Where's Mike?

Section 31: My Camera Dies

mike's cell phone in Germany: +49 (0) 160 92986114

Click here to see Section 30: Rich and Denton Visit

Wednesday May 16th

St Emilion, France: After a stop at a stellar bakery for pain au chocolate, I dropped the guys at the airport and headed back into to Bordeaux. By the time I arrived, it was raining hard, again. Stopped at the TI to try an find out about a wine tour, but I had already missed the one for today. Also got the location of a camera repair shop on account of my Cannon finally being dead...as of this morning.

Drove out to St Emilion, but the heavy rain did not inspire a walk around town to the various tasting rooms. Camped out at the Gare.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 20e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 2e parking on VISA

Odometer: 139963

Thursday May 17th

Capbreton--Les Dunes de l'Atlantique, France: Not feeling like tasting wine (probably just had too much the past couple weeks with the guys) I headed back into Bordeaux in search of a camera repair location. Some sort of holiday had most businesses closed so I did the long drive south to Capbreton. Staying at road end near main launch

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 73e for 72l at 140207/561km (on cash card)

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 5e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 140212

Friday May 18th

Capbreton--Parking Beausoleil, France: With only a slight mist in the morning, I strolled out on the bluffs to check the wind. Nothing. Everything is too wet for me to want to dig out my glider anyway. Took a long morning walk on the beach and then went into two camera shops and both said they never actually do the repairs themselves, but send them away for two months! Damn. Also, one of them said I will need my receipt and warrantee...neither of which I have since the camera was a gift from Rich.

Back at the beach I parked at the large, free, Parking Beausoleil. The clearing, and drying, late in the evening is giving me high hopes for flying on Saturday.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 26e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 140235

Saturday May 19th

Capbreton--Parking Beausoleil, France: Rain

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 140235 (ck camera)

Sunday May 20th

Capbreton--Camping Car Station at dunes, France: Rain changed to dry and windy by late afternoon. I was able to join three other pilots for about an hour of ridge soaring before it got too windy. One guy got drug for about 100 feet when he top landed. With my larger glider, I decided to speed bar it out to the beach.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 140239(ck camera)

Monday May 21st

Capbreton--Parking Beausoleil, France: It was very blown out this morning so, after a bit of a walk on the beach, I continued my "days of vegging" with a book, another movie, and some more laundry. Oh the exciting joys of travel!!!

Fortunately, by the late afternoon the wind tapered enough to give flying a go. One guy was out on a tiny Gin glider used for speed ski-flights from steep peaks and, when he could no longer stay up with that, it was time for me, and three others, to launch. Unfortunately, the wind tapered too quickly and everyone wound up simply darting to the beach.

I got three flights of about two minutes each, with two of them resulting in a trip to the beach. Was able to spinnaker up on one of them, but had to slog that 40 feet the last time.

Having not been able to find a WiFi connection for over two weeks, tonight I went in search of, and located, one in the beach-side Hotel de la Plage a bit north of the port. Casual café/bar scene, free WiFi, and relatively low second-hand smoke.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 5.5e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 1.5e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 14.5e drinks for internet time!!! Worth it. :-)

Odometer: 140254

Tuesday May 22nd

Capbreton--Parking Beausoleil, France: Surprise, it's raining. Another evening in the Hotel de la Plage.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 9e on internet drinks

Odometer: 140264

Wednesday May 23rd

Capbreton--Parking Beausoleil, France: Got 30 minutes of touch-and-goes along the ridge before it started to rain. More net time, and also an evening pub crawl. Fun town, but I am starting to miss Italy and their No-Smoking rules.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 24e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 9e on internet drinks

Odometer: 140278

Thursday May 24th

Biarritz, France: After a quick morning net-fix, I drove a few clicks south to Biarritz for a change of scenery. Out on the town till late.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 28e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 3e internet drinks

Odometer: 140428

Friday May 25th

Capbreton--Parking Beausoleil, France:  The TI gave me directions to the local flying site, but also said no one is supposed to actually be flying there. Supposedly not a "legal" site.

The five pilots who were there, said there is no problem flying, except for today there is a large thunderstorm behind launch. With it starting to sprinkle, and gust, I chose to watch. Only three of the five flew, and one of those immediately headed for the beach.

Got directions to Base de Loisirs, the local school, and was told it will be open tomorrow rain or shine so I can pick up a paragliding map of France.

Headed back to Capbreton, and my favorite internet cafe at Hotel de la Plage, for a mellow evening.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 10e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 6e internet drinks

Odometer: 140482

Saturday May 26th

St Pe-de-Bigorre: After some morning net-time I headed into the hills to find that school. It was pouring down rain and Base de Loisirs was closed. Continued on toward Lourdes and am staying just out of town.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 7e internet drinks, 4e map

Odometer: 140588

Sunday May 27th

Bagneres de-Luchon: A beautiful morning after so much hard rain last night. I continued the few clicks into Lourdes, wandered around the massive religious compound, marveled at the hundreds of tourists already here at 08:00, wondered at the multitude of candles, from tiny to huge, saw Bernadette's small grotto...large enough to avoid some rain, but too small to park a car in it..., attended the outside Mass (well a couple minutes of it, anyway) being held in the grotto, for the first time since God knows when, filled a bottle with water from the cave for Rick, and then hit the road in search of some flying.

The launch at Campan was still in clouds so I headed over Col de Aspin and Peyresourde to Luchon. This launch too is in the clouds, but two tandem pilots flew anyway. It was just a sled ride through the clouds and they are not going up again due to the quickening overdevelopment. Thunder and lightning all afternoon.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 60e for 52l at 140633/427km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 14e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 4e parking

Odometer: 140709

Monday May 28th

St-Beat, France: It was f...ing COLD last night and I woke up to fresh snow a few hundred feet above the valley floor...This is getting crazy! Forecast is for more rain and cold this week so I called Sven and Karin, some Dutch couple living in Andorra who emailed me on a whim after reading about my Moroccan adventures, and told them I was coming to visit. They have made the offer numerous times, so why not? Unfortunately, the pass from Luchon into Spain, where I could then get to Andorra, is washed out on account of a slide. After driving part way up, and then a long way back down, I am camped in a campground (laundry and an all night electric heater!) deciding if I want to take the long way around, or just call and cancel.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 13e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 7e internet drinks, 4e Paragliding site map

Odometer: ~140769?

Tuesday May 29th

Rialp, Espana: Refreshed after a great nights sleep, I decided to head into Spain and Andorra. Lots of fresh snow well below the mountain passes I am crossing. Also very windy, but little precipitation.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 8e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 7e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 140879

Wednesday May 30th

El Serrat, Andorra: I made it over several more slow passes and into Andorra by mid afternoon where I checked a couple stores for a replacement camera and then found a Cybercafé to check email, weather, and make a call to Sven and Karin. I got directions to their home town and headed up the valley where Sven met me on the side of the road.

All the homes here are quite beautiful and made of stone with slate roofs. Sven and Karin's even has a terrific view of a waterfall (a creek which was redirected by a neighbor 20 years ago) out their picture window. After a glass of wine, we headed out for some dinner and talk of Morocco. Sven and Karin traveled to Maroc years ago, which is the main reason they emailed me, and Karin has done a beautiful book of drawings telling their whole story. Many of the places I recognized and many have not changed in the past two decades.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 26.5e  for 31l at 140948/308km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 16e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 5e internet cafe, 1.5e parking, 8e gift of wine

Odometer: 140983

Thursday May 31st

Labastide-Rouairoux, France: There was a bunch more talk of Maroc over a terrific European breakfast, and the gifting of a signed copy of Marokko: som vi oplevede det, the book of drawings and stories by Karin Ostergaard, before I had to get moving. I still have a long way to travel so I can meet up with the people wanting to see my camper van.

Once mostly out of the mountains, and back in France, I got a text and call from UK Dan who I was supposed to pick up on Saturday so he could look at my rig. He is going to be a no-show. Nice of him to let me know, but sort of a shitty deal that I traveled all this way, and accelerated my time in Andorra, in order to clean up the rig and meet him.

Luckily, Paul and Amanda are still interested in seeing my camper. Unluckily, falling for the "I'll make you dinner" ploy, I allowed myself to be talked into traveling all the way to them on the other side of the Montagne Noire. An hour and a half north of Carcassonne.

It was a long day, and a long drive, and, just as I was pulling into town, Paul gave me a call wondering if I would make it. We took the MoHo for a test drive while there was still a bit of light, and then returned for a nice stiff drink (I had bought a bottle of Jack in Andorra) and then a terrific pasta dinner complete with way too much wine!

Dinner was late (after ten) on account of them holding it for me, so the kids were off to bed as soon as it was done and, being a smart guy, who had to get up for work in the morning, Paul crashed shortly after midnight. However, Amanda and I continued drinking wine, as I answered her questions about the campervan, till dawn! Tons of fun, but probably not the smartest thing in the world to do too often! :-)

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 13e for 15l at 141034/85km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 2e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 148278

Friday June 1st

Caunes-Minervois, France: Ouch. I have two theories. One, Paul and Amanda were trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me...perhaps thinking I would just give them my MoHo, or, two, I was trying to get them drunk and take advantage of them. Actually, I guess there could be a third, and that is that we just enjoyed meeting each other and were having too much fun. Regardless, it was mid afternoon before I woke up, showed Amanda the inside amenities, and then headed up and over Montagne Noire, on the very scenic D88/D620, back toward Carcassonne.

By the time I made it to Caunes Minervois, I had had hit the wall so pulled into a nicely landscaped city parking lot complete with numerous power points for campervans. I was happily surprised to see a pizza truck tucked into a corner and pizza was just what I needed today. Although they don't actually serve beverages, they were a friendly couple and wanted to welcome me to town with a glass of wine from their stash. I hated to do it, but had to pass, and just took my pizza into my MoHo where I drank water, devoured the pizza, and crashed

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 10e

Supplies:

Misc:

Odometer: 141326

Saturday June 2nd

Carcassonne, France: Unfortunately the local market began setting up in my parking lot around 06:30 this morning, so I quickly moved on. Approaching Carcassonne from the north was uninspiring, and I never saw the spectacular skyline until I had gone all the way through town and looked back. It really is beautiful, and dramatic, as it sits on a hill above the river. From the south and east the medieval city pretty much blocks the view of the new city and there has been little development on this side as well...leaving green fields and forest as the foreground. I remember seeing it from the highway last winter as I moved from Iberia to the Venice-Greece ferry.

Campeole Camping was claiming they could take no other campervans on account of all the rain, but I really wanted to plug into some 220, do some laundry, take an hour-long shower, and clean the rig in anticipation of showing it to an Aussi couple Monday, so agreed to pay the 150euro tow charge if I did indeed get stuck in the mud. I found some semi-solid ground and was fine.

After spending the morning doing chores, I took the 15 minute walk into the old town, bimbled about, and returned just as it was getting dark and the old city walls were being flooded with light.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 3e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 3e net

Odometer: 141355

Sunday June 3rd

Carcassonne, France: With my chores complete, I left the pricey, but nice Campeole Camping and drove into town another walk-about and a trip to the TI. It seems there is only one wine tasting room in town and is located in the old city. Comtoir des Vins et Terroirs is a fairly clean and comfortable bar specializing in wines from the Languedoc region and offering them by the bottle, glass, or flight of tastes. I chose a white and red flight of three tastes each and then wound up buying a couple bottles for later.

Christiane runs a friendly place, and she seemed very knowledgeable regarding all the wines she poured for me and had a bit of literature on all the various appellations. It was also relaxed enough to engage in long conversations with two separate British groups of tasters.

Parking by Canal du Midi along with a couple other vans and dozens of boats. Finally WARM!

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 25.5e

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 32e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 141374

Monday June 4th

Lodeve, France: This morning I touched base with Orange, the local telecom company providing me with my SIM card and service, because they have been sending me text msgs saying they were going to shut off my service. Seems some sort of screw-up was done on registration, but it is fine now and my number continues to work. I also found out I have voice mail, but have no idea how to retrieve those messages.

Then, a trip to a Cybercafé kept me busy till mid-day when I was supposed to meet some Auzzi couple coming in from London to look at my MoHo. No email from them. No call from them. No text from them. No answer from them, when I called to see what was up.

I think selling my van is going to be a bigger PITA than I originally thought. After getting a LOT of calls and emails which I considered serious, in addition to a bunch of tire kickers and only one scam, I arranged to meet Dan the Brit in Carcassonne to look at the rig. This was the reason for my coming here, but he postponed/bailed on Thursday after I had already made the trip. Ok, so I meet up with Paul and Amanda, who convince me to drive an extra 1.5 hours over the mountains to show them the van in the comfort of their home town. Cheeky, but I did get dinner (and a hell of a hangover) out of the deal! :-) Initially they were very interested, but, as stated in their email today, they are not really able to swing the costs of the purchase nor muddle through the details of importation from Germany to France. And now here it is on Monday and the Auzzi couple have vaporized! Damn...

So, the new plan is to NOT worry about selling my van, and just head into the Alps for some flying. Maybe stop along the way, if something looks good. My add is still out there on Dumbtree so if someone is interested, they can come to me, but I am no longer interested in traveling for days to places I don't want to be for a maybe.

The weather looks like continued crap in the Pyrenees (I think it is just one big compression zone as wind off the the Atlantic gets directed, and squeezed, by the landforms of Iberia and France, in addition to the convergence zone as said Atlantic air collides with what is coming off the Mediterranean) so I headed east to Beziers and then north toward Millau and the Gorges du Tarn. There is a flying site near Millau, and if it is not flyable, I can try to sneak in a hike.

Oh, I heard from Rich. Now that he has replaced all possessions, his bag has finally arrived back in Seattle after a month of being AWOL. It is trashed, torn, and mostly empty, but I'm just happy to be able to put a photo up!

Staying just south of Millau in a nice little mountain town. Clear, warm, and windy.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 29e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 3e net drink

Odometer: 141540

Tuesday June 5th

Lodeve, France: Spent the morning doing a bit of computer work and then took a short walk around town. Afternoon thunder showers provided a great show, but I am still not inspired to do much of anything in this rain.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 141540

Wednesday June 6th

Millau, France: Heading toward the Tarn, I noticed a pilot taking a sledder in Millau. He was a tandem pilot just making a buck in the heavy mist. Not going up again, but I doubt I would have joined him anyway. He says it should be similar conditions for Thursday but I will stick around and see...regardless.

Parked my MoHo in a no parking zone in the middle of a very crowed town and almost got a ticket as I ran in for a ten minute internet weather check. Scattered rain for the next week is the forecast. Surprise!

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 66e for 63l at 141620/587km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 14e

Supplies: 0

Misc: .5 internet

Odometer: 141624

Thursday June 7th

St Enimie, France: Up early to rain and low clouds but I went out to the LZ to see if anyone was thinking about a trip up the hill. No one was around, and I never even bothered calling...I just started driving up the Tarn Gorge.

Despite the rain, the gorge is quite attractive with interesting rock formations, numerous head-ducking tunnels, and countless waterfalls. For the most part it is fairly wide...maybe about a click?...but it does narrow to only about 100 meters periodically. With a rim at 5-800 meters above the floor, it makes for dramatic scenery.

In La Malene, a small village about half-way up the gorge, I stopped to see about a kayak rental. On the drive up I could see the river Tarn is running fast and brown, with the occasional big drop (at least for an inexperienced kayaker like me) but it still has to be a lot more fun than just sitting around and watching the rain fall.

All the rental shops seemed to be closed, and that was odd for there being so many people here, so I checked in with the attractive TI who pointed me to one location which was manned. Unfortunately they are only manned in order to get some cleaning and repairs done. Seems no one on the river is renting today, or for the past several days, on account of the high river level. The rain upriver has been decreasing over the past several days, so maybe tomorrow, or the next day, it will be possible.

Back to the TI, I got directions to a 9k/3.5 hour hike from town, up to the panoramic rim, back down to the river, and then ending with a leisurely stroll along the bank back to town. After two months of sitting in the rain, with the only exercise being fork lifting, I was winded right off the bat. About ten minutes into it, I was ready to die, but am happy I persevered. Great views, no rain, and finally a bit of exercise.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 3

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 141695

Friday June 8th

Mende, France: I feel a bit sore, a good sore, after yesterday's walk and wanted to do some upper body stuff as well. The river is not nearly as brown as yesterday, but still, the first several rental sites were either closed or, after quizzing me on my kayaking expertise, turned me away. Maybe tomorrow.

So, after driving up and down a 15 click stretch of canyon, simply to rent an effin' boat, I eventually found a location, Mejean Canoe in St-Enimie,  which was willing. They really wanted me to be an expert. They really wanted me to come back tomorrow when it would be safer. They really wanted the money!

I admitted that I was not experienced in whitewater kayaking, but mentioned that I have been in several sea kayaks, at least one sit-on-top, and countless canoes. I said all of this in English to the French-only speaking owner so, who really knows what the other was muttering?

The trip is very nice, but essentially fairly tame water with the periodic short and rare rapid that would drench me. Very beautiful. Being solo, I was given a sit-on-top kayak verses the slower canoes, so wound up passing the 20 others who had gone before me. Unfortunately, this left me not really knowing where to take out, as I had planned on using them as my guide. When the river slowed to a small lake, and I came upon a flag signed "canyon", I pulled out, but saw no pick up van and trailer so decided to paddle down a bit more till I got closer to the diversion damn, we were all warned to not go over, just before La Malene.

As I neared the damn the roar became quite pronounced, after a click of calm water, so I turned around and started back upstream to, hopefully, find some of the other boats and see what they were doing. Along the way, the pick up van honked at me and waved me down stream...I guess the water IS ok to go over the dam.

I back paddled for about ten minutes right above the eight foot dam before I found a spot that was not as steep as the rest, yet still had a lot of water flowing, and over I went. Great fun, and not nearly as dangerous as they made it out to be.

As I waited on the shore with our driver, only one other canoe arrived, but they stayed several hundred meters upstream before deciding to paddle back up to the canyon. The chauffer and I wound up driving upstream a few clicks to collect the others.

Left the gorge and headed north to Mende and am staying in their campervan parking area where I managed to jury rig a power point for myself off a street light. It is hot and muggy, and that turned into afternoon T-storms.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 13e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 18e kayak

Odometer: 141765

Saturday June 9th

Mende, France: Mende has some great info at the TI and I was able to enjoy a self guided walk around the old, walled, part of the city. The cathedral is the spectacular centerpiece, but there are also countless tidbits of interest, many marked by descriptive plaques scattered about. A few hours to walk through the narrow, cobble stoned, streets in order to discover the artistic charm of Mende is well worth the time.

Made some calls about PG, but no one was flying on account of the weather. Once again hot, muggy, and overdeveloped.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 21e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 141765

Sunday June 10th

Annecy, France: More crap weather had me making a very long drive to the Alps. Arrived late at night to the campervan parking on the south edge of town on the west shore, before walking in to find a cybercafé for another weather check. Strong thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next week.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 6e net drinks

Odometer: 142154

Monday June 11th

Sevrier, France: Got about half way up the lake, toward the flying site, when the thunderstorms started. It/they were fierce! I parked by the lake with a few other campers and watched the lightning, accidents, and massive flooding. In about five minutes we were all sitting in about six inches of murky water as it rushed into the lake...creating a brown border extending 50 feet from the shore.

It was very warm, but I had to close my vents and windows on account of all the water splashing and blowing in.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 20e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 142160

Tuesday June 12th

Doussard, France: Once again the sky looked foreboding in the am so I puttered around doing some errands and chores before heading out to the LZ in Doussard. Lots of people flying, but just taking sledders...schools, for the most part.

Some German guy asked me if I was going up the hill, and then talked me into joining him when he found a couple spaces in a van. The MAIN reason, in addition to not wanting to spend the 5 bucks transport fee for a sledder, I was not interested in flying today was on account of the overdevelopment. Large CuNims were popping over all the mountains surrounding the lake, with one, or more, periodically dumping. Yep, I was a bit nervous/scared to give it a go, but the thought of having a bunch of other pilots out there made it a bit more palatable.

As we arrived on launch, my new German friend pointed out that it was not going to be a sledder! There were now about ten pilots over launch, and a dozen others trying to fight the right cross and get in the air. We quickly got ready and flew.

I was still nervous about the flight...I've not flown in a couple of weeks, don't like the overdevelopment, am cautious of the strong right cross and occasional OTB, and am just feeling like a wuss. Anyway, once airborne, I readjusted my harness and began to look around. The German I met was heading north up the lake with a couple others so I decided to join them. I was a lot lower than they were but, assuming I could always make the mad dash downwind if I got too low, pressed on...despite the others retreating half way to the ridge. A few clicks north of launch, just as the, roughly, level bench falls into the first canyon, I caught a good one that got me up to the ridge behind launch. At about 800 feet over launch I began to hit a broken cloudbase and at 1100 over I left the two hang pilots flying with me and chased some orange/yellow glider across the gap to the next ridge. Along the way, he started sinking out and I lost him down in the valley, but I made the crossing and was still above launch. Did one 360 and came back...just not in the right frame of mind to go XC or stay up long....

Arriving back to my "home" ridge I topped up to about 1k over launch and headed across the lake. On the west side of the lake I was level with the ridge, but not easily getting much, so headed downwind to the LZ for 45 minutes total.

Instead of driving down the lake to Sevrier or Annecy free camping spots, which are both fairly loud for most of the night, I am just camping at the park across the road from the LZ.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 63e for 59l at 142185/564km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 17e

Supplies: 9

Misc: 5e PG shuttle, 12e net drinks

Odometer: 142208

Wednesday June 13th

La Balme de Sillingy, France:  The park by the LZ was better, but still fairly loud for much of the night. Perhaps the main reason for this is the fact that it has been very warm the past few days, necessitating my opening of both master bedroom wing windows? Anyway, being parked here made it really easy to know how the flying was going and, once it started to work, I jumped a shuttle.

On launch, it was looking great! Much better than yesterday, and a lot more pilots...some of them already high and heading north. The air was BIG, and cloudbase was a lot higher. I had a few small collapses and went over the falls more times than I would like, on my climb out. Foolishly, I headed out at only about 1000feet over launch...just like yesterday...and with no pilots in front of me. The difference was, however, that yesterday there was a lot of light/smooth life all over the place, and today the lift was much stronger, but so were the sink holes.

I did make the crossing but was WAY low. Far below the next lowest pilot. I worked it as best I could for a while, and then bailed for a downwind dash to the LZ...which I was not going to make unless I caught something. I did catch something in the middle of crossing and way out front. It was the best organized, and smoothest, lift of the day and I found myself climbing out to 2000 feet over launch slicker than snot. Now I had the altitude to try that crossing again and I also had about five others who left first and were now low out front marking sink and lift. Easy.

This time I made the crossing and was still about 1500 over launch. Flew right around the face of the Dolomite-like ridge, caught a rough boomer and climbed out to 7k, or about 2800 over launch. Beautiful views of the, now tiny, lake and snow-covered Alps.  Wish I had not broken my camera... :-(

So, there is some great circuit of the lake, but have never been able to do it. Crossing the lake is easy, but snagging Annecy on the way has, thus far, been beyond my reach. On the climb out I watched about 20 pilots crossing the lake, but none going farther north to Annecy, so I decided to stick with them. The only pilots near me, one above and one below, headed out a minute before me so I had a couple of good markers for the crossing. The low blue guy was doing about the same as me, but the high red guy was smokin' fast and not losing nearly as much as I was. Regardless, I made the ridge west of the lake and joined about ten others that were still up. I stuck around for only about ten minutes since the lift was starting to lighten as cirrus began blocking the sun. I then darted over the back of the ridge and headed south up-lake to the LZ for one hour and 58 min, 2820 over launch, 6950 asl, max climb of 780 f/m and max sink of 720 f/m.

Once packed up, the cirrus was thickening, and dragging some alto-stratus behind it, while pushing towering cus all around it. I decided it was not going to be an early morning flying day so, after a net check, headed to the far side (north) of Annecy to La Ballme de Sillingy where I remembered a great little Aires de Loisirs (a free camp site, of which there are many in France) next to a nice little lake and only a couple hundred meters from a MoHo shop where I could pick up some odds and ends.

Very hot and humid and my fridge is not cooling. Needed to clean the jet out...which I have not done for months.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 21e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 5e PG shuttle, 3e internet, 6e internet drinks

Odometer: 142244

Thursday June 14th

La Balme de Sillingy, France: Great nights sleep! Very quiet and peaceful location by the lake. Also, my fridge is working well again after cleaning the jet.

Being clouded over with thick alto-stratus, I decided to drive a few clicks into Sillingy to see about checking the WX before coming back to browse the MoHo shop for a few things I wanted. Since it was just a few clicks, on a slow road, I consciously decided to keep things cool by leaving my little wing windows in the bedroom open. Oh no! A large lorry flew past me in the opposite direction and the next thing I knew I had lost a window. It was shattered. Damn!

Figuring it should cost about 50 bucks, IF Curioz Loisirs even has one, I mentally prepared myself for anything up to 100euro. First off, they did not have one, nor anything I was shopping for, but after several calls, Stephane, who is the only guy there speaking English, located one that could arrive tomorrow morning. Yea! 270 euro! Boo! I took it, regardless of the outrageous price, since it looks like more rain and I don't want to search around for the next two weeks while I try to keep plastic bags taped over the hole. Gai Wa!

Back at the lake I taped up my window as the first sprinkles of the day began.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 9e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 270e for camper window!!! effin'A!

Odometer: 142265

Friday June 15th

Sevrier, France: The periodic thunder storms of last night, turned into one long storm today. Curioz Loisirs has power points for MoHos awaiting service so I drove the few hundred meters, plugged in, and charged electronics as I waited for Stéphane to let me know my window has arrived.

At 11:45 he came out and we spent 15 minutes getting drenched trying to install a window before realizing the security screw was severed and needed to be drilled out first. Unfortunately, it was now lunch time so Stéphane said he would come back at 14:00 and do it then. No worries, I can just sit around here in the parking lot for a couple hours and watch it rain.

A bit after two, Stéphane returned, spent three minutes drilling out the old security screw, and I was on my way.

Another net check at the local cybercafé and then it was out to Sevrier where I found the best parking place in the middle of town. Nice treed lot, blocking the road noise and view, with tons of space for free campers in the back. Quiet!

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 3e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 5e net drinks

Odometer: 142290

Saturday June 16th

Sevrier, France: The day started out looking GREAT so I called and emailed (found a nice WiFi location in the smoke-free lobby of the hotel in St Jorioz) a few people to get them out. My one German buddy, Robert, was up for a noon meeting in the LZ, but Bruno was not able to go until Sunday. Unfortunately conditions overdeveloped quickly and put most of the hill in the shadows. After waiting around till after 15:00, with no one getting much of anything, I decided to give it a go on the next splash of sun. I was totally decked out with poly-pro balaclava, fleece top and bottom, and winter gloves, so was hot, sweaty, and miserable by the time I got a puff.

A right turn got me about 15 feet over launch as I headed north to get into the sun. Constant sink along the way should have made me turn for the LZ, but I was determined to find that elusive lift. I didn't, and wound up making a downwind/up hill landing in some farmers field surrounded by power lines after 16 minutes. Ugh.

Packed up, walked out to the road, and started hiking as 20 other pilots now soared in the sunny lift. I had planned on just hiking the 15ish clicks to the LZ, but Mark from the UK stopped and picked me up when he saw my glider bag. It was a good thing he did, since the road I was on was not heading back to the LZ, but back up to Forclaz.

I offered to drive back up if Mark wanted to fly so we both hiked to launch from the col and I jumped into the air, sans fleece and gloves, and was having a great time till some idiot tandem pilot almost hit me. I was simply doing a left 360, and climbing out well, when this guy flew directly at me from my left. He was taking photos and never even saw me till I choked out a terrified yelp and cranked a hard right, which put in a position requiring a hard left to get out of someone else's way. I left the rat-race and found my own thermal over the restaurant at the col, and enjoyed it until a group came over to share. I left for the LZ and a measly 25 minutes.

I sat around, reading, in the LZ till 19:30, but never did see Mark. Not sure if he landed out somewhere, or what? Everyone who was in the air earlier, were now down, but new pilots continued to punch off in the building south wind.

Rain is in the forecast for Sunday afternoon, but Bruno and I plan on meeting in the morning to see if we can get in a flight before that happens.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 3e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 4e net

Odometer: 142321

Sunday June 17th

Sevrier, France: A bit after 08:00, Bruno gave me a call and we met for coffee/drinks before heading over watch his son's PG school do an over-water SIV course. One pilot flew and had a really nice flat spin, but then the south wind kicked in, in addition to thick cirro-form covering the sun, so no one was able to launch. Bruno and I never even went up the hill...in fact, he never even brought his glider with him.

Into Annecy for a stroll around the market, and then back out to Sevrier before they closed the entire road around the lake on account of a bike race.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 21e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 142370

Monday-Friday June 18th-22nd

Beaune, France: After a long, hot, muggy drive from Annecy, I accidentally wound up in Beaune, a small walled city about 50 clicks south of Djion. The Aires de Loisirs is just outside the walls and you can walk around the whole town in about 15 minutes. Cozy.

Had planned on just stopping just for the night, but the TI gave me a ton of good info so I stuck around for a while. There are a several "caves" in town and most of them offer tasting and tours of some sort. Marche Aux Vins was the first one I went to and it was a totally new experience. Pay your 10e, grab your souvenir Bourgogne tasting cup and then guide yourself through a labyrinth  of tunnels packed with ageing wine, much of which is covered in cobwebs and mold, in addition to 15 (!) self serve tasting stations along the way.

Of course they have an occasional note asking you to not over indulge, along with a description and price of the wine. However, by the time you taste all 15 of these things, you have a buzz going! Along the way I played through Linda, Dave, Holly, and Philip, a couple couples from the USA, and we all commented that you would NEVER see this in America! Toward the end, even I was taking smaller pours, and spitting more often, but just because I knew I had a Bourgogne tasting class just around the corner.

Others, such as Patriarche, actually have a guide take you through the first few tastings and give you a bit of history, before turning you loose on the remaining dozen wines. Some, like Reine Pedauque and Bouchard Aine & Fils, are guided the whole way and have a much more modest amount to taste.

In addition to all these caves, there are wine bars everywhere and a terrific wine store complete with classes on demand. Sensation Vin is not only spectacular on account of the lovely green-eyed Celiene who does enjoyable classes with a mesmerizing French accent, but also for the actual educational experience. Bourgogne is a much smaller region than I originally thought. 60% of production is Chardonnay. There are four categories of wine: Bourgogne--wine from Bourgogne and usually from the valley floor and often mixed from different areas. City/Village--wine from a specific village and generally from the valley floor. Premier Cru--wine from grapes from vineyards on the better drained slopes. Grand Cru--wine made of grapes from a specific block in a specific certified vineyard from the slopes. Also, and this is something I may have had an idea about prior, but never considered it much, that the sheen of a wine can be a good visual indicator of age in addition to the color and clarity. In fact, there was so much to learn, I did two different classes.

Along the way I met a TON of Americans. Supposedly Rick Steves is at it again and has included Beaune in a recent book. Drinks with David in addition to a fun wine class was one of the highlights. Other English-speaking people were fun as well...Jenny, from Korea on an international physics symposium, some Kiwi guy hitching around (and complaining about the rain more than I am!), a bunch of very friendly brits, and Adrian, a local winemaker who is on his way to Maryland, of all places, to take a job of winemaker in a start up winery, all made me want to extend my stay.

On a mustard tour at Moutarderie Fallot I was surprised to learn that 98% of the mustard made in Bourgogne (including Dijon) is from seeds imported from Canada. I guess the more profitable rapeseed and grapes have ruled for a long time. So, only 2% is actually made of seeds from Bourgogne and is then able to be classified as Bourgogne Mustard. After our tour, where we got to make our own mustard, learned that it takes a couple of days for the chemical reaction with the vinegar to take it from bitter to hot, and re-realized that mustard loses it's heat when cooked (so always add it at the very end if making a cream sauce), I wound up with a couple jars of VERY good stuff!

A music festival, comprised of bands in every square and many places in between, was very fun as well. Mister L--a funky one-man Franco band, Tit's on Fire--the worst young punk-rock band I'd ever heard, 100% Stones--a terrific band that kept the crowd dancing, Union Musical Beaunoise--a brass band playing classical music, and more, kept the throngs of tourists and locals entertained till past midnight, where I then met up with Adrian again for some great Jazz at a local club.

All in all, I would visit Beaune again in a heartbeat. I typically enjoy Bordeaux wine more, but found Beaune the easiest place in France to be able to actually taste the wines. Many caves and chateaux in other parts of France are not set up for that touristy aspect of wine.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 185e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 147e for various entries and classes, 3e net, 1e wine map

Odometer: 142642

Saturday June 23rd

Marsannay la Cote, France: Before finally leaving Beaune I wandered through the morning market and checked the net...rain is STILL in the forecast.

Made the short drive north into Dijon, where I was headed before winding up in Beaune, and wandered around town a bit. I find it more busy and dirty than quaintly interesting. Just south of town, across from a the large Cora hypermarche, is a another Aires de Loisirs which I am staying at.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 52e for 50l at 142650/405km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 36e

Supplies: 17e for 24l of GPL

Misc: 0

Odometer: 142707

Sunday June 24th

Marsannay la Cote, France: Hard rain and just a veg day with a book.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 142707

Monday June 25th

Marsannay la Cote, France: Back into Dijon for another walk-about and net check before returning to the free camp.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 31e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 2e park, 3e net drink

Odometer: 142733

Tuesday June 26th

Dole, France: Yet another net check for weather and email before driving off for Dole in the pouring rain. Dole has a nice small town feel and I comfortably camped by the river with a few others.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 3e net drinks

Odometer: 142803

Wednesday June 27th

Kapple, Germany: Long drive day with lots of hitch hikers along the way. Was considering staying at the 5e camping-car-platz in Frieburg, but they had raised the price to 8e!!! Continued north, grabbed a free ferry over the Rhine to free camp in France, but found nothing nearby, so hoped back to Germany and found a tree-filled city parking lot which was nice and quiet.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 0

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 143124

Thursday June 28th

Leonberg, Germany: LOTS OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION slowed my progress and put me into Leinfelder-Ecterdingen too late to say hi to my friend Matthias, but I left him a bottle of Bourgogne digestive I picked up in Beaune. I then headed north through Stuttgart to the terrible looking campground, with various MoHos and caravans absolutely CRAMMED in next to each other, before escaping back to the west and a pleasant, and free, city park. The only other people here are a couple of really nice Germans who are chatty as hell.

Camp Fee from prior night/s:

Fuel: 74e for 65l at 143235/584km

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 5e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 143385

Friday June 29th

Autostop near Stuttgart, Germany: Last night I camped with Gerhard and Ling and today we spent most of the day chatting away. Very interesting couple who live in Germany, but have just started a two year camping trip around Europe. They were interested in hearing from me about how I found it.

Did an afternoon net-check and called Matthias to set up a morning coffee rendezvous. Decided to leave in the evening as vendors started to arrive for the Saturday morning market...ok to park here during the market, but you cant get out until they all leave on Saturday afternoon.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 20e

Supplies: 11e medical

Misc: 3e net

Odometer: 143395ish

Saturday June 30th

Fellbach-Schmiden, Germany: Did the short drive into Stuttgart and enjoyed wandering around the outside markets and the pedestrian avenues as well as meeting up with Matthias. He and Flight Design are doing really well with the CT and you can tell by his enthusiasm.

In the evening I made my way out to Fellbach where I met up with Till (a paragliding-camper I have bumped into in various locations including Italy and Maroc) and he drug me along to a birthday party for a friend of his. Helmut/Helmie turns 50 years old at midnight and Julie, his American wife from OH, threw him a heck of a bash complete with a great band, spectacular food, over a hundred friends (and me), fireworks display, and a midnight dance ala Julie, as she artistically spun light-filled balloons around the courtyard and her man. Surprisingly, there was very few complaints regarding the strange American party crasher who showed up out of the blue and wound up staying until the bitter end. That's one of the nice things about owning a MoHo...since I drove Till to the party, he was able to go crash (didn't HAVE to be in my bed, but it was!) for a bit while Martha, Martha2, Fleish (not sure if that is his first name, second name, or a nickname, but I was not about to ask why he is called "meat"), Julie, Helmie, Finish Monika, and I continued to party-hardy until the sun came up and Moni, Julie, and I retired to my MoHo for tea. There was no waking Till till about 05:30 when the girls finally left for home and we then headed a few clicks away to Till's place.

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 6e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 0

Odometer: 143433

Sunday July 1st

Fellbach-Schmiden, Germany: Noise and light ensured I was up by 09:00 and feeling like shit. After breakfast, and small amount of work on Till's campervan, I was considering a nap when Till suggested a bike ride. It has been months since I have gotten much exercise, and over a year since I had ridden a bike, so I agreed to a short one as long as there were no hills. On our first break (Till had to wait for me on the top of a hill) I was ready to call it quits but Till was simply stopping to ask me if I wanted to do a short 40 minutes or an hour-twenty? Thinking he was joking, I told him to bring it on. On the next few breaks in our ride Till asked if I wanted to switch bikes (he is on his new $1000 27 speed lightweight bike with top-of-the-line Shimano and I am on an archaic 50 pound seven speed piece of crap), but I declined in fear that he STILL may climb those hills faster.

Thankfully rain, and a call from Julie and Moni telling us to come to the Medieval Festival in Wablingen kept our ride to just over an hour. I have not sweat so much in a LONG time and it felt great! Really needed some exercise after so long without and such a decedent prior day.

Till's mother joined us at the festival where, in addition to seeing Julie's felting tent, we saw some sword fights, some archery, lots of hand made crafts, and drank a bit of mead. When Till headed out, Monika and I walked across the river into the old part of town for listening to a couple great bands, before Julie joined us for a snack in my MoHo till 01:30. Not as late as last night, but it is starting to add up! :-)

Camp Fee from prior night/s: 0

Fuel: 0

Tolls: 0

Food/Drink: 2e

Supplies: 0

Misc: 1e parking

Odometer: 143448