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Through departures and onboard for the long haul….. a quick stop over at Doha, then onto Kathmandu. One last job before leaving the airport…. Smile please! Snap, that’s it, photos taken and Visa’s stamped. Outside into the bright sunshine and…. what a culture shock. Loads of locals touting for business, all trying to tempt us into their taxi’s, all trying to offer the best deals. Not sure where our pre-booked transport is, not sure which hotel Sunrise has booked for us. Not a good start, but we made our way into Kathmandu, found a very nice, comfortable hotel, only one thing left to do now … eat, apart from paragliding, our next favourite past time. |
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We
didn’t have
to wait long. The internal flight to Pokhara proved breath taking.
We were determined to push our way in for a window seat, but no-one
was disappointed, there were only window seats here. The views
were spectacular, the tops of the mountain ranges peeping through
the
white fluffy tops of the cumulus. As we descended towards the airport,
the sun was defining the snow capped peaks of the Annapurna range
of the Himalayas clearly against the bright blue sky, this was
to be our home for the next three weeks. |
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The jeep was leaving for Sarangkot at two. We had just enough time to drop our things off in our hotel rooms, sort out our kit and make our way to the pick up point. With the bags loaded, we joined the others in the back of the jeep and made our way up to take off. Along the winding roads and tracks, the mountain peaks glistening above the hills across the valley, the Nepalese children laughing and waving as we passed. |
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Another
bright day full of promise, as we made our way through the town
to a lakeside restaurant,
with the sun shimmering on the rippling lake we enjoyed watching
the Kayaks bringing the children in for school as we ate a hearty
cooked breakfast, washed down with Nepalese coffee or Chi tea.
We could certainly get used to Decembers here. We made our way
back to
the Apex Hotel and awaited the Jeep to take us back up to Sarangkot
and another day’s flying. The jeep, or local taxis’,
will do round trips from the landing site, the hotel's pick up
point, and the top of the mountain at regular times throughout
the day:
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To think we all paid
to come here, to take
off the mountain, scrunch
our canopies up into little balls and get them out again whilst in
the air. What were
we thinking?
We all had different reasons for being on this course; for Edi it was to perfect his aerial acrobatics, he is always performing his tricks on the welsh hills, doing wing-overs and swooping in low over our heads, he also wanted to learn new tricks. For me it was to learn how to control the wing under safe controlled conditions, before it happened to me accidentally. Just like going on a skid-pan to learn to control a skidding car before you experience it by unexpectedly hitting black ice. Edi thought he would practice his wingovers and spirals, woops too low......splash! bless him he had a dip in the lake before the course had even started. Outside Bluesky’s shop we were briefed about the course and what tasks we would be doing, for both SIV and Acro, including throwing our reserves. So we knew we would be joining Edi and get wet at least once. |
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| What
was it he wanted us to do again, pitch control, B-line stall, big
Bigears, wingovers, spirals, minimum speed, D-line landings, all
in our first flight!?!
By the time I flew out over the lake I had forgotten half of what he wanted me to do. Back up to take off, with a new list of tasks, this time written all up my hand. Out over lake – let’s try again, a spiral, wow such speeds whilst lying practically horizontal, lost my stomach, now what – oh yes let control up slightly, pull on other side be ready to dampen out any dive – next task was it symmetric or asymmetric tucks, well lets show off and do both – What next - oh bugger this, min speed and that’s it for now, back to dry land. At the edge of the lake I watched the others with a little envy – Edi, James, and Pete getting stuck in doing all the tasks, making it all look easy. With everyone down it was back to base for a debriefing, watching the video and discussing techniques, or lack of them as the case may be!! ;-) |
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Flight Three - ha ha..... here we go full stall and what did he
say………Back
Fly? |
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| Laying sprawled out in the afternoon sun, soaking up the rays, well the canopies were any way, we were sitting at Miadeve, having a well earned rest whilst we waited for all our kit to get dried. Well hello, it was a couple we had met a few times on the hills of South Wales. They had also come over for a few weeks, but were here to do some cross country flying and had just landed after flying from the mountains over the other side of the lake. |  |
| With no flying to be done for a couple of days at least, we decided to hire bikes, James hadn’t ridden a bike for some time but it didn’t take him long to get into the swing of it. We made our way up over the mountains through some of the most spectacular scenery, through tiny villages, over bumpy dirt tracks, until we got to what seemed like the end of the road, and the village of Baglan, where despite the lack of English spoken we were make to feel welcome. With the sun slowly descending behind the snow capped mountains we headed back. The following day we decided to visit the Buddist temple. We had seen it glistening in the sunshine on the top of the mountain over the other side of the lake and made our way up, once at the top the views were breathtaking. Next stop, Dickie Danda, and the Green Wall. We wanted to visit here to see what the takeoff and flying would be like, and who should we see just climbing into the back of the Jeep, yes you guessed it Gill and the XC group. |
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The rickety, draughty old bus meandered along the winding mountain roads, overtaking other vehicles on blind corners as we made our way to Bandipur and a quaint little hotel with views looking out at a different part of the Annapurna’s. Time to grab a light lunch before heading out through the village. Up along the mountain tracks behind our guide, we started to feel like we are following the Pied Piper gathering village children as we went. Onwards and upwards to the takeoff. More stunning views, three more days of more epic flying. |
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| Back at Dickie Danda, a few kilometres from Pokhara, we joined the XC group. With the wind blowing nicely up the side of the ridge, thermals developing in strength, and site briefing over, we set off one by one. The idea being to get enough height to climb over to the Green Wall, behind takeoff and we could see why the locals called this the Green Wall, the mountain side was literally covered in alpine trees. Work the thermals here and increase height for the possibility of flying back to Sarangkot. Unfortunately, it ended up like ‘pinning the tail on the donkey’ – everybody scattered around the countryside but nowhere near the correct spot!! But at least we had all landed safely. |  |
| Wot…. another day of flying? Oh, alright then, especially as we know we won’t get much opportunity once we get back to Wales. Above the familiar Sarangkot takeoff, we climbed with the thermals high above the mountain tops, we will never forget the views, the locals or the experience. Last chance to practice our new found skills, ‘What are you serious?’ Edi exclaimed! ‘you didn’t see it……..you missed it…..you mean no one saw me do the SAT.’ Never mind Ed, there’s always next year! |  |
| Don't forget to keep a look out for this years holiday details to Nepal | |
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