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Eastern Queyras
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Mike Tomlinson volunteered to accompany me on
our final jaunt of the holiday - I suspect he was really there to ensure
that I didn't land out again on the last day. A slight cock-up with the tugs
meant a late take-off (one tug out of fuel and the petrol pump unavailable
due to maintenance, another tug went offline just after we hooked on,
leaving just one servicable tug. Reminded me a lot of Gransden).
However, Hongrie worked well when we finally did get a
launch, so no complaints from me. Then I ran past Trainon rather lower than
I would have liked, to reach Authon at the lower limit of my comfort zone.
Vaumuse worked enough to get us back to Authon and then Auribeau, where we
saw a juicy cumulus, halfway between Auribeau and Blayeul. Normally I
wouldn't fancy being there at a little over 6000ft, but I saw this local
glider whizz off there much lower than me, so I reckoned there was a 99%
chance that we'd be fine. When I caught up with him, he turned out to have a
UK registration...so thanks T6 (and Jon Gatfield, for it was him!).
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It was a good climb though, enough to get us away to the
Trois Eveches and then into the Barcelonette valley. We skirted the
mountains to the east of the valley getting increasingly higher cloudbases,
up to 13,000ft, on our way into the Queyras. We ran past a cloud-covered
Mont Viso on our way to Briancon.
As an alternative route to the north it did leave
something to be desired in terms of speed, but it was very, very pretty.
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Near les Agneaux
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Low cloud from the western Ecrins
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We hit a tricky patch over Briancon, where the thermals
behaved as if they were being torn by wave, and after spending an age trying
to get a decent climb, we retreated to the col du Montgenevre where we
finally got back to reliable conditions. I didn't fancy getting back from
the Maurienne under such conditions so we went sight-seeing at the Glacier
Blanc before heading back south to the pas de la Cavale and the tete de
Lucy.
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Temporarily forgetting his orders, Mike then suggested we ran
down to Dormillouse rather than go straight home. On rounding the corner at
about 7000ft I noticed two things: there was little or no ridge lift, and
the airfield at Seyne-les-Alps was looking rather closer than usual. There
was just the briefest moment of "here we go again..." before we
managed to S-turn our way up the hill in a developing thermal before taking
the full 8 knots as it broke away at the top. Then we decided to go
home, encountering just a tiny shower on the way. Job done!
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