What a great day today was for going flying instead of going to work!
It started with a trip to Verbier in Switzerland, where there is a landing strip called the Croix de Coeur. It was a long trip there from Megève in a 90hp Cub (70mph.....), but beautiful and windless when we got there. The only exciting moments were my landings and a Cessna 185 with 5 people in it that made even more of a hash of it than me and almost went off the end of the runway - which at 280m is shortish.
I got back to Megève, swapped planes for a Jodel Mousquetaire, and headed back to Italy via Switzerland, where a lunch party had been arranged.
When flying in the mountains, it's good to keep close to the hillside. There are thermals on the South facing slopes that help you to climb. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's much safer than it looks:
On our right side was one of the most spectacular glaciers in the Swiss Alps:
At the end of that glacier at 11000ft, it was hard right to the Italian border - which is just the other side of the mountains in front of us here:
No photos for the next bit - I was a bit busy trying to find the airstrip at Chamois, and land on it without messing up. Chamois is a beautiful little village which can be accessed by cable car or aeroplane. No cars, and the village council are about to pay for an underground hangar! What enlightened folk. Their airstrip is a bit awkward. It's a one-way strip at 6000ft with a cliff just before the beginning of the runway.
Here's some friends in another Mousquetaire taking off:
And here they are landing again
:
After a huge lunch, we staggered home to Megève, crossing the border just to the South West of Mont Blanc. I drew the short straw this time, and was sitting in the back - which was a bumpy place to be after a big lunch.
Here's our arrival at Megève (15kts too fast, but we were late.....):
All in all, a lot of fun! Only spoiled by the return to Lyon, where it was 42 degrees this afternoon. I want to go back to the mountains!!
