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Chris, Tammy, Jim, and I all found each other successfully in Munich and made
it to our hotel in Schwangau around 1 or 2pm.
We parked our luggage and immediately headed out to Buchingberg. We got ski
lift passes (ski lifts are wonderful things) and headed up to launch. Chris,
Jim, and I got short soaring flights, but Tammy who launched last didn't seem
to want to come down. So we hopped on the lift and went back up.
The scenery is absolutely beautiful. Green fields are separated by typical
orange roofed German villages. Beautiful Alpine lakes are dotted with
sailboats, and we are launching from the foothills of the Alps which stretch
into the sky behind us.
Chris and I launched a second time and Jim was shortly behind us. Chris and I
got some great thermal lift, and at about 1500 over launch, Chris started
motioning away from the mountain. "What?" I thought. There's no base wind, so
you can circle in the thermals all you want without getting blown back. The
conditions are wonderful. But Chris seemed to want me to head out in front.
So, I followed Chris. Actually, he wanted to head cross country. I've done
some distance at Big Walker, but I always had plenty of ridge lift. This was my
first true cross country thermal flight. So, above a magnificent landscape, I made my
first cross country run. It was fantastic! I was working the thermals like I
didn't know I could. OK, actually they were beautiful, gentle fat thermals.
We were chalking up the altitude, and then I rounded the next bend and ...
WOW!!! It's the Neuschwanstein castle!! The amazing fairy-tale castle!
Ludwig's castle of all castles! We gained a little more altitude in a
generous thermal and got above the launch that is actually over the castle
(but several miles from and much higher than where we launched from). We were
above all the paragliders and hanggliders that were soaring at that launch.
We could see the Alps behind the Alps we were flying. We could see Austria.
Chris asked "Do you want to fly over to the castle?" I thought "are you
kidding??" So we flew very close to the castle. I lost a bit of altitude and
after my going through a half a roll of film, Chris said "You're getting low.
We should head back."
So, we had plenty of altitude to head back and land right next to the beer
garden, instead of in the designated landing area across the road where I
landed earlier. No hike, and even though the Germans like warm beer, this
beer was cold and excellent.
What an absolutely incredible flight! I thought we might get to fly over
Neuschwanstein, but I wasn't expecting it to just jump out of nowhere on my
first cross country run. I was so wired, I couldn't even tell I was jet
lagged. |
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