So we fancied a bit of a change of scenery today and also wanted to fly with, and say goodbye to, Mike. We agreed to meet in Palau Saverdera to go up Sant Pere de Rodes, but before we left the house Oriol called to warn us of possible east wind. As we drove towards the coast, the nice cumulus of the mountains dissipated and there was only blue haze. When we also saw evidence of wind, we called Mathias, who confirmed that it would probably blow out, despite the forecast light winds. Mike was nearly there and confirmed it was windy, so we all diverted to El Mont.

It was light at the bottom when we arrived, but by the time Mike arrived it had picked up and we were not confident that the drive up wouldn’t be wasted. Oriol reported good conditions at Bellmunt, so off we went. Despite it being only about 50km as the crow flies from where Mike lives in France, it takes about 3 hours to drive and it’s always seemed too much hassle. We left Mike’s car at Castellfollit and when we got to Torelló, we could see Oriol high and others launching. We raced up and got ready quick. The sky was looking really excellent.

I launched first of our little group, got straight up, flew out of the front of the thermal, got an asymetric collapse and then wrestled the glider into the core and cruised to cloudbase. Mike soon climbed up to me. I was hoping to go to Olot and beyond, but I was in the wispies at 5800′, which isn’t enough to go, unless there is a nice cloudstreet to help you on the way. The clouds were coming over the back and there was too much of a gap to cross. Instead we flew out along the west side of the ridge.

Geoff meanwhile had got his lines tangled and was then rushing to get off and launched into a sink cycle and went down. Mike and I were high enough to ride the cycle out and got back up. Then it was easy. If you were high, you could fly around and every cloud worked. After a while I stopped trying. I flew out into the valley and over the landing field, got low, and then took a lazy thermal back to launch height, whilst taking photos of Mike.

We both chose to land in the end and at that point we discovered that everyone else had also taken their car up, assuming someone else had a retrieve car at the bottom. With four cars at the top, no cars at the bottom and at the prospect of at least an hours walk in 26C, we were all looking at each other trying to assess who was the fittest. Geoff was going to volunteer, but Jordi, a local to Torelló took pity on us, and borrowed his parent’s car to take us all back up. We owe him beer!

Mike, Geoff and I spent the remainder of the late afternoon sitting in the sunshine, chilling, until we realised the time and remembered all the things we have to do before Sunday.

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »