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The forecast wasn't looking too good but what the hey I was booked anyway so went. It was a smooth drive to the airport where in duty free I met up with John and Derek. At boarding time we were made to wait ages on a staircase but soon got on board ok. We left a few minutes late. But we were soon above 7/8 stratocumulus and looking lovely. There was bad weather from Southern France Southwards and the Pyrenees were invisible. I didn't see much on descent but it was fun flying between embedded towers of snow showers.
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Climbing above broken clouds North of London. | To the West of town it looks gorgeous. And apparently it was soarable at Lasham. | Passing Heathrow Airport as we head South. (Northolt also visible in the middle pic to the top left.) |
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The Northern French Coast. | It's almost 8/8 over much of Northern France. | Better cumulus further South. Still looking spreadout. | Getting rather unstable further South. |
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Embedded snow showers around the Pyrenees. A few times we flew through a cloud and I could see snow falling (sometimes heavily) against the dark backdrop of the port engine. |
It was dry on arrival albeit overcast. The Toyota Auris hire car was nice. Apparently it was a free upgrade. I drove with Derek to Santa Cilia without any problems. The rain soon showed itself and got heavier the further North we went. We arrived around 7:30 and checked in with Toya, and rendezvoused with others in the group. We went to a restaurant called Biarritz and had a good meal before we retired for the night.
See Jaca 2014 From The Ground Page 1 for pictures of the apartment and of Santa Cilia. I was staying in the exact same room as last year.
The razor toast with tea and cereal for breakfast was nice. With it still raining outside I wasn't expecting much out of today but atleast the xcweather forecast was now suggesting nice weather after Tuesday. But the synoptics looked bad though. So to the introductory briefing with trepidation, after which we went to the hangar to check the gliders over. The sun was shining through a hole in the clouds but the air was very moist with spots of rain still and a blustery strong southeasterly wind. With conditions expected to deteriorate it was an easy scrub decision as expected. I stayed at the clubhouse for a while where I had some lunch. It was nice to now have a small restaurant at the airfield.
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Checking over the gliders. | Two panoramas to the South and to the North. Conditions were actually worse than it looked as it was raining lightly and was quite breezy from the Southeast. |
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The Duo Discus needed a bit more air in its wheel. | A nice looking light aircraft was also parked in the hangar. | Derek took a picture of me fiddling with my camera. | A lovely log fire in the clubhouse. It was a cold start to the trip. |
In the afternoon Derek and I headed into Jaca. We went to see if the cathedral was open but it wasn't due to a funeral. After a quick coffee stop nearby we wandered around a bit, walking by the fort on the way back to the car.
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Approaching the cathedral from the West. | The bell tower from the South side. | A nice display at a local shop. |
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South side panorama of the cathedral. | Looking around the local streets near the cathedral. | The Southeastern side of the fort. |
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Looking over the fort entrance towards the mountains to the North. | The Southern corner of the fort. | One of many artillery positions. | Looking up the Western side of the fort towards the mountains. | Derek took this picture of me taking the previous picture. |
Then we stopped at the local Mercadona supermarket on the way back to Santa Cilia. After a rest back in the accomodation we gathered in the bar and headed to the Shang-Hai Chinese restaurant in Jaca for dinner.
It was another slow tired start but atleast the rain had stopped. There was lots of low cloud on the flanks of Cuculo and the Stage 1 hills. In the 10:30 briefing it looked like there might be a flying window late in the day but not good generally with weather fronts staying too close. So it was another day of wait and see. I was tempted for a while to drive up the Hecho valley but if there was any chance of flying I needed to be at the airfield. At 12:15 we got the gliders out then returned to the clubhouse where I had lunch. By 1:30PM the sun was shining and Cuculo was almost clear. We decided to launch and the first two people were airborne by 2pm. They were back not much more than an hour later. I was next in the Duo Discus.
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Looking North and South from the East facing kitchen balcony. | Low clouds around Cuculo. | Low clouds to the South 180 degree panorama. | To the North, Stage 1 (the hills to the right of the hangar) was obscured by cloud. |
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Low clouds around Cuculo. | Coffee time in the clubhouse. | It seems the private Lasham DG1000 is well known here. | Coffee is not my cup of tea. :) | Waiting for the clouds to lift. | Mountains coming into view as conditions improve. |
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Brown Kites playing to the East of the airfield. | As conditions improve we get the toys out. | The Toyota Auris hire car. A very nice drive albeit not as go-kart like fun as the Fiat 500 from last year. |
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The first launch of the expedition. | Cloudscape to the North (Stage 1 now clear of cloud). | The second launch of the expedition. | The private Lasham glider also preparing to launch. |
After the flight we put the gliders away while watching the clouds dance around the local peaks.
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Putting the gliders away after flight. | Oroel with a cloud cap. |
Back in the clubhouse I managed to arrange a special meal for me for Thursday night when we were being cooked for in the clubhouse. Then after a rest back in the apartment Derek and I went to explore to the West and went to the Meson Anaya restaurant in Puente La Reina. We took a while to decipher the Spanish menu but in the end we both had a good meal. Back at the apartment we joined the instructors upstairs for a while. I gave John a few pictures from today for the blog before I eventually retired for the night.