Barbeque on the balcony

Femke bought a barbeque while I was in France working. Today was B-day
with Femke happily grilling away on our balcony. Lamb burgers!

Out biking in the sun

Finally back in Amsterdam me and Femke took our new bikes out for a
ride to Nieuwendam and lovely Cafe 't Sluisje. And the sun is shining!

Last flying day in Annecy

Today was my last day of flying in the Annecy area. And what a day! The weather was perfect with lots of sun and weak winds, which gave me the chance to explore the region a bit more.
In the end I flew a 46 kilometer triangle, turning at Parmelan, La Tournette and Roc de Boeufs (on the other side of the lake). After three hour pure joy I landed and had a landing beer with Pål and Martin.
In the evening i checked in to a hotel in Annecy and had a simple dinner on a terrace. The coming three days I will spend here for a travel story.

Great Cross Country flying around the lake of Annecy today

Today was a rather eventful day I must say. Yesterday we finished the SIV safety course for paragliding. But we still had this day left, with safety boat and instructors at hand. So we could practise whichever safety manoeuvre we wanted, or try some acrobatics.

I opted for the latter and took off to try a manoeuvre called SAT. Not that I expected any success, but why not try when you can do so in a safe way?

Of course, I did not succeed. Instead I ended up in a spin, got my lines thoroughly twisted and in the end I had to throw my emergency parachute and land in the water. The safety boat was there within seconds. So I did not learn to do a SAT but I did get to practise throwing the emergency chute, a very valuable experience.

By now, me, my glider and my emergency chute were soaked with water. But the sun was warm and the breeze good so soon everything was dry and we could pack it all and go flying again!

The conditions looked really good so several of us launched and went cross-country flying. Wow! Good (if somewhat turbulent) thermals took me to cloud base at almost 2500 meters of altitude, more than 1200 meter above take off. Here, I cruised from mountain to mountain and ended up over the massive and snow clad La Tournette. Here I thermalled with an eagle above me and three sailplanes below me.

 It is hard to describe the beauty and feeling of freedom, you just have to be there. Maybe the photos give a small idea.

Manoeuvring over lake of Annecy

Yesterday we started the manoeuvres for our safety course. This is all about learning how to control your paraglider if something unexpected happens with it in the air.
So we fly out over the water and create problems, then try to solve them. Yesterday I did asymmetrical collapses, spin stops, B-stall and deep spiral. The latter is a way to quickly loose altitude. I tell you, when you fly almost straight downwards in more than 15 meters per seconds and the G-forces are pulling, it tickles in your belly :-)
Today it was time for full spins and full stalls. A full stall is kind of like a reset manoeuvre – almost all problems with a glider can be solved with a full stall if you have height enough. The photo of me where my glider is all balled up behind me in the air is taken while doing a full stall.

First day on the safety course in Annecy

Now I am in Talloires, a little village by the lake of Annecy, to participate in a safety course for paragliders. I arrived yesterday. We had a slow but nice day since there was too much wind, so we only had theory lessons and looked at the equipment. Interesting anyway.

Now (07.17) we are about to drive up to the mountain to see if we can fly before the forecasted wind picks up again.

First day on the safetty course in Annecy

Now I am in Talloires, a little village by the lake of Annecy, to participate in a safety course for paragliders. I arrived yesterday. We had a slow but nice day since there was too much wind, so we only had theory lessons and looked at the equipment. Interesting anyway.

Now (07.17) we are about to drive up to the mountain to see if we can fly before the forecasted wind picks up again.

Trappist treasure

Finally home again.

Our pilgrimage to Belgium in numbers:

6 trappist monasteries visited.
15 trappist beers tasted
1130 kilometers driven.

We haven't counted how many beers we manage to bring home, but here is
our trappist treasure:

Sint Benedictus Abdij - Achel

The last one of the six monasteries on our trappist beer-tour around

Belgium is Sint Benedictus in Achel. Here, brother Jules brews five

different beers. Two weaker that are only sold on tap in the

monastery's cafe De Achelse Kluis (Blond and Bruin 5°), two stronger

sold on bottle (Achel Blond and Bruin 8°) and one stronger Bruin extra

(9,5°).

First, we visited the monastery chapel and the church, and listened to
brothers song during a service. Then Brother Jules changed from his white and black habit to overalls and kindly showed us around his little brewery.
Very interesting!

Of course, we also sat down on the sunny terrace and tried the two
versions of Achel only sold on tap in the café.

Evening in Antwerpen

From Westvleteren we drove to Antwerpen and checked in to very

comfortable Radisson Blu Hotel.

Femke took me out for dinner at cool

waterside restaurant Zuiderterras and I then bought us some drinks at

Groote Markt in the old city and in the peculiar bar Cathedraalcafé.