Blogs from Laragne-Montéglin, Hautes-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe

To celebrate/commiserate our departure from Chateau Niorlieu, our new friends decided to throw us a going away party - Australian themed - on our second last night. The Aussie Party consisted of Aussie clothes, green and gold decorations, green 'face' paint (the remnants of the green paint I had been using to paint the fence - here's hoping it was non-toxic..) and plenty of beer. It was a fun night that got a bit wild at the end, resulting in a vision that neither Abe nor I will ever forget. So many thanks for that, Team. After a fleeting visit to Lyon (one day was definitely not enough time to explore France's food capital), we headed further south to Rosans for our second HelpX stay with Michele at her B&B, La Ferme de La Rose. Rosans ... read more

On Saturday, there was a forecast for pretty strong winds, so the day was cancelled after the morning briefing. Days like that always give me the opportunity to catch up with some sleep - you never get enough sleep during a hanggliding comp - and with some work. In the evening, we had the Pizza and Paella Night. We all had pizza and paella (who would have thought that, huh? ) in the nearby village of Ribiers, and there was a really good band. Dancing and fun was guaranteed. On Sunday, we drove up the Chabre again and pilots launched from the south launch. Conditions at launch were almost perfect, so we got alle of the 120 pilots off the hill within only an hour. A 166 km task had been set, leading the pilots first ... read more

Yesterday, we drove up the Chabre because there was a chance that conditions would be good enough for a task. When we arrived up there, it there was still a pretty strong northerly wind. Still, the pilots set up their gliders. There are about 120 pilots, so there are three launch lanes that they launch from. When they launch from the Chabre, there is an ordered launch, meaning that they have to launch in a certain order. On the first day, the launch order is determined by the pilots' world ranking, afterwards by their overall result in the comp. As the gliders are really big, they have to set them up in a spot from which they can get to the ramp easily once it is their turn. So there is a certain order for setup, ... read more

I had two more weeks in the rehab hospital. Actually, I had been supposed to be there for three weeks altogether, but the doctor there extended my stay by one week. The last two weeks were not much different from the second week. Eight therapies per day. Try and do as much work as possible. On my last weekend, we did some more hiking. In my last week, I got one day off rehab because I had to travel to Bielefeld to talk to a customer. It was great to have an entire day for work, and I enjoyed the trip although I had to get up early and didn't get back until late. Another good thing was that I discovered a fantastic icecream shop. One day, we arrived back from the icecream shop that late ... read more

Als Ihr das letzte Mal von mir gelesen habt, saß ich gerade im Zug nach Zürich. Dort holten mich Monica und Scott ab, und wir machten uns direkt auf den Weg gen Frankreich. Da es bereits spät wurde, beschlossen wir, uns zwischen Bern und Genf ein Nachtquartier zu suchen. Wir suchten uns den Ort Avenches im französischsprachigen Teil der Schweiz aus, der Name klang so schön nach „adventure“. Wie sich dann herausstellte, landeten wir in einem historischen Ort, mit einem 2.000 Jahre alten Amphitheater aus römischer Zeit und einer Burg und Kirche aus dem Mittelalter. Am nächsten Morgen ging es weiter, direkt nach Annecy. Wir suchten uns einen Campingplatz und machten uns dann auf den Weg zum Col da la Forclaz, dem Flugberg von Annecy (natürlich nachdem wir uns den - tatsächlich riesengroßen und praktisch idiotensicheren ... read more