Nov 26

Flights from the mountain

Finally the wind had turned enough so that the launch on top of the real mountain was usable. Conditions still a bit rough though, resulting in a not-so-beautiful start. The flight that followed was pretty good, as was the landing against a lot of wind.

Nov 24

A windy day of walking

Far too much wind today, so we walked to some castles, much to the delight of the dogs.

Nov 23

Soaring in Spain

The wind was too strong to start from the top of the mountain, so we started only about 60 meters above the landing field. With radio guidance, we found the right lift to the top of the mountain and further, for a flight of 1 hour and 19 minutes. It could have been longer, had I not had so much tea in the morning…

Nov 22

Rain in Ronda

After a good flight to Malaga, Spain yesterday (in a 737, not under a glider), the weather was very unlike what most people would think of for Southern Spain: Grey, cold and rainy. No good for flying…
As an alternative, our new Australian friends offered us a ride to beautiful Ronda, which has enough sights for a day of exploring. Especially the gorge was gorgeous!

Oct 14

And back

Another great week of flying has come to an end. Last flight on an A320 back from Sofia to Eindhoven. Views were good.

Oct 13

Manual train-ticket writing

It took the train station attendant a few minutes to fill out this form, but there was not much more to do for him anyway. I now have the largest and nicest train ticket I have ever bought to put in the picture-book. I just love how simple some things can be. No computer needed for this and still it works…

Oct 12

Best flying day ever: CrossCountry!

Today was by far the most interesting flying day I have ever had. Period.
It started with just some playing around. On the second flight, it became clear that something had changed in the atmosphere and  there were serious thermals waiting to be used. After about an hour of circling over the launch, but around 600 meters higher, I got an idea: why not go on an adventure and see how far I can go?
Off I went to the West. The first village was passed, then the second and third, and the fourth. After that, it was becoming hard to keep the height, as the clouds were a bit far over the mountains to be reachable. The search for a good landing field was started, but finding a nice one was not difficult. After a gentle landing, I packed the glider and walked into the village кърнаре, had the largest ice-cream the mini-marked had in the freezer and sat down at the bus-stop. No bus would come however…
After some waiting, I decided that walking back the 13 kilometers to Sopot would be a good option. Only when I passed the same field that I had landed in about an hour earlier, I spotted another glider on final approach. It turned out to be a Bulgarian from Plovdiv who knew the region. He called his daughter to pick him up and offered me a ride back. Excellent!

Another shorter flight with a similarly interesting landing on a dirt road followed and was a perfect end of the day. This is what makes the flying over here so good: you can do as you please and it is never a problem. What a difference from the Alps!

Oct 11

Dinner with the paragliders in Карлово

Super-nice Bulgarian dinner, together with some other paragliders in the next town. Great food and great company!

The flying today was nice as well, but too much action for taking pictures…

Oct 10

Gypsy summer in Сопот

It looked and felt like real summer today. Thermals were not strong though, making it a struggle to stay up, with only short flights as a result. It did give more time for some aerial photography and playing with the glider, which was good as well.

Oct 09

High above Сопот

The excellent thing about flying here in Bulgaria: you are allowed to land wherever you like. The only warning they give is that it is wise not to land too close to a gypsy ‘village’ as a crowd will gather rather quickly and that landing close to a main road improves your chances of getting a lift back before dark… I didn’t need all this as it was a bit too cloudy for long flights today. I managed to nicely land in the middle of the interesting little landing area next to the Shambhala chairlift. Maybe tomorrow? The forecasts surely look very promising.

Oct 08

Station, train, mountain, sunset

Today was a long but rewarding travel day: Sofia – Sopot by slow train. The train was just a locomotive and one carriage and made a stop every few minutes, resulting in a 3,5 hour trip covering a whopping 130 kilometers! It was nice watching the Bulgarian countryside slide past though and some extra time for sleeping and thinking was also welcome.

Sopot really is a nice little town, where things did not change as fast as in most parts of the world. So good to be out of the big city again. Here, the smell of wood-burning stoves fills the evening air and people  prefer to walk to the mineral water springs instead of using the tap-water. Staying here until the end of the week will not be hard. The weather even looks promising for flying, but that is for tomorrow…

Oct 07

Walking tour of Sofia

Another fantastic free guided tour here in Sofia. The guide told us many interesting stories and showed us around for 2.5 hours. One amazing bit was these hot-water springs where many people fill their bottles with the 39 degrees hot mineral water that supposedly makes you happy. I did feel happy, but the sunshine and great city must have had it’s part in that as well.

Off into the countryside tomorrow…

Oct 06

Back in Bulgaria

First time in Sofia though. Traveled on the bus to the center without paying a fare; no-one was able to tell where to buy a ticket and the driver just didn’t care. No-one checked either…

The ice-cream here is as great as I remember from the trip last year.

Aug 10

Andelsbuch showing its best again

After moving as far North-West as we could in Austria, good old Andelsbuch welcomed us with a fantastic day for flying. The late-afternoon flight was the best: beautiful views, a quiet atmosphere and not may pilots left in the sky. This is what flying should be like…

Aug 09

Moving on through frontal weather

Weather in the South turned bad, so we moved North. The mountain passes on the way were pretty cloudy: the road was hard to see at times…

Aug 07

Lienzer Dolomiten

We moved South due to the weather forecast: winds in Garmisch increased too much. After a 3 hour trip over the Alps, the Austrian part of the Dolomites is our new playground for the coming days. Very hot (40 degrees) and a bit windy as well, but fantastic quiet start locations. It is good to learn about new flying sites. Two interesting flights today, with views of the Dolomites. Weather a bit unstable though…

Aug 05

Flights around Zugspitze

Beautiful flying around Germany’s highest peak: Zugspitze. The apparently ‘famous’ Garmisch valley-wind made for some interesting landings: one almost vertical. Great learning though and fantastic views!

Jul 14

More action in flight

Beautiful day again! Sometimes it was pretty hard to stay up there, at other times I was shooting up at +8 m/s! Great fun and a good last day of my long weekend here.

Jul 13

Launch from above

After a short morning flight (I was on the mountain a bit too early for a nice flight, but practicing extra starts and landings is always good), the two flights I did in the afternoon were all I could hope for: way high: 600 meters above launch on the second flight and 700 meters on the third flight. The duration was awesome as well: A little over 2.5 hours of flight time were logged today, brilliant!

Jul 12

Taking the glider for a real ride

I drove the Daihatsu out of the shed at 6 A.M. and arrived in Andelsbuch, Austria at 3 P.M. By 3.30 I was on the Sesselbahn to the top of the Niedere and by 5 I was having fun in the thermals in the sky on this beautiful summer day in the Alps.
It was a bit busy at the launch site, but once in the air, I was lifted up by the thermals, away from the bustle of the start. The inversion layer was not that high today (climbing stopped abruptly 500 mters above the launch), but still the best I have ever seen in Andelsbuch (or is it this superb glider?). Anyway, a fantastic day that that could have been spent at work…