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Hmmm - Junior pilots ARE getting younger...
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Today's was a game of chicken with the forecast storms. An early start was called
for and I took another long tow to Trainon for a good climb to 7500ft with streets of cumulus marching on towards la Blanche.
From Morgon I chose the tete de Lucy clouds rather than do battle with Guillaume and, going round the corner towards
Clotinaille, I caught an excellent thermal in the valley that went to 10,000ft.
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La batterie de Dormillouse
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However, cu-nims were already appearing over the col de Vars and the Trois Eveches, so I wasn't keen on going further than the St Crepin
valley, just in case there would soon be no way home.
A quick 180 later, I was back at Guillaume heading past Chabrieres towards the Pic de
Bure. There were good conditions here, with no sign of stormy build-ups, and
I was happy to carry on into the Die valley and the
Glandasse. Here I got my first smattering of rain, but it was light enough
not to matter.
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Southbound again, I headed for Serres, Chabre and the Lure, now quite keen to stay close to Sisteron, just in case. A huge bank of
cu-nims hung over the eastern parcours and when I turned St Auban I could see that there was
already rain to the east of
Authon.
On my next northbound leg, I got as far as Aujour before seeing lightning popping down over the Die valley - I was
surprised that it happened here first, as this was the least mountainous area (but that just goes to show how little I know about these things).
It was now definitely time to go home, a 100kt run back to the airfield led to a
surprisingly bumpy arrival on RW18 - a glance at the windsock showed a gusty 20kt
southerly, which explained all. That cu-nim over the Die valley had already progressed to the north of the Sisteron valley and we only
just managed to get all the gliders into the trailers before the airfield was struck with heavy rain and hail.
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Cascade de la Pisse
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Plateau du Vercors
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