Paradise

Mountains all around, trails to explore for hours and hours, views I don’t think I could ever tire of. I look across the valley and see the river run, winding through hills and when I can not see it any longer the curves and riges of the earth draw my eyes up the granite cliffs that meet on the horizon. Through the notch where they meet I could see the Mediterranean Sea if it didn’t blend right into the sky.

The sun sets just over the shoulder of a peak at the end of the western leg of the valley and it lights up those clouds I dreamt of flying through all day. I jog the flats and downhills, trudge the uphill bits, and stumble upon 90 year old stonework and steel hiding a cold mountain water rushing through stone. I climb the rocks and enjoy the granite’s grip on hands and feet, wonderful after the shifting surface of the path.

On the way back down a man and his dog run with me for a bit. The dog is happy and friendly and clearly at home here on this mountainside. The man and I and pant off-tempo, lungs drawing in the clean air, feeling it cool as the sun no longer touches this slope. He stops, waves me to join, points upwards at the cliffs at an goat as it leaps from boulder to bush to hiding. “Chamois”, he says and I nod like I have any idea what he just said. We smile together at the goat (goat-antelope?) and there isn’t a single thing in the world that could change the peace and simply joy there. He takes out his phone, tries to get a blurry picture, waves to me again and is off on the path, dog happily bounding after his master.

Post-non-flight

From a meteo perspective I think I was right - beautiful day for a local thermalling flight. Potentially even a big triangle around the whole valley! Beautiful cumulus all day, thermals cycling their way up the mountain and blocking the wind I was trying to ground-handle in, and birds thermalling away out front.

C’est la vie.

I took the opportunity to take a quick break from work midday and get the glider out, being a bit unkind to the shiny new lightweight OXA3 by fighting a very gusty and switchy wind. Even got some forward launch practice in, which tells you just about how desperate I was for some paragliding action of any sort. Good workout.

Training Time!

In preparation for my upcoming hike and fly competitions in May (that I am desperately hoping are not canceled due to coronavirus) it really is time to start getting into the right physical shape. Nice long hike a couple of days ago was a good start, and being grounded here in a gite away from home and Netflix means I have no excuse to sit around. So up the hill I went and it was so well worth it.