragliders.
No-one went XC, base too low really, though the sky did get better later on. But at least it was flyable, though in the end we didn’t bother – the wind never really droppped, and we didn’t really fancy gale hanging.
Wednesday, 6th April 2011
Judith 07 Apr 2011 | : Boring stuff
Cloudy this morning and very windy. It cleared up later and became warm and sunny. We did jobs… unpacking, opening mail, sorting out car insurance, mobile phones, twitter feed, etc. All the boring stuff you have to do when you’ve been away for six months.
The Twitter feed for information on flying conditions and comps has now been switched on again. If you have a Twitter account, then some mobile companies will allow you to receive these notifications via SMS. Follow it on http://twitter.com/#!/judithmole
Tuesday, 5th April 2011
Judith 05 Apr 2011 | : Boring stuff
We’re back in the UK and the weather is grey and miserable. Sigh. After spending the morning with the family, we’ve come back to the Long Mynd area and are unpacking and settling back in at home. We might even go out for a pint of British beer to celebrate being back…
Monday, 4th April 2011
Judith 05 Apr 2011 | : Miscellaneous activities
Despite a traffic jam round Lille, we got to the ferry in time.
Back in the UK we needed to stretch our legs on the way to the Cotswolds, so we stopped off for a break at Tonbridge in Kent. It has the best preserved motte and bailey castle in the south of England. What we didn’t realise is that there’s not much left apart from the gate house. We had a half price voucher from the port, so decided to go in just to show willing. It was a good job, the exhibition and audio tour were brilliant. We spent a fascinating hour looking around completely on our own and then got back in the car to complete our journey to Geoff’s family in Gloucestershire. Nice to see them all!
Sunday, 3rd April 2011
Judith 05 Apr 2011 | : Flying, France
The electricity board warned us a couple of days ago that they were going to switch off the power today between 8am – 11am and 4pm – 7pm. This complicated our departure plans and meant we had to plan our day a bit better. However, getting up at 7am to shower and hoover was scuppered by the over-indulgence in cava the night before. We loaded up the car and cleaned until the lights came back on, finished off and were on our way. The forecast for Millau was crap (Meteofrance said rain, Meteoblue said howling winds), so we didn’t rush to get there. However, as we got closer the cloud started clearing and we could see little evidence of wind. We have rotten luck flying in Millau every time we drive through, so we weren’t raising our hopes, but as we dropped down from the plateau into down, a paraglider launched. I wasn’t feeling very well, so Geoff was flying and we raced up the hill and got ready fast. Because it had only just started coming on, it was still weak (and there was very little wind), so Geoff and the other two pilots went nearly straight down. When I picked him up at the bottom, others had launched and conditions had improved a lot. People were soaring and thermalling up. We debated whether there was time to fly again, but at the end of the day, it just meant having to drive later at night, whereas we don’t often get the chance to fly at Millau, so I took Geoff up again.
He took off and got straight up. He was heading out over the town, but with it being nearly 7pm, it was time to land and get back on the road. Whether we’re coming or going, it’s essential to get past Paris before we sleep, and we kept driving until 3.30am, when we pulled into a service station to have a cramped three hour sleep in the front seats of the car before setting off again to catch the ferry in Dunkerque.
Saturday, 2nd April 2011
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.