The weather was looking good from the word go, and there was just a minor matter of removing a tick I acquired on the walk yesterday before we could head up the mountain. We were going to get the parabus, but at 12 euros a head, we decided to hook up with Richard Worley and Ian Smith and use their car to retrieve. Brendan had used XC Planner to sort out a load of turn points, so we practiced programming routes and set a 94km task to Italy, Tolmin and back.

Cloud base was only sitting marginally above our heads, so we waited a little and then launched when the sky got better. I headed straight to the west and soared along the ridge/clouds, while David and Richard Bungay headed out into the valley. It was as everyone has told me. You don’t thermal – you just surf the crest, topping up occasionally with lift. I flew into Italy, but then got a bit low. Until that point, I hadn’t really paid any attention to what was below me, I was looking ahead and above, just gliding. When I got lower, I looked out into the valley and realised there was nowhere to land. The entire valley was packed with trees at that point. I decided I would save some excitement for tomorrow and turned back, some kilometers from our intended first turn point. Not getting up wasn’t an option, so I worked and worked a little lift, but was too close to turn. So I was slowly sinking. Luckily for me, Alex Colbeck came cruising past me on his way back and he just treated the ridge like a British one, he just hugged it and soared up. So I did the same. Safely back above the ridge, I carried on back to launch and then to Kobarid. I topped up and got to cloud base before crossing the gap. A few little cumulus were forming in the gap, but as I started my transition, they dissipated and I only just scratched onto the next ridge. Lots of us got there at a bad time and had to land shortly after.

Stunning place, this. David got into Italy, then Tolmin and back to Kobarid, but Brendan did the whole task, including top landing to get the car. Unfortunately, I had blagged a lift up and got there to find the keys missing. Eventually we met up and drove down together.

Our fourth house mate, Andy, arrived this evening and we went to register for the comp before having a massive pizza meal, with glow worms to keep us entertained. Task one tomorrow and I will start doing live twitter updates from the comp.

See photos of today.

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