Where's Mike?

Section 30: Rich and Denton Visit

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Click here to see Section 29: Iberia in the spring of 2007

Friday May 4th

San Sebastian, Espana: The trains started arriving around 07:00 so I was awake and waiting for the guys to show up. After a couple had come and gone, I went in to check if there may have been some sort of a delay and found them sitting in the middle of the lobby. Heck, I assumed they would at least have stepped outside and saw me, but with how tired they they were, and how long they had been traveling, they probably would have looked right through the MoHo and missed it anyway. A delay here and a missed connection there, also assured the inevitable loss of baggage.

We had some breakfast and then I stocked up on grub (ran out of time yesterday while waiting for a paragliding flight) while the very tired boys called British to confirm their bags would be sent to the campground. We then drove to the camp, hidden in a cold, thick, and windy fog bank, so some showers could be had...in addition to what little unpacking they had to do. An early evening BBQ helped them last till 21:00 when they had to collapse after three days of little sleep, lots of travel, and an excess of stress.

It is sure to all be better tomorrow when their bags arrive safely.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 128e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 1e park, 5e phone to British Airlines

Odometer: 138937

Saturday May 5th

San Sebastian, Espana: Despite the jet-lag, everyone was awake by 05:00 and we managed to hang out and read, eat, shower, and clean up the rig till the office opened at 09:00 when a phone call checking on the bags could be done. The bags should arrive today!

We then took a bus into town for a bit of a bimble in the increasing drizzle. San Sebastian has some very nice architecture and is an incredibly clean city...perhaps on account of the rain...to wander around. Rich found a great bread store, complete with long line of locals, we supervised the beach cleanup and sand reorganization, and managed to hit a wine tasting after a great lunch of tapas in the local bars.

Denton tried to set Rich and I up for arrest and prosecution when he asked us to sit on one of those hydraulic barriers on the side of some park/walkway while he framed a photo. Shortly after I sat down, the barrier dropped back into its hole and two "Vigilante" rushed out to yell at Rich and me. The "rent-a-cops" were demanding money and telling us we were in big trouble. Bullshit. Rich and I simply practiced our best English-only communication and finally walked away.
 

Back in camp, Denton's gear arrived! Still no sign of Rich's gear, however. Iberia is telling Rich they cant find it.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: --

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 16e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 2e bus

Odometer: 138937

Sunday May 6th

Capbreton, France: This morning when we checked in on Rich's bags, Iberia told Rich they don't have them, never got them from British, and claim no responsibility for them. We decide to move on...

After searching around for the local ridge soaring site up near our campground, we finally decide to bail for France. Our plan is to head up toward Dune de Pyla, but we stop along the way in Capbreton and find a 40 foot beach soaring site which is totally blown out when we arrived, but mellowed a lot by the late afternoon, when several other pilots arrived.

After getting comfy, I decide to do a long out-and-back XC. One area of the ridge was low/broken enough to almost make me sink out...I may have done a touch and go, or two. No one else chose to join me on my trip. 1:12 airtime.

Staying at the beach with water and power, but no showers.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0 (Denton got it)

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 3e

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 139064

Monday May 7th

Capbreton--Camping Car Station at dunes, France: It was ridiculously blown-out this morning so we headed into town to check on Rich's bags again, do some grocery shopping, and sip coffee at quaint cafés. By the time we got back to the beach, in the late afternoon, we were excited to see several pilots soaring the strong conditions.

We rushed out to the launch and I was quick to lay out. I was just as quick to have a FUTO but, with an anchor from Denton, I was airborne on my second try. Rich soon followed.

Denton, with no one to anchor him, performed incredible sand acrobatics for, what seemed like, forever while Rich and I enjoyed the smooth conditions. From the air it was quite amusing...and  even more-so from launch

where I danced my glider through a series of top landings and touch-and-goes while he removed pounds of sand from his cells. Denton, however, was not seeing the humor in this little display, so I bunched up to help him dump sand, untangle, and lay out. I was ready to anchor him, but this time he had a perfect inflation and launch.

I joined Rich and Denton in the air and put in another hour of t&gs along the ridge. It was great practice for me to ground handle this much, and a ton of fun. Denton practiced a few as well, but Rich, the only of us who was FUTOless, just racked up hours on his new Addict.

Eventually, just in order to show off, I landed near a group of people near the WC and bike racks. It was all very impressive until I realized trying to do an inflation here would be insane. Just not enough space between the dagger-like broken flag pole, the fences, the bike racks, and the crapper, so I called it a day, packed my glider, and took a shower while the boys enjoyed the soaring.

When the guys returned, I learned Rich banged up his shoulder while practicing launches. Supposedly got a bit off balance and, in this strong wind, the rest is obvious. With these conditions, this potential should not have surprised me, but it was still a bummer. Nothing broken, but he will be sore for while.

We decided to stay here at least one more night and see how conditions are in the morning

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 5.5e

Fuel: 0e for 59l at 139082/495km (Rich got it at 61e)

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 31e

Supplies:

Misc: 45e SIM card and phone recharge

Odometer: 139086

Tuesday May 8th

Lourdes, Espana: Denton and I took a morning flight while Rich hung out and gave his shoulder a rest. Just watching others fly, when you want to be out there yourself, is torture, so we kept it fairly quick (23 minutes for me) before landing and packing up.

We all battened down the rig, checked the maps, and decided to head into the Pyrenees for a few days. Last year when Rich visited me in the Alps, we got all the flying we wanted and MORE! This year the weather has not been ideal, but we are still hopeful.

We arrived in Lourdes and stayed at a great little campground only a ten minute walk to the grotto, and associated religious compound. We opted for laundry, relaxation, wine, and a barbeque instead.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 5.5e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 3e (Rich got some too)

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 139248

Wednesday May 9th

Bagneres de Bigorre, France: The guys were not all that interested in joining the pilgrims for a walk to the grotto where Bernadette and the Virgin Mary hung out back in the 1850's, and the funicular seemed like it would have minimal flying potential, so we headed deeper into the Pyrenees where Rich had several flying sites marked near Bagneres-de-Bigorre. Along the way we stopped for another call to the airlines...which is really starting to cost a lot of time and money. Rich returned from the phone booth more pissed than I have ever seen him!!! It seems they have the bag, but, contrary to what he was told on arrival, they now say they can not send it into Spain.

In order to relax, we drove up the valley to Campan, met up with some pilots in the very windy LZ, and followed them up to launch. It's a beautiful setting with the green fields surrounding us and the snow-capped Pic  du Midi de Bigorre in the background, and, after determining the wind conditions are good enough to get up and away, the first pilot begins to lay out.

So, this first pilot is, or used to be, an instructor who is supposedly pretty hot shit. He is also confined to  a wheel chair and doing trike launches with lots of assistance. After his nervewracking launch, he sinks out fairly dramatically so we all wait...but in time, he catches something which takes him a few hundred over and way up a side canyon. That is enough to encourage the next best local to give it a go.

Getting a bit impatient, I decided to lay out as well, with Denton and Rich following suit. The wind is nil, and Pilot Two seems to sink out faster than Pilot One, who has now sunk to 1000 below and is  struggling. Just as I am about to launch, someone gives us an update from Pilot Two in the LZ. Trashy! There is a south wind coming in over the back and no one should land there. Only launch if you are sure you can top land.

This gives us all something to think about for a while. The two best local pilots have not been able to top land and Pilot Two is reporting a rodeo ride into the LZ. Drat. I go anyway, along with another local, and we take separate paths in search of lift. I get bit of something so Denton and Rich chase me out. Soon all three of them are above me in the lift I found over a distinct row of trees on the right ridgeline. It doesn't seem fair to me, but eventually I hit a scraggly one which takes me back to launch  level. It is a lot of work, and a lot of up and down.

Eventually everyone else heads for the LZ while I redouble my efforts to get back to the MoHo on launch. I just don't feel like a long hot hike to retrieve the MoHo. Five separate times I join a swarm of swallows marking a fresh bug-filled thermal, but can never manage to get high enough to head back for a top landing. Ultimately, the final lift dissipates as the sun angle lowers and, after 58 minutes and a whopping three feet over launch, I land with everyone else. This flight was a LOT of work, and left no time for any photography.

As Rich and Denton pack my gear, I manage to catch a ride back to launch to retrieve our camper. An increasing southerly (OTB) flow and rain is in the forecast for the morning.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: (Rich paid)

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 139307

Thursday May 10th

Lourdes, France: The forecasted rain was nowhere to be seen this morning so, under clear blue skies, we took a drive to launch. Unfortunately the strong south flow we were supposed to have WAS present, and creating a strong rotor both on launch and in the LZ.

After a bit of lollygagging on launch, we decide to take a back road drive down to the valley and up toward Col du Tourmalet for a better view of Pic du Midi de Bigorre...which, as it turns out, is much more striking from the north than it is from the south. About five clicks past the road closed sign, we arrived at  the col where we had a nice lunch with great views of the snow covered mountains and hanging valleys.

While enjoying a lunch of salami, cheese, pickles, olives, fresh baguette, and some overly sweet wine, we watched the heavy equipment, on the road below us, working on clearing the final remnants of this winter's packed avalanche snow. We were commenting on how the road below looked pretty darn good, when a couple of motorcyclists, also ignoring the road closed signs, headed down the west side of the pass. We tracked their progress and determined they had easily made the crossing, and, if they could do, we could do it.

Two others thought the same thing so we all headed down for a gander, and, on the first hairpin, we passed one of the supervisors, sitting in his van, who gave us some sort of a stern lecture which we could only assume meant something like, "What's wrong with you idiots? Can't you f...ing read?" The German plates come in handy periodically! :-)

Other than about three slushy spots, the road was perfectly clear, and that saved us a bit of time heading back to Lourdes, where we saw a pilot landing in a small field near the funicular. We decided to join him for his next trip up.

At the top of the funicular, Denton and I try to keep up with our new pilot friend as we hike the ten minutes up to launch, while Rich manages to take a leisurely stroll with a few women from the US, and their local female guide, he had met.

On launch, the conditions look fine to me, but our local pilot says they are too strong, so he gives Denton and me a bit of a site briefing while Rich gets chatted up by the ladies. Soon enough, one local heads out so we all scramble to get ready. Denton was up next, but the local guru arrives and must crowd in front so he has a better chance of flying the few clicks home to Bourreac.

After the guru heads out to mark the sink, Denton fires off, and then Rich follows...to the cheers and farewells all the ladies he had been charming.

No one was doing all that well, but I fired off in the next up cycle anyway, and joined the guys in broken, and turbulent lift, until I managed to bump into something which took me to cloudbase at 3900 feet over launch, or about 7300 asl. At about 5000feet, the lift smoothed out and dramatically improved and the flying became easy and enjoyable. I flew south into the mountains and over the guru's home town, then a bit east to a smallish hill behind launch, and then back to Lourdes again. I spiraled down a couple of times, climbed out again, and talked to the guys about going XC. Ultimately I didn't see any sense in heading out since I could not go north on account of the airport, I could not go west on account of the air corridor, going east would take me over some very flyable terrain, but few roads for hitching out, and going south would find me up against the end of the valley in only about ten clicks. I couldn't see inconveniencing the guys for only a few clicks, especially when I had the keys!

I landed after 70 minutes and we went to find a place to camp. We are all excited about flying here again tomorrow.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0 (Denton got it)

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 79e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 20e razor heads

Odometer: 139402

Friday May 11th

Lourdes, France: We vegged for the morning in camp while waiting for conditions to heat up and then headed up the hill. Increasing cirroform was blocking the sun so conditions were never great. The first wind dummy sank out and disappeared around a corner so we were all waiting in the heat and dust of this grotty launch.

Finally I got sick of waiting and flew. The wind was right cross and over the back on occasion but I managed to scrape around below launch long enough for a nice thermal to blow through and get me up and over! I was looking down on Rich and Denton, sweating it out in all their gear as the wind blew OTB. As I was high (well the highest I ever got was only 170 feet over) I saw Denton run off in a major cross wind while Rich waited for better.

I landed, downwind, after 31 minutes, and Denton came in, properly, right behind me. Rich, waiting all this time for a decent cycle, was finally able to get launched and joined us in the LZ soon after. We quickly contemplated another flight, but, with these marginal conditions, settled on a barbeque instead.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: (Denton got it)

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 27e for new BBQ

Misc: 20e funicular for all three

Odometer: 139424

Saturday May 12th

Dune de Pyla, France: I had heard from a few pilots that there are some small sites along the Garonne river between Agen and Marmande so we left Lourdes in search of other sites on our way to Bordeaux.

Unfortunately we were stopped for a couple hours by a major head-on accident and wound up being in the front of the long line of backed-up vehicles waiting, and watching, as rescue crews feverishly worked to free the one remaining person pinned in his car. At least one person died and three others were rushed away in ambulances by the time we decided to make a U-turn and join the vast majority on the long way around. A grim afternoon.

Ironically, the accident was within site of one of the paragliding hills we were searching for. With the wind over the back, it remained un-flyable and we never did locate any of the other sites before getting to Dune de Pyla.

As we were driving the length of the dune looking for a good campground, and once again confirming that Rich's bag did not arrive, we noticed a couple guys flying. With the wind off-shore, I was convinced they were either motoring or towing and, by the time we checked into to camp, and walked to launch, all we saw were a couple people inflating in cross wind. Out for pizza ala Denton.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: ???66e for 64l at 139645/563km---Denton got it.

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 5e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: ???

Sunday May 13th

Dune de Pyla, France: The wind was much lighter today, but still too cross and off-shore to fly. Lots of pilots hanging around and hoping.

Did a vertical tasting of the 01 (magnum, complex, tannic, too young right now), '02 (smooth and approachable now), '03 (big, chewy, complex, and VERY good), '04 (unremarkable), and the '05 (young fruit bomb) TorreSillo by Cillar d Silos out of the Ribera del Duero and then, as if that were not enough, we all went out to the camp bar where Rich was wise enough to leave early, I don't remember leaving, and Denton may still be there.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: --

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 30e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: ???

Monday May 14th

Dune de Pyla, France: Wicked WIND, RAIN, and COLD. Gluttons that we are, we watched movies all day, huddled by the heater, ate too much, and drank too much.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: --

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: ???

Tuesday May 15th

Bordeaux, France: Around 07:30 I was awake and looking out the window when  I noticed a glider up and over launch. We all rushed to wake up, grab gear, and get airborne.

Despite the occasional spit of rain, and strong conditions, we all had good launches for about an hour of airtime. We all left our radios in our packs, my variometer battery died immediately, and then my camera battery died shortly after. It was sort of nice to just be able to quietly relax and not have to deal with any electronic gadgetry for once.

It was easy to get high, it was easy to venture far over the water, and it was easy watch Rich go XC to the south. It was NOT easy for me to make the decision to join him, however. What looked like it might just be a long touch-and-go turned into a bit of a hike, but once he made it down to the next "good" section of ridge, he had it all to himself for as long as he wanted.

When conditions began to increase in strength, and spit a bit more rain, we all landed with smiles after finally flying the Dune de Pyla!

So, after some food, some showers, some packing, and some cleaning, we left Camping Beausoleil late in the afternoon and, as we were driving down the road, minding our own business, a motorcycle cop picked us out of the crowd and directed us to the next exit.

The next exit was a rest area filled with trucks, vans, and a few cars which were being pulled over for a random search. After waiting for about an hour, the first phase was performed by a lorry-sized portable X-ray machine, and I was just starting to feel some relief when they brought the dogs in for a thorough search of my MoHo. Inside and out. We were outside the rig, and I was nervous as hell, and we could watch through the windscreen as they continually rechecked the same area near the wardrobe. My fingers were crossed that they would stay away from my spice rack since, in addition to all the cumin, paprika, turmeric, and saffron I brought back from Maroc, I just remembered some "special spice" given to me by those crazy Scotts.

Luckily this was either a bomb sniffing dog, or all the chili pepper confused him, because we were eventually allowed to go without cavity searches or jail-time.

I managed to snag a couple photos, but am unable to upload them to my computer on account of my camera finally dieing out on the morning of the 16th.

We hit the nearest campground to Bordeaux and then hopped the bus to the tram which took us to the center where we found a great little spot for dinner, before catching the last tram back.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 70e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 13

Supplies: 0

Misc: 10e taxi, 15e tip, .5e air for tire

Odometer: 139887

Click here to see Section 31: My Camera Dies