Day 419 - Lijar - Spain | ||
27 05 2017 | ||
After visiting Conil de la Frontera yesterday and the winds being too light for Paragliding we headed up to mount Lijar this morning. The SW Take off was not looking so good so after a lot of waiting we went to the SE Take Off. There was a competition on today and it was a bit of a zoo (see photos below) so we waited until they had launched before setting up the Tandem again. Today somebody else helped us to Launch, a local Spanish Paraglider who was good. I had two failed inflations, both my fault due to not braking the glider enough. On the third attempt it went fine and with a e steps we were flying. This flight felt a little bumpier but once again, the thermals were not forthcoming, I hunted for them keeping as close to the ridge as I could without making June nervous, it was a compromise as I wanted to stay safe and ensure the absolute safety of my passenger, this meant not quite getting into the lift properly so I fought with the glider for some time before managing to climb above Take Off allowing June to see Algodonales from above the house mountain (Lijar). Still not climbing out, but we were as high as every other glider in the sky so I think I managed to do Ok. This time I had the GoPro so got it out and prepared it for some selfie stick video action. By the time the camera was running I had lost height and was losing height each second to leaving the camera to June I started working at climbing back up but struggled... the lower you get, the harder it is to re-gain and I was losing the battle, I worked the ridge for a while, again never compromising safety, and keeping my passenger happy with the distance form the mountain/rocks we eventually lost height so headed towards landing. We came in lower than last time, but not too low passing over the Powerlines with good height and scrubbing height off behind the Landing field before landing in the same field as last time, in the exact same spot. I did think for a second that I could cross to the landing fields, but this meant crossing a barbed wire fence, and making last second changes to plans is not a good idea so I stuck with the original plan. The landing tis time as great, we could have taken a few steps and been fine on our feet, but, as just mentions, best not to change plans with seconds to land, so all was good again. A quick post landing selfie for June then packing the glider away. I have video of the flight today (see below). Flight 2 Under orders from June I headed back up the mountain for a solo flight at the end of the day whilst June headed back into Algodonales to witness the flowers being presented pre Romeria activities. The flight was around an hour, smooth air as usual in the evening, smooth climbs only to 1250M ASL, this was the ceiling, so I boated around as the sun set in the Andalucian sky, it was a lovely flight where I relaxed for the whole flight before landing to be presented with an ice cold beer by Gerhard (Pepe's was not in town today) - Thanks Gerhard. The town in the evening was crazy in a really nice way, this was the evening before Romeria so I have included photos/video to give a flavour of the evening. This was to be the last flight of the trip unfortunately, we spent all of Sunday at Romeria invited and made to feel very welcome by the lovely Ganter Family - Muchas Gracis. Monday provided dark clouds and string wind so we spent the day sightseeing in Cadiz then onto Seville arriving back late into Algodonales Tuesday was on paper a perfect flying day so we headed up to Take Off but the wind was North, we could not launch, there may have been a chance much later but we had to leave for Malaga at 4:00pm so we headed back into town to prepare for our journey home. Not one of the best flying breaks in terms of airtime but one of the best flying/Sightseeing breaks I have had because I had the pleasure of taking June up on a Paraglider in Spain, for the first time in her life she flew, and enjoyed it, this meant a lot to me to be able to do this, and it all to work out well, also dedicating the day to Romeria without thinking about going flying all day, it made the day a great experience, and it was really nice to share this experience with June, and to be made to feel so welcome by the Ganter Family. Also seeing the beautiful City of Cadiz, I will be returning I am sure. I have added a page on my website dedicated to this years Romeria, not flying I know, but always a special day for me (check menu)
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