Advance paragliders in the West Country

This was the classic 80km task to Berga, and wow, was it ever spectacular! Convergence in the valley before the start gave us a lovely relaxed start flying around the clouds, and then once the race was on we headed east over the first gorge at the end of the Ager ridge (where I got stuck for a bit), then over a big area of lowish hills, before some high ground, after which it just got more and more spectacular as we progressed ever eastwards. Lakes, gorges, knife edge rock formations, huge stone pillars, a high plateau with huge vertical cliffs surrounding it (and huge thermals coming off it!), and finally a nice relaxing ridge run for the last 12km into goal. As I said, I lost ground early on but enjoyed flying in the gaggles I was with, and ended up coming into goal in 29th position I think (2nd sports class behind Dave Smart).

Photos here