Home | Club information | Calendar | Weather | Features | Links | Members

Two hours drive to the north-west of the busy port of Malaga in southern Spain lies the small town of Algodonales, site of the 2000 World Air Games. This is a town with no tourists, but a significant stream of discerning visitors. These visitors have one thing in common, they are fliers. The town also numbers among its citizens the holder of the title "Spain's 2nd ugliest man". It's not clear whether his looks have been destroyed by genetics or hang-gliding.

Algodonales is one of the white villages of Andalucia. Its central square around which are situated restaurants, cafes, bars and the local church, for those blown out days, also serves as a test track for local (unsilenced) mopeds. However, the ambience of non tourist Spain combined with the hospitality and friendliness of the locals towards flying visitors more than makes up for this.

The town sits on the edge of the Grazalema National Park. This means that not all of the wildlife has been blasted from the air and undergrowth by rifle-wielding madmen. Indeed, one of the highlights of a visit is to fly very close to Griffon Vultures. These birds, the largest of which seems about the size of an Alsatian with talons and wings, are not at all disturbed by free fliers. They act as very good thermal markers but if you decide to follow one, be aware that they exude an air of being completely in control when exiting and entering strong thermals, so keep those buttocks clenched tight.

Behind the town rises the southern slope of Lijar (1050m asl). This mountain provides most of the flying and has take-offs which can be used in all wind directions. The mountain provides a good start for easy evening flying or for middle of the day launches into thermic conditions. The mountain is the largest for several miles and so provides a good trigger for the warm air from the surrounding relatively flat countryside.

The Spanish paragliding height record 15,000+ ft asl was set from this site in August 2003 by Baz Rhodes (see Skywings Dec 2003). He made the flight in a Nova Taxy carrying a passenger who apparently was very airsick (what was that about dry sand and water?). Luckily she opted to continue.

There are many fields around the base of the mountain in which to land, especially at the end of the growing season when they are devoid of crops. The main landing field at the bull-ring (you have to go to find out) has the usual assortment of Spanish goodies in the form of trees and power lines. The latter have been decorated with orange markers by the electricity company in order to make them easier to fly into. Local protocol for an electrical landing demands that the power lines can only be approached from their upwind side. The speed of approach combined with the ensuing pyrotechnics provides an unmissable spectacle. In March, a pilot walked away apparently unfazed or maybe unphased with only a slightly scorched canopy and irregular pulse as clues to his close encounter with the Reaper. All this is completely unnecessary, there are loads of perfectly safe landing places around if you can't get into the bull-ring field comfortably.

Anyway, you're all gantin to know what the flying is like. Well, Iain Hyslop (3rd ugliest man in Spain) flew 32k there in August and I (4th ugliest man) have flown 16k on 2 occasions. Anyone who's seen the two of us will realise that we're not exactly the Rodriguez brothers of Scottish flying. This means that practically everyone in the club should be able to fly their pants off there.

There are 2 main take offs on Lijar. The Levante faces to the east and generally works best in the morning, though the last week I was there it worked brilliantly in the evening restitution too. There is a spine running up both ends of the east facing side of the mountain and these seem to provide channels up which the thermals run. The area in front of take off has less of a gradient than on the western Poyente take off and in light conditions needs a good committed run. The Poyente take off is pretty ideal as far as incline is concerned and is very close to areas where lift can be found. There is a rocky spine behind the take off and once some height is gained, it's a good place to hang about waiting for lift to take you higher.

The first objective is to get enough height to go over the back. The mountain has a flat top but is covered in scrub, which does not make a top landing away from take off particularly inviting. The amount of height required to leave the hill is determined by where you want to go, but 2000ft ato is usually enough. Once above the mountain a wonderful vista is revealed - Twin Peaks (you have to go to find out), the lake, the Grazalema range and the picturesque village of Zahara with its Moorish fort.

If I describe my flight to the nearby ruined Roman town of Ronda la Vieja, Iain Hyslop will kill me. So let's just say it was most enjoyable, and if he wants to bore you all senseless with the GPS trace of his flight, then he'll have to write about it himself! However, in the interests of balance and realism, I should add that I also hold the record for the fastest top to bottom, not even making it to the landing field but bombing out near a small farm with two very fierce dogs on flimsy chains. Actually, I'm joking about the chains. This remarkable feat was achieved by starting my take off run just as Baz turned to tell me that he wouldn't take off just then if he were me. I suspect I was in the field before the end of the sentence. On the subject of places to land, no one with a modicum of sense will have any fears about finding somewhere to land on a cross country flight. Forget any ideas of cactus, rocks and gorges, there are so many safe places to land that I've never had the slightest qualm about setting off for a try at XC on the rare occasions I've been lucky to get enough height to do it.

I've only flown at two other sites in the area. On days when it is too strong on Lijar it's possible that El Bosque may be flyable as it is is much lower than Lijar. It seems to provide a mixture of thermic and dynamic lift. The other site, the first I flew in the area is north facing at Montellano. It's essentially a steep escarpment with the possibility of heading off to the south if you get enough height to clear the wooded area on the southern slope of the hill.

Anyway that's enough rambling from me. If you want to go, and you should, Baz & Sam's "Andalucian Experience" advertises in Skywings and they are completely committed to getting their clients into the air. I'm not certain whether this extends to retrieves in all cases, but they always picked me up eventually. For those wanting big XC Baz will fly around sniffing for the best lift then utter his inimitable advice "get yer arse over here". It's the best advice I can offer too.