Saint-Affrique, an excellent day!

Tour ULM7 July 20182 min read

Sunday 23 July, evening

The report on this half-stage will be fairly short because we need to get to the point and it is late. In a word: excellent! In the flying, the atmosphere, the logistics, a long and memorable day with two welcoming airfields. All of this is largely possible thanks to the ground logistics team, who covered long, often winding and tiring distances, especially after the false start the day before.

As for the purely technical side, the re-takeoffs from Condat took two hours, because the microlights had to be brought up the runway in groups of 8 or 10 before being sent off. That is the nature of narrow, sloping strips, and also their charm. Very quickly, swallowing up the slope of the runway, we were back over the great classics of the area: the Vézère and Lascaux, the Dordogne and Sarlat. We are in a region that the Tour often crosses and which always holds its little treasures: the Quercy causses or the Aveyron Gorges. We head for Villefranche, a stone's throw from the Millau viaduct, which we can see clearly, in weather that has turned summery again over land that feels ever drier, even ochre.

Finally, Saint-Affrique, in fact Belmont, with this superb airfield, a little tricky on final with its downdraughts, but which you can tell the commune takes care of. A great, joyful atmosphere, with accordion and a meal among friends.

Tomorrow the weather will still be a little capricious and we have decided to change the intermediate stage to ensure a route further north via Castel-Sarrazin, in order to get back to Aire-sur-l'Adour in the best conditions.

We will decide tomorrow evening about Spain.

Sébastien Perrot