Day 5

The day started off cold and blustery, jackets and beanies were the order of the day.

We launched fairly late, with the cloud still down on the tops of the mountains. After a fairly lengthy wait things improved enough to send us away on a 225km task.

I didn't have any particular problems today, one or two decent climbs at critical times would have made a world of difference but middle of the pack finishes seem to be my lot for this competition.

There are still four of us in the zero points club. I suspect it is unlikely we will all escape tomorrow but I'll have a good try anyway.

Graham
7 June

Not Just Gliding

Some interesting stuff to see about the place. Of course if most of the town was not shut down waiting for the next winter it would not be as quiet as it currently is in the streets.

Seeing summer has arrived the poppies are poking their heads out all over he place.

Where the crop or grass is high you cannot see them unless you get up close. But once the grass has been cut and bailed the poppies pop out every where.

Streaming off the top of the low hill in the background it's not smoke or fog or forming cloud. It's actually pine pollen being taken aloft by the thermals or ridge winds moving up the mountain.

We saw this pallet of pork legs on the floor in the supermarket. I just had to ask the locals about them. It seems the leg is buried in salt for awhile and then hung in a cellar for 18 months to dry out.

We saw one of these legs on a spit arrangement on a cafe counter. Seems they'd just slice some off and serve when needed!

No, it's not an R1, it's Christoff's little runabout. Note the tow ball on the back. He uses it to tow the glider around the airfield. But we also see it down at the supermarket and other places.

This gent was quite agile with the mobility aid that was fitted to his wheelchair. He walked (wheeled) wings, dragged ropes and was very mobile.

I spoke with him about it and he explained how it worked. Where it attached etc.

It just clipped on or off a mounting bar fitted beneath the chair seat and off he went.
Ofcourse blokes being blokes he also told me it would do 20km/hr, but the other one he had at home would do 40!

Out for an evening meal at one of the very few restaurants open in town.

There are plenty of rocks and trees around here so it makes sense to build stuff with them.

Most of the houses are either built with or faced with local stone but I must say there is a lot of labour goes into building freestone.

And some are a lot more labour intensive depending on your taste in stonework

Mark

Day 4

Another frustrating day. I never really got into the rhythm of the weather today, but was running in the middle of the pack with only 40km to go. The middle of the pack scores zero points so I made the decision to head straight on track for a solitary cumulus cloud while the rest stuck to the safety of the mountains. It was a faint hope. If it had worked I would have been right up there, but of course it didn't and I ended up very low. Still in the zero points club but still two days to go.

Graham
6 June

Experiment Final Results

We have only a few days left here in Alp. After sampling a total of 24 brews and our findings are now to be published.

 So let’s begin with those at the back of the line, the beer that we would avoid sampling again.

Of the 5 that fell into this group, 4 are Spanish and1 is Czech, varying from 4.4 to 5.6% alcohol content.

There center group, 8 samples. 5 being Spanish, 2 Belge & 1 French. Alcohol content ranges from 3.2 to 9.2%

 11 samples were placed into the top group.

 Little Creatures being our referencing sample.

A Belgium beer Oval (6.2%) topped the pool followed closely by another from Belge, Chimay Brown Ale (7%). Next is the first of the Espano beers, Cruzcampo Grand Reserve ( 6.8%). And on they went. 6 being Espano and 4 Belge . Alcohol content ranged from 4.7 to 7.2%

And so the experiment being finished.  We can now sit back after the day's work and enjoy a few re-samples of the beer we deemed to be the better of the litter.

Mark