Judith's blog

Today was the first day our season pass was valid again after the Christmas holidays and we were itching to go. However, once we checked the forecast and the snow report again, our enthusiasm shrank to nothing. Here the forecast was 18°C and in the mountains 8° to 13°C. Masella was saying that the snow was ‘humid’ and they usually talk the conditions up. In the end, we decided not to go, as there were also strong winds forecast, which would probably close the higher runs, leaving us stuggling in the slush at the bottom.

Since flying was also out of the question, we decided to head to the coast and have a walk round Aiguamolls. It’s a marsh land nature reserve home to some 327 species of animals. It’s especially good for birds. During the migration season, thousands of birds stop off, but there are also a lot that stay for the winter. I have something of a checkered history as far as birdwatching is concerned. As a child, my parents used to drag me (often kicking and screaming) on ‘walks’, which were actually a few steps and then ages standing around while they did some twitching, then a few more steps before the process was repeated. My sister showed some interest and was rewarded with her own set of binoculars, so I had to endure all three of them gawking while I sulked. Any attempts to get me interested, like asking me to identify an easy bird like a pigeon or a sparrow would elicit the same answer: “It’s an American eagle!”. I’m sure there were times my parents considered giving me up for adoption.

We last went to Aiguamolls about 11 years ago with my parents and they were amazed when a whole load of flamingos came and paraded right outside the hide for us. They were convinced that my life-long resentment of our feathered friends had the same effect that I have on cats. I’m allergic, so obviously every cat comes and sits on me, regardless of how much I try to fight the damn things off. Anyway, being a pilot, I have developed far more of an interest in birds and am now quite good at identiflying at least the ones we fly with. And the information office finally found a way to really interest me in bird-watching… they gave me a picture card and I could tick them off!

So we went to Aiguamolls in the hope of seeing some flamingos and to have a nice walk too. We had chosen the circluar walk right round, but it was closed part way due to flooding. We went to the first hide, but saw only storks and a variety of ducks – no flamingos. We walked for 4km to the beach, looking in all the hides on the way, and saw all sorts, but it was only on the way back in the last hide we decided to look in that we saw a flock of 29 flamingos, some still with a little pink colouring. They were mostly standing around on one leg, with their necks curled back and their head stuck under a wing snoozing. Still, it was amazing to see them.

After, we went to Castelló de Empúries for a snoop around and a sandwich.

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »

There was a lot of weather kicking about in Europe today. Here is was pretty pedestrian – grey and uninspiring, but no rain or wind. We worked and things kept going wrong. Sometimes you just have one of those days…

No comments yet - please add one »

The forecast was very contradictory today. Meteocat was forecasting for the holiday (talking the weather up), and promised sunshine during the afternoon. However, the synoptic promised a warm front during the day. Mike was keen to give it a try, and also wanted to pass on a glider to me, so we decided to give it a go. Plan A was to go to Sant Pere de Rodes, which was sunny in the morning, but an 11am look at the web cams showed grey cloud and not even a single shadow on the ground. No shadow = no thermals. El Mont had some low cloud sitting at its base, but we were confident it would burn off. Contrary to the forecast, there was blue sky from here to the high Pyrenees. Mike crossed the border from France (which was in fog), and said the coast was brightish. At that point the top of El Mont became visible, so we decided to go there.

As we drove up, it became increasingly cloudy and we drove through a layer of the stuff. On reaching the summit, the launch was clagged in, but over on the north side it was mostly clear, with the cloud lying beneath us. The mountains to the north were visible, with Canigó, at the base of which Mike lives, looking only a few km away.

It looked like it could clear, so a walk around, bit of weeding the launch and a pomegranate later, we were still waiting. At 2.30pm the wind was picking up, the cloud was getting thicker and we got hungry, so we decided to bin the day and have a sandwich in sunny Besalú. What we didn’t realise was that the cloud had filled in below us and far from being sunny, it had developed into a grey, murky day.

Mike’s never been to Besalú and we nearly got him to attempt the climb up to the high chairs on the wall, but then we chickened out and got him to stop. A nice sandwich later we said our farewells, hoping for a better day soon.

It’s Reyes Magos here today, so in the evening the three wise men came on horseback in a procession to our village, followed by a truck full of presents for the kids. It’s the Spanish Christmas, so all the kids go crazy. And actually it’s quite nice for the big kids too…

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »

Geoff writes: forecast was for it to get cloudier during the day, but they got the timing wrong, it started off cloudy, but then got sunnier. After a morning of work, we decided to give Santa Brigida a try. The wind machines were giving SE, and it seemed like a good bet. And the flying was very pleasant. A bit thermic, wind just right, but not mindless soaring, sometimes it would switch off and we had to work hard to stay up. It was just the two of us, since most of the mid week flyers seem to be less and less available – a shame really.

Anyway, it was a fun day, well worth the trip out. A bit cold – very cold actually – though the forecast for Friday is 19C. Which is great in one sense, but not that good for skiing, which we had planned to do then. We’ll see, will probably go anyway.

No comments yet - please add one »

Geoff writes: a nice sunny day, we did some work this morning then went out to fly. The forecast was good, and, when we got to Santa Brigida, the wind was on the hill, in spite of being north almost all the way there. But it was just a bit too strong and gusty (and thermic), and didn’t seem like it would be much fun. We waited a while, confident it would eventually drop, but got bored after an hour, and came home to finish off some work.

No comments yet - please add one »

A nice sunny day forecast and this promised good conditions at Santa Brigida for our first flight of the year. However, Johnny had also promised us that if he was going to do another base jump, he’d let us know so we could go and watch. Co-ordinating the flying with the watching turned into a bit of a headache, so we went to Santa Brigida first and Geoff flew and got a good thermal;  Nicky and I got ready and predictably, as soon as we had the gliders unpacked and ready to clip in, Johnny’s phone call came. We’re usually the last to leave the site, so people were a little perplexed when we all started packing up our gear as fast as possible, without having flown, and then making some fairly crap excuse as to why we were going.

We grabbed Marc on the way past the landing field and headed off to the dam up the road to meet John and Johnny. It’s 135m high and enough for a 2 second jump, before the chute is released. The build up was pretty exciting, watching Johnny get ready and then waiting for all the tourists to disappear, so he could jump without anyone calling the cops. The jump was amazing.

Here’s the clean version of the video.

Here’s the video with commentary (don’t watch if you’re offended by swearing)

After resounding applause, we rushed back to Santa Brigida, leaving John to collect Johnny.

The conditions had mellowed a lot, but we still all got nice flights, although it did get a little crowded at times, with lots of others coming out for the first flight of the year. In the end, it was a really lovely day and a nice mix of excitement and chill out boating about. And we got to say good-bye to Nicky before she goes off to Colombia for a month tomorrow. Hope the flooding subsides!

See photos of today.

1 Comment »

We were hoping for the first flight of the year today, but it wasn’t to be. Like yesterday, if we had been desperate, we could have found somewhere to throw ourselves off, but it seemed a waste of a day where we could do something else. Geoff felt rotten with the cold, but I was much better, so Nicky and I set out to the Argelaguer tree house. I haven’t been since March, and the owner is always working on it, so we wanted to see what progress he’s made.

The new entrance is now through a tower which we christened the ‘voodoo temple’ because he’s made all the barriers around the platforms out of walking sticks made with real birds heads, animal feet or weird looking faces. It wasn’t at all pleasant. The builder has added loads of strange paraphenalia (like in the old days of the previous tree house), so there are teddies and toy rabbits hanging from trees, wild boar heads staring out at you and endless other toys and things. The labyrinth is much, much bigger and there are new towers too. And one that’s collapsed, but we didn’t want to dwell on that while we were climbing another…

After getting thoroughly muddy, we headed to Banyoles for something to eat. We were ladies what lunch for the day and polished off a three course meal, half a bottle of wine and a couple of coffees before walking it all off with a loop round the whole lake. We had a lovely day and then went home for a siesta that never happened, but had leftovers curry and more playing the labyrinth game, before having an early night.

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »