NHPC holiday trip 2009

[Andrew Maltby]

When are we heading off for our club trip to France next year?(work wants to know my holiday request dates)

[Sad Northerner]

Hi Andrew

the general idea being thrown round was to head to Annecy but no date has been confirmed yet. My experience of the area tell me that August would be a good time.
Would be good to hear from the other NHPC members to see who's interested.


Ali

[Sad Northerner]

Forgot to mention that Annecy was identified for some specific reasons;

• loads of none flying stuff for partners to do.
  a good range of milk runs
  simple valley system
  it's pretty

I think the onus should be on XC and team flying, experienced shared are always more fun, but with simple flying for those who want it.


Ali

[gary stenhouse]

also has great hospitals!

if you want epic then go in april as that is when all the record flights have been done.

though at the moment i am still band from flying in france.

[Andrew Maltby]

I can only go outside of the school summer holidays(mid-july to end of August)

[brian day]

Seems like a good idea Ali,,,,,,especially during the school holidays!!!!
What do you think Jan?

Proposal for a new team for next year.
Team Teachers or
Skoolies Crew
We need one more by my reckoning, anyone else qualify? Slightest or ambiguous links considered! Neil, don't you have some contract work with schools?

[colin keightley]

What you trying to say about the team you have got now like.

[Jan L]

yep sounds good trip and annecy is very pleasant end of july beg august Chris and me will probably be there sometime in the six weeks hols. would be keen to join in the NHPC trip.

[Dave Hume]

Another vote for Annecy as this is also good for hang gliders. Good take off at Col de Forclaz (concrete ramp) and large landing field. that's assuming these are still the same as when I was there a few years ago. Can anyone confirm this?

Gary, take the RS as well as the paraglider......

Dave

[Dave Hume]

also has great hospitals!

if you want epic then go in april as that is when all the record flights have been done.

though at the moment i am still band from flying in france.

Would you still be banned if you leave the paraglider at home and take the hang glider???

[Andrew Maltby]

Can we agree on a set of dates? Seem's it might have to be two club trips. Anyone got any ideas?

[bill-scott]

You have beaten me to it. I
was going to try and get some interest for a trip to Millau.
I love annecy and have been there manny times and have had a great holidays but the problem is that its a bit of a victim of its own success. The two main take offs at colde forclaz and planfait can end up like northumberland street on a saturday afternoon,
wheras Millau never seems to get that crowded, there is sites for all wind directions most of which are 10 mins or less from the town and the hang-glider ramps arnt just concrete there block paved.
This part of france is great for flying so much so that there are three schools operating from the town and the xc potential is also good the town its'self is about the size of morpeth or hexham maybe a bit bigger and has great bars and restaurants. You can get there very cheaply using ryanir stanstead to Rodez (bit of a drive at this end) or flybe from newcastle to Limoges (bit of a drive at the other end) or what I intend to do is share my car and drive the whole way, it takes about 24 hours.
As I mentioned earlier Annecy is great but this is something a bit different and it would be great to go there on mass
I have been typing up agreat article originally written by grahm thirlwell for the club magazine years ago about his first trip to Millau and was going to use it to get people interested but you know what im like with computers its taking me ages .So watch this space

[Sergey]

Another vote for Annecy as this is also good for hang gliders. Good take off at Col de Forclaz (concrete ramp) and large landing field. that's assuming these are still the same as when I was there a few years ago. Can anyone confirm this?

Gary, take the RS as well as the paraglider......

Dave

Been there this summer. Flying was largely rubbish (too stable), the only flight that lasted more than 20min was in a howling wind, when PG tandems were landing backwards in a wrong field, and rigids were laughing. I crossed the lake and went to soar the ridge on the other side, and then back to Forclaz - all from the ridge lift.

Ramp was still good. Rumors are they are already changing something at takeoff, you may have to launch through laid out PGs now.

There is an electronic barrier on the track up to takeoff, hangies can get a key from Doussard marie - if it's open, which it is ferme on weekends. Apparently, hangies can leave a EUR50 cheque for deposit, get it back when returning the key. PGs just buy the key with that many trips through the barrier, I think.

If you don't have a key, vans would usually let you follow them through - only if you got a HG on the car. Holding the barrier from closing makes the french nervous and grumpy.

Navette costs EUR6 which is cheaper than your own petrol, and you won't have to fetch the car. Shame it only goes once an hour, and with a minimum of 3 customers.

[Andrew Maltby]

I'm on for a short holiday (4 days?) in Annecy during April and game on for Bill's idea of Millau. Which month are you thinking of Bill?

Also Ron is suggesting the Ozone challenge.

[Sad Northerner]

I agree with Bill on the appropriateness of Millau as a para/hangliding location. Big open valleys and table top hills make it an easy place to fly. My only concern is in respect lack of 'none flying' activities...anyone shed any light on this?


Ali

[AlastairW]

The beaches to the South of Millau are very good.....

[bill-scott]

probably thinking June or there abouts
as for non flying days we had a great day out canoeing
they take you up the river about 20k and you paddle back to town great fun

[bill-scott]

Millau Magic

Oh wow, look how high I am. Why am I trembling? Why are my palms sweaty? Check harness buckles-OK Check karabiners and risers-OK Check lines and glider –OK Check for other gliders non near. Vario still singing. Check vario 495m ATO. Never been this high before. Still trembling. Calm down. Take some deep breaths. Start to enjoy. So this is what it’s all about, better than I could have ever imagined. I am totally hooked. The morphine of free flying is running in my veins. I relax a little check harness buckles OK check…………Pay attention feel the air watch other gliders. Someone getting good lift along the ridge to the left. I think Ill go over there. (Recalling the words of Rob Whittal in a Himalayan paragliding video) So I go over there. Connect with good lift. Vario singing again. Here we go. Will this ever end? I could stay up here all day. I am grinning. I am laughing to myself. But I am still trembling. Perhaps I should go down. Maybe I’m not supposed to be this high but everyone else is high. It must be OK then. The sun is dipping towards the horizon. This must be restitution lift its everywhere. How will I get down? Don’t worry about that enjoy being up. Flying around Exploring ridges exploring over the valley up-down up- down. Finally it is getting colder more down than up. Sun is setting. Time to land.

My first taste of paragliding was in the summer of 2000 on a family holiday to Annecy France We saw the gliders in the air and thought – that looks good! The tandem flights were booked and I was standing on the take off at Col de forclaz wondering what I was doing trussed up in some kind of harness with a mad Frenchman and a bundle of washing behind me. A mad run like some cartoon character and we were off. There are very few times in my life when I have had an instant feeling that I had found something special, but this was one of them (others include meeting my wife, the birth of my children and hearing Eva Cassidy sing for the first time!) My first words were “I have just got to do this” The half hour flight in thermals seemed all to short and we were soon back on the ground, leaving me stunned and dreaming.

Back home I had somehow managed to acquire Ron Dons phone number and spent an hour chatting about the sport and how to get involved I duly enrolled at Northern paragliding and booked 2 lots of 5 days off- That should se me through my CP I thought (ha ha) Remember this was U K in October and I had not yet encountered the sister sport of Para waiting- Hanging around at home or on the hill waiting for the mirk or the rain to clear. However with perseverance I passed my EP in January 2001 and looked forward to embarking on my CP course.

We all know what happened in February 2001-FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE (aka F*****G MONUMENTAL DISASTER) No prospect of flying and half my business disappearing (veterinary farm work) In a desperate attempt to progress I went on a trip to Gourdon in the south of France (it rained all the time) then on a trip to the Dune de Pyla (the sea breeze never quite worked) Despondent and on the verge of mental meltdown because of pressure at work I managed to get on a 5 day course with a French paragliding school during a family holiday to Grand Bornand in the French alps….
This looks steep we are a long way up. Not much room for error. Look at those trees. So this is the famous Lachat. Hope I don’t crash and burn. These French lads look much more experienced. Calm down. Concentrate, its my turn. ”Allez decollaz” shouts Christophe, I run the glider comes up, This is going well. The glider overshoots “Frein! Frein!” shouts Christophe I didn’t brake. I crash and burn. Shit. “Ha! Roast beef take off” they say next time French take-off. I try again calm down concentrate it’s my turn I run the glider comes up doesn’t overshoot im still running but im in the air. I am flying my, head is swimming I am over trees. What if I land in them ,but im over a thousand feet above them I glide on like an eagle over forests mountains and streams I make my approach I land I am down after my first big top to bottom but my mind is still floating….
More big top to bottoms over the next few days left me much more confident with my flying and most tasks of my CP course completed (except of course top and side landings).Two days sneaked in at a site in the Scottish borders when I got home (our sites were still closed) and I had my CP rating! Now the real fun started .
Over the next few months over Christmas and spring I snatched a handful of small flights at various sites until a message on the website interested me – Andrew Billington was organising a trip to Millau in southern France for a long weekend. Must go on that sounds like a laugh I thought. The great day came and we set off in Andrews’s bus, me with only one hour post CP airtime! A long drive overnight and into the next day and our first stop was the puy de dome an extinct volcano near Clermont Ferrand a bus to the top and we were all on take off having had very little sleep but eager to fly A bit of a struggle when I got into the air,and sprnt the next hour soaring around the summit (I think there must have been thermals coming through but these elusive things were just myths to me) Time to go down and a long glide to the landing field ended my longest flight yet…brilliant
We arrived later that night at Millau and spent the next two days mainly doibg top to bottoms in magnificent scenery The last day did not look to promising and we drove to a smaller site that would work in the brisk wind. No luck so a return to Millau where we met up with a tandem pilot and booked a flight for Trevor (a non flying friend of Bill’s and a one man comedy show ) Evening came and it still looked to windy but the tandem pilot said it would be good at a site across the valley called pic d andan We followed like lemmings. He kitted up on take off and was off-and straight up!!! A mad scramble ensued until we were all in the air and going up.

Oh wow look how high I am why am I trembling?...............

After that fantastic trip to Millau I settled down to life back at home and clocked an increasing number of flights on local hills learning all the time.
Since that summer I have been lucky enough to get some more good flying on local hills and have been on trips to Flying paradise in Greece and northern Cyprus with excellent flying at both places. Hopefully I will go higher and further in the future but I will never forget that first long flight in beautiful restitution lift at Millau-pure magic
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[bill-scott]

last article was written by Grahm thirlwell

[Chris L]

Late July or August is best for the trip and fits in with those who can only make school holidays. Don't you agree Brian

[Dave Hume]

Aye Bill, I could be up for Millau as an alternative to Annecy. It must be good for hang gliding as the League flew there a couple of years ago.

Dave

[RonDon]

Hold on there Ali ! "Annecy"is rated the same as Mexico just ask Neil.

[chrisfozz]

Many thanks to Bill for taking the time to reproduce Graham's article.
It was an emotional experience reading Graham's words; his infection with the flying bug comes across very clearly. It was also a harsh reminder of the consequences of our sport when things go wrong.
For those who did'nt know Graham or were not involved in the sport back then, Graham was killed in a paragliding accident in Grand Bornand in 2003.

[John Wallis]

Totally agree Chris. The winner of the Graeme Thirlwell trophy should be very proud.