The, rather small, Algodonales Team.
From left to right. Marie, more about her later, Phill Cunningham, Pete Baldwin, Pat Smith, Kate Murison, Me and Lee.

The original week that we had intended to go to Algodonales had problems so we had to re-arrange for another week. For us non parents, this had no meaning until some people tried to get flights to Spain and found them terribly expensive. It was then we realised why our initial group of 14 had dwindled to just 6. Still, it was then left for us die hards to have a great flying time in one of Spains flying hot spots.

Marie was introduced to us at breakfast on the first morning as a potential new recruit to our team. This tall, slim Swedish blonde girl was taking a year off from her job in Sweden as a Outward bound keep fit instructor - I kid you not - and was eager to get some extra flying hours, hopefully with our group. Well I can tell you, it was difficult but in the end, under protest, the lads gave in to the girls persuasion and we all said yes.

But if truth be known it only took a couple of hours for her to fit right in to our group.

With Marie as one of our crew we headed off to Ronda de la Viega. This site is one of the few dynamic rather than thermic sites around Algodonales and was great for our relativley low airtime pilots of our group to remind them of home.

The next 6 hours saw our guys regularly beating the other pilots on the ridge to new heights and that much needed airtime. With confidence in abundance the rest of the week was going to be a doddle.

Well that's what everyone thought until they saw the next flying site and who they were going to fly with.

Algodonales is famous for its amazing vultures that haunt the slopes of the hills above the town. Their effortless flight around the thermals makes you envious of their skill. But nothing quite prepares you for just how big they are when you eventually manage to get up close and personal to these great birds.

So when you keep hearing your instructors telling you on the radio to get closer to these birds and follow them it can be a little daunting but so rewarding. They made it look so easy that anytime that you lost a thermal you kust had to look for a couple of vultures to follow and you were garaunteed more airtime.

To say the flying was epic is a bit of an understatement. One by one we sent the guys off into the valley to catch the thermals. It got to the point that they could do no wrong. Every where was going up.

Even when they had half an hour or so we told them to go into the valley and gently go down to land. One by one they kept going down to about 1,000 ft and then climbing back up to about 4,000 ft.

In the end we had mos of the guys up all in different parts of the valley. With most of the students now down on the ground Lee had managed to climb to about 4,000 ft above take off with Phill and kate hot on his heels.

To be fair we only had another couple of good flying days before the weather got worse, but those flyable days were so good that the team really didn't mind.

So what do you do in Algodonales if you don't fly.

We went to Rhonda on one of these days. A fantastic town dating back to the middle ages with the most awsome bridge that is the image everyone remembers. A tour around the bull ring, which is also a musuem of bull fighting is a must. very fascinating stuff even if your not into the activity itself.

And for the women the shopping is also very good with great bars and cafe's for that lunchtime snack with a difference.

One of the other days was taken up with gorge walking and watching more vultures flying at tree top level through the incredibly small and deep gorge. Unbelievable to watch their precision in such confined spaces.

The day after we went caving exploring some of the imense caves in the area and cave diving, jumping nearly 20ft into small crystal clear cave pools in the dark.

Altogether it was a great holiday. The flying in the first few days was so epic that every one didn't mind the few days that we went exploring Algodonales. It's fair to say that in the past we have got at least 5 out of 7 days flying if not more and we will be going back there again to fly with the vultures.