Mangart – Slovenska pot – Klettersteig&Fly

Alastair BegleyParagliding, Slovenia, Via Ferrata Short Link

When we were in Slovenia a few years ago, one of the routes which caught my eye but we didn’t get around to was the Klettersteig up Mangart. This was not because it was a particularly special or difficult route, but because it was fairly high, with little ascent and apparently you could see the sea from the summit, an unusual view in most of the alps. This meant that it was an obvious choice for this trip and it became even better when we found out that you could pre-book a minibus from Bovec for 3 euros per person each direction, which meant neither us nor our friends had to move our vans. Unfortunately as we climbed up the road in the van, it became clear that there was a lot more cloud than was in the forecast, but we remained hopeful that the weather would clear and give us some nice views. I had also decided to take my paraglider with me as I knew that in good conditions it was possible to launch from the summit, and in any case it should be possible to launch from. Read the full article…

Tolmin Paragliding

Alastair BegleyParagliding, Slovenia Short Link

I had been wanting to fly in the Slovenian Alps for some time, as I had heard great things about the flying and I knew that the scenery was really very special. While we were there for a long weekend in August there were decent conditions forecast on one of the days, so I made a plan to get myself from Bovec to Tolmin in the morning with public transport. As expected I was on launch way too early, but I would much rather that that too late. This led to a very chilled out morning relaxing in the sun while waiting for conditions to turn on, as the launch became busier and busier. This meant that I decided that as soon as it looked “on”, I would launch before it became too hectic in the air. Eventually someone took off and managed to, very slowly, climb out, so I didn’t need anymore encouragement and launched into the blue. After slowly scratching my way up it was time to move on, and I am very pleased with my decision as it was constantly getting busier below me, and scratching in. Read the full article…

Jerebica/Cima del Lago Hike&Fly

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding, Slovenia, Walking Short Link

On our way to Slovenia we wanted to do a walk before we parked in the campsite in Bovec for 4 days. On the way down I was researching options and stumbled across Cima del Lago (Italian) or Jerebica (Slovenian). The walk looked absolutely perfect with not too much ascent, a nice ridge when up high and stunning views in every direction, so it was the obvious choice especially as it was only a 5 min detour from our route. While I was researching the route, it looked like it may be possible to fly down from the summit, however I couldn’t find any information about it. The joy of my hike&fly gear is that it is so light that I don’t mind carrying it even if there is a very uncertain chance of flying. As the forecast was for a very hot day, we got up early and set off to make the most of the cooler morning air, especially as the first part of the ascent was fairly constant and in the woods. Eventually we emerged from the woods at the col at the start of the ridge. Read the full article…

Paragliding 200km from Italy into Austria over the Stubai Alps and with views of the Großglockner

Alastair BegleyAustria, Italy, Paragliding Short Link

For my second flight with my new wing I thought I would fly back in the direction of home from Speikboden in Südtirol. The plan was to do the first leg of the classic 200km FAI triangle by heading along the Pustertal towards Sterzing, crossing the Brenner above Sterzing, before heading up the Ridnauntal to the Stubai alps. From the Stubai alps the plan was to head back down the Stubaital, cross the Brenner again to fly into the Zillertal next to Hintertux, before heading over the Gerlos pass and into the Pinzgau. From here I had a rough plan to fly north to either Kufstein or Kössen, depending on what the conditions looked like. The first section of the route went very quickly and I was soon at the crossing of the Brenner pass above Sterzing. With the high cloudbase this was not difficult and then with one more climb at the start of the Ridnauntal, I was able to fly all the way up to the high Stubai mountains without making a single turn. Up here the thermals were weaker and I should have turned up to cloudbase. Read the full article…

West down the Pustertal from Sillian

Alastair BegleyAustria, Road Cycling Short Link

For ease the next day, we decided that we would do another cycle from the campsite, rather than having to move the van. So instead of heading east down to Lienz, we headed in the opposite direction with the plan of cycling around 60km. Again the route was excellent with mostly very good surfaces and almost no cycling on roads.

Sillian to Lienz and back

Alastair BegleyAustria, Road Cycling Short Link

After wild parking in a beautiful location on the first night, and enjoying a wonderful pizza nearby, we definitely wanted to be in a campsite for the next night given the heat. Therefore we decided to head to near Sillian where there was a nice campsite which was still reasonably priced. Unfortunately we could not check in until the afternoon, so we parked next to the campsite and started our cycle straight from there. The plan was to cycle along the Pustertal cycle path down to Lienz, which was all on an excellent surface and all either car free or on very quiet roads. The cycle was really beautiful, the only downside being that it was down all the way out, and up all the way back!

Flying over the Dolomites at 4000m on a 100km FAI triangle from Speikboden

Alastair BegleyItaly, Paragliding Short Link

With an excellent forecast for the long weekend we headed down to Südtirol/Osttirol and the Pustertal for a weekend of paragliding and road cycling. On the first morning we got up very early and headed down to Speikboden, where I had planned to fly a classic 100km FAI triangle. Unfortunately due to traffic we arrived later than I had hoped, and my stomach wasn’t feeling great on the drive which made me, rightly, concerned that it might be a flight where I suffered from airsickness. After taking the lifts and faffing in the wind while I had to connect my new glider, I was eventually ready to take off, however my first attempt wasn’t as successful as I would have hoped. The combination of the strong wind and a new glider that I wasn’t familiar with resulted in my getting plucked and failing the launch. The second attempt was much better and I was soon in the air and climbing away, unfortunately at this point I realised that I had managed to break a break line in the upper cascades. As this was in the middle of the wing and. Read the full article…

Chiemsee Runde

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Road Cycling Short Link

We decided to make the most of the sunny and hot weather by heading to the Chiemsee, with the plan of cycling around it. Unfortunately it turned out that in my route planning I had looked at one route which was entirely on asphalt and then managed to download an alternative route which contained a lot of gravel. The cycle was very nice, other than the gravel, with lots of excellent cycle path, nice views over the lake and towards the mountains. On the first half of the route we ended up doing the majority of the gravel, but by the middle of the cycle we started to manage to avoid most (but still not all) of the gravel with some deviations.