In late
April, early May, my wife and I traveled by car through France to enjoy the
early spring and play a week in the sand, with the kite and paraglider.
60 million
m³ of sand! Very fine-grained, soft as flour, wondering if I’ll ever get rid of
it. It will probably follow my equipment for a long time to come.
Dune de
Pilat is the largest sand dune in Europe, located along the Atlantic coast, at
La Teste-de-Buch, 60 km southwest of Bordeaux. It´s almost 3 km long, 500
meters wide and 110 meters high at the highest point.
Foret des
Landes, east of the sand dune is the largest maritime-pine forest in Europe.
10,000 square kilometers planted by man for forestry and for stopping the sand.
(Which still moves about 5 meters inland per year!)
Laminar
winds and the large soft sandy surface, free from all forms of obstacles, make
the area a paradise for paragliders. Here you can train different start
techniques, perform balance exercises and other ground handling.
Here you
can also get very nice flight time.
It was a
useful week for me and my new paraglider.
