Today was the Romeria de la Virgen de la Vega, when all the town goes 5km north of town to the hermitage where the Virgen is kept. A meal is provided by the town hall. Nice flying conditions throughout the day with base of around 2500m, good Cu development from early on, but some larger congestus later in the afternoon. Three flights for our new group ( mainly from Sussex). The photo is of Rob and Ian, who made the most of the first flight with some good thermal climb outs in the valley.

Our second non flyable day. No storms but big build ups and some rain. After a morning for the group sightseeing in Avila (and a meeting for myself with the tourist board to sort out posters and maps for the competition events) we returned to Piedrahita, but with the cloud still at hill height and Read the rest of this entry »

Cbs from 9am so no flying today. There were plenty of sunny spells, but the Cbs soon filled in again. Nature walks for some of the group. Myself and Jamie checked on the progress of my Warré hives in Zapata. Two which had drawn comb throughout their first box were provided with fresh boxes below. This is done without smoke or stress to the bees by lifting it with a lifting device (held stable by Jamie), then slotting the new box in underneath. The photo shows Read the rest of this entry »

A sunny start to the day, though light south easterly winds, so off to Chia. A couple of flights each in ridge and light themal lift, but always monitoring the development of the clouds. In the Valley behind (Piedrahitas valley), large congestus and Cbs from around 2pm. At chia it was ok untill around 5pm, but by six, the backwind came in forming convergence right over take of and triggering the Cb. We drove back via Peña Negra, comming across a number of black and yellow Salamanders crossing the road.

The day started out with early Cu and light winds. Most of the group had a good first flight, most climbing out low from the Chalets (photo). Unfortunately Bruce ended up in some fields further down the slope and ran into the Oak trees at the end on his landing attempt. We decided to Read the rest of this entry »

On the 17th of April, with a terrible weather forecast for the week, our first group of the season arrived in Piedrahita with great expectations. It was the first ever walkers, rather than pilots, to be guests in our house, and we were all looking forward to Read the rest of this entry »

For our first full day with the new group the days started with a text book morning flight, with good reliable climbs on the chalet spine, most pilots getting a good climb out above take off. Only Simon got Read the rest of this entry »

After 10 days flying we brought our Dutch guest back to Madrid today (see farewell photo) and collected our assorted group from England (from The Dover and Folkestone and the Dunstable club…..also a lone Northerner, Andy, our regular guest and bird expert from Lancashire. Yet another flyable day, and on arrival the group had an evening soar from Peña Negra, although for much of the day, especially in the Ambles Valley, conditions had been stormy.

Our first group of the year from Holland enjoyed 10 days out of 10 for their flying week, kicking off our season with flying clients. A mix of conditions throughout the week, with good unstable light winds early on, though a little stable over the last 3 days. Today we went to Read the rest of this entry »

Some gentle thermic conditions today with thermal soaring and small excurtions along the valley towards the pass.