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Yesterday was another non-flying day for me. It was clearly
waving but the wind was very strong at altitude and I wasn't looking forward
to another pole-squat. But Roger didn't mind and he took JAC up to FL195 for
his diamond height, and was duly congratulated at this morning's briefing.
Roger reported a windspeed of 73 knots at altitude and there must have been
some conscious effort not to accidentally reverse into the Mediterranean.
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Lac Castellane
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Today's was a more traditional forecast; light winds,
southerly on the ridges and north-westerly at height. A tow to Trainon got
me going the easy way and on reaching the Cheval Blanc I decided that the
weather looked good enough to the east for a trip towards Fayence. I hadn't
flown in that direction for a few years and it was good to refresh my
memories. Lac Castellane glowed a deep turquoise and strong conditions held
until I approached the final ridge before Fayence. The clouds looked less
good and the lift was very soft, so I turned back 15km from Fayence and
headed back west.
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South of St Croix
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I avoided some spreadout by aiming at Puismosson, from where
I could see streets of cumulus marching southwards, so I had to give that a
go. My Oudie continued to nag me about the airspace as I passed Vinon, but
it was easy enough to cope with as I continued to my target, the Montagne
Ste Victoire near Aix.
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Montagne Ste Victoire
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Time to head northwards. I re-used the streets to get back to
Puismosson and then, noting the spreadout over the parcours, I went for the
well-separated cumulus directly over Auribeau and les Monges to get to
Dormillouse, though I'm not sure that it turned out to have been the quicker
option. I followed the traditional route via Morgon, Guillaume, Clotinailles
and Furan to get a climb just to the south of the tete de Vautisse, which
was enough to get me to the tete de Peyron on the east of the St Crepin
valley. From there I got as far as Chaberton, encountering a hint of
north-westerly wave on the way.
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Queyras, east of Briancon
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It was now around 5:30pm, so time to go home. My instruments
were telling me that my batteries were low, and I became conscious of the
need to expedite my return in order to save me the extra hassle of having to
re-learn how to use pneumatic varios on the fly (as it were). I wanted to
avoid having to detour around the southern tips of Furan, Clotinailles and
Guillaume, opting for the faster route over the cols at the heads of their
respective valleys.
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Chaberton
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It was just as I was approaching a very marginal col on Furan
that, with brilliant timing, I had one of my rare but gushingly effective
nose bleeds. Great! Now I had to deal with blood dripping down my face at
the very moment I needed most concentration. I passed the Furan col and then
hunted out any tissues or wipes I could find to minimise further leakage
while at the same time aiming for the next marginal col on Clotinailles.
That was safely negotiated, leaving only the col de Guillaume to deal with
which again was achieved successfully. Having now reached the wide open
plains of the Gap valley, the bleeding stopped and I was finally able to
relax for the 40km trip back to base.
You couldn't make it up....
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