Fall Flying in St Andre

For the first time this year, I've been able to fly quite a bit for the last 3 weeks. As summer moves into fall the flying day starts later and that (together with a flexible work schedule) has allowed a number of late lunchtime flights. Most of those have been little loops or triangles allowing me to land in St Andre and get back to work.

Peak climb rates have stayed high - between 8m/s and 13 m/s (1600 - 2600 ft/min in old money). But, especially towards the end of the month, it has been weaker and you've had to work noticeably harder to stay up, sometimes getting stuck for 30 minutes or more on ridges. At first, I found this a bit disappointing. But I quickly came to enjoy it; it makes the flying a bit more satisfying. 

I flew a nice little loop today; nearly 3 hours, on some seldom flown peaks out to the west of the 'trade routes'. These smaller, rounder peaks give much less lift than the standard highways - especially at this time of year. I was stuck on the Mouchon for 20 minutes before I could transition back to Chalvet and then St Andre. Not very far, but challenging and satisfying, 

 Tracklog and pics.