We woke to a blue sky. Ever hopeful, Stu and Gareth went to drop the cars in the valley. We knew if would be an early site. Whilst in Marlins, the guys from the local school told them the day would be stable . We needed to start high. Hmmm… that wasn’t really an option without a significant walk.

Back at the drawing board, we decided to relocate. More cheating! Round the corner, on the south end of the Aravis, we could get to 2000m+ with only a short walk. Off we went.

Happy days, until we came across some happy cows and an unhappy farmer. Cows can walk remarkably slowly when you desperately want to sneak past in a car. Farmer French Man thought it better that we wait for the cows to finish their morning stroll before proceeding with any driving. In hindsight, this was probably punishment for our cheating.

We arrived at launch to further punishment as other pilots overflew us at base, having come from our original location. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, but I should have trusted my original assessment.

Gareth was first to get away, followed by myself. At the time I thought Mel and Stu weren’t so fortunate. In hindsight, again, they probably were. It seemed like it’d be a lovely wee flight up the valley. It wasn’t, but it worked. 16 or so km up the valley I called it quits as the overdeveloping clouds ahead of me merged. The flight would have been stunning, had I not been n the wrong side of everything, running with my tail between my legs!

On the ground, I started walking. Passy was our goal, where Pete had landed the day before. I walked through Megeve, covering about 10-12km on foot.  The more I walked, the more motivated I became. I felt the need to walk so as to not become disheartened by the cheating.

Mel and Stu eventually found Gareth who had run from overdevelopment on the west side of the Aravis. Getting dinner on the way, they picked me up dropping down the hill towards Passy. At least I deserved this ride.

With weather that could only improve, the “soft” start to the trip wasn’t such a bad thing.