Smokey bars

Mixed feelings. No more smokey bars in Spain from tomorrow onwards. Most strict in all of Europe, the smoking will be forbidden in all bars, restaurants, public places.
Of course convinced of the hazards of smoking, but got mixed feelings. Where is this all gonna lead to, a nanny state ?
A(nother) country where all are looking at each other to see what he is doing wrong ? I heard of places like this, all sue-ing one another. Ruled by lawyers, habited by sour people.
Greyness, warning signs, danger signs. Over-reacting.
We flew without reserve. Even without helmets. And had the best sex without condoms, I tell ya !
Have a great new year, and pass it over to me.


(please the quote about having sex without condoms, put one on ok, times they are a-changing .... see ! I am already protecting myself for being sue-d, for gods' sake, ... oops again, well insjallah ...)

Xmas present - voucher tattoo

No flying today for us. We were patiently waiting for the eastern winds to enjoy the cliffs. Didn't fance going inland, most probably only doing top to bottoms somewhere.
So had some time to go in some tattoo-shops to cash in my wife's Xmas present, a voucher for a tattoo. Not convinced yet which one I'd get.

Santa Pola paragliding

Late afternoon flights over the cliffs of Santa Pola. Northeasterlies weak, but enough to give us some playtime.

It all felt so good. Friends visiting, and local pilots at the site, all wishing each other 'felices fiestas'. Can't go wrong any more today.

Paragliding between christmas and newyear

We always do our best to get you flying every day. So we left for Jijona, Carrasqueta. A 1100 m high ridge, where at least we would be above the inversion and catch some wind to soar. We could hardly see the coastline, all in a haze due to the inversion, high pressure. Hardly any wind at take off, so all pilots hesitating and waiting for those 15km laminar winds. Some action foto's though, Rodney under my Skywalk Cayenne3, loving it.

Blue sky

Blue sky that was for sure. And thermals weak at first, but then as winters goes, at 3 pm it all became nice. Excellent thermals for all of us. The southwesterly moderate winds weren't due much later when it was dark. So bingo, a lovely day as if it was summer.
Lets burn those longjohns.

Longjohns and thermal underwear

Forecast gave us freezing temperaturers of +4 degrees celsius. So secretly I got my ski-outfits out, and squeezed myself in my old longjohn and thermal shirt. In the car driving to Peña Rubia, near Villena, one of the coldest villages in our region, it already felt quite uncomfortable, all loose ends squeezed too tight.

Once on the hill, no wind, ..., bummer. No wind at this take off, is a bit of .... yes you're right, a bit tricky. So lets wait a bit. Sun is shining soon on this norhtwestern face lads, lets be patient, meanwhile lets do some top to bottom as soon as a little breeze comes up. And a couple of pilots did.

Meanwhile that sun was heating up the air. It felt like walking in a non airconditioned underground parking in summer. Awfull. And I just couldn't secretly get my longjohns off of course, not on that hill anyway.
People watching.
Then I had to take a piss. You know how difficult it is ? Getting to it, through pants, longjohns and then finally your regular underwear ?
As I am shaped as an average man, it took me a while to get it all safely out, passed the underwear, longjohn, and jeans. It felt like taking a stamp out of deep jar. Putting it all back in was easy, just let go off it.
Where were we ?
Oh yes, no wind all afternoon. When I got home I felt like a toast. Longjohns and thermal underwear definetely not needed in Alicante.

Merry Xmas you all

Spain paragliding

Stormy weather today with magnificient sky late afternoon when sun was setting.

foggy in the morning

No good, rainy and foggy in the morning. Later in the day development on the mountains. At the coast, nice and warm after midday. Lazy-ing out in Alicante, waiting for a better spell of weather, friday onwards, check it out.

bigger nicer

A grey day in Alicante. A day not flying. Only then you start missing it, and you notice mountains around you are bigger, nicer, more beautiful than you expected.

Scandinavian school

Scandinavian schools for dancing in the 80's.

Belgium, 2009 Antwerp. To ease the pain, having to watch the Sound of Music again these days. A splendid performance.

I could have put paragliding video on, but it is easy. You've heard of youtube ? Type in 'paragliding'. I love you all.

Murcia paragliding

Murcia was our place to go. Afraid Alicante was gonna be too windy, we filled up our gastanks and left for a 100 km drive to the mountains near our sister neighbouring city Murcia. With its high mountains near Sierra Espuña and Carrascoy.

Pressure dropping

When pressure drops suddenly, I have a bit of a knee problem. I get tooth-ache in my left knee. I can rub it but doesn't help, ice neither. I just have to wait till pressure rises.

So I got my old books out, stretching, warming up, do-it-yourself get fit programm, yoga for dummies. To keep in shape on days like this.

Santa Pola paragliding

Yet again surprise. Foggy rainy morning. But .... an almost three hour window before it got nasty again. At Cabo de Santa Pola. Not a lot of pilots, because nobody expected it.

Blown out

Blown out today.

Even the house which is marked as trigger point, blew over. Honestly, this is the house near the eastern landing field at Palomaret. The upper part blew off a while ago, not today.

I brief about the house thermals, always. One of them is around that house, with its terrace's surroundings. The house was abandoned luckily, a windgust must have caught it.

.

Agres - Bocairent

A bit of culture as well today. As you go to Agres, you meet the wonderful village of Bocairent, with the Arab caves, the monastery where nuns were jailed and never released in life. And where you can find the only bullfight arena in Spain, cut out in the rocks.

Alfafara, Agres, nearby Ontinyent, all worth a visit after the flying.

Hector, Juanma, Robert, y otros gracias para siempre estar bienvenido en tu zona, para volar en Agres.

Agres is a site where you need a pass to go up to take off. I thanked my local buddies up there, for letting us have permission to drive all the way to take off, with the special pass.

Agres

If you look at your right at Agres, you are overlookingthe valley of Cocentaina. With in the distance our highest mountains near Aitana. Splendid views today.

Northern site Agres we flew. And huray huray, Annee wasn't afraid of heights, I asked her to look left, look right, look between her legs, relax and smile. She did !

a very sunny day

danku voor de bloemn

A very sunny day today, and temperatures weren't that bad at all at the coast. But early morning, and especially inland where our western sites are winds were way too strong.

Late afternoon it surprisingly all died off. But only top to bottoms maybe, nothing to get excited about. Focussing on tomorrow, should be western winds, norhtwestern winds. Heading inland early.

Paragliding Santa Pola

No as rosie as yesterday, but still flying for mike and marc.

M&m took the only window there was today, untill ugly 'cellulite'-lines were appearing on the sea.

Soon white horses appeared at the horizon. Boats capsizing, trees flying. No, not that bad, but still our feathers couldn't take it any more. 40 to 50 km per hour I guess, and tomorrow temp dropping. Especially over night.

We'll have a bright blue sky, so we'll have to have our cola-cao in the lee and put our special beard-hat on.

Santa Pola paragliding

Merky, that's how the sky was. Warm and merky. Gave us hours of playtime at the coast.
Inland was probably working as well, but who the heck doesn't like a relaxed afternoon of soaring above the Med.

Paragliding Spain

Villena has a wide variety of activities. Villena is by the way, the village where the Borial climbing shoes are made, and in the surroundings of the Village there are several climbing routes. Also caving is possible.

And there is a great Via Ferrata nearby.

But most important for us, you are near Peña Rubia with its 3 take offs, La Solana, La Zafra (14 km), Caudete (20 km).

Winds were weak today, not worth going out actually. But we did drive out, to do a lousy top to bottom. Nothing special, just off the ground once again.

Jijona paragliding

We were looking for a high ridge, where we would meet some strong(er) meteo-wind, stronger than at the coast. Thermals would be rare today, the weather is too good for that, too warm. Cirrus clouds curtaining the sun as well, not heating up the valleys.

We found it, on height there was some wind, so we could fly all afternoon, from midday till 4 pm. Jijone, city of Turron, ridge about 1100 m high. Just us, guiris, me and our visiting pilots. Although Jijona is in fiestas these days, with foodstalls, fireworks and of course parades.

Santa Pola paragliding

It all felt back in time. Just locals, the usuals, the Antonio's, the José's, the Guillermo's, all were there, the Santa Pola boys. And a couple of guiris. Mike and Annee and Mark, in the air at Santa Pola. After a rainy morning.
Again Alicante at its best. Sun shining through be the end of the day.

Santa Pola paragliding

Just to show you how fit .... no how hot is still is in Alicante. If pilots ask me if this is normal, I say this is probably the last day but one of summer. And I keep on saying this ... . It is marvellous weather.
But as paraglider pilots we are not always happy with this type of weather ain't we. It is warm, and we get an inversion, which doesn't let us fly in big thermals. We are kinda grounded in the air. That's it. Grounded in the air, that how it was today. But where in Europe could you have flown before, if I look at the weather maps, I don't think there was a wide choice.

Alicante paragliding october 2010

For those who haven't been here, some shots about the flying down here in autumn oct/nov.

Thanks letting me use your videos on my blog. Hope to see you again soon. Take care you all. Un abrazo Sondre.

Villena paragliding

Mike at Solana today. It doesn't look like he is actually enjoying the flight. It was bumpy and gusty, not the best, but still airborne under a bright blue sky.
We flew early as weather would get windier during the day.

Toix Calpe

Couldn't make it in time to fly at Toix, as Annee and Mike came in this morning, ready for a fortnight flying in Alicante.

Oliver and some friends flew early morning at Toix. Southwestern winds for the moment. An old foto maybe will back memories to those who flew this lovely site before with us.

Belgium - Spain 35 euros

Had a ticket by Ryanair this morning, getting back from the cold. Cost ? 35 euros. Brussels - Alicante.


Experienced about the coldest and earliest winterspell for years. Of course not used to the cold any more, but holy cow. Snow, ice, all was there.

Glad to be home, ready to guide again.