Dealers for South East England
See Wings
UPDATE 15 DEC 2025 – LIMITED SPACE LEFT
We can only take one more person on this trip if you provide your own transport to the destination
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Total price £750 + Travel. You are paying a £200 deposit, with £550 left to pay.
Join us for a mountain XC flying trip to France or French speaking Switzerland. We will make a final decision on the destination the week before departure, based on the weather. The emphasis will be on good XC flying. The shortlist includes:
The price includes: accommodation, home cooked food, up to one XC retrieve at the end of each day. To travel with us by car costs an extra £175 return. If we go to Corsica, you may prefer to travel by air, as it’s a two day journey by car.
Massif Central, France – One of the best known flying sites in the region is Puy de Dome, an extinct volcano with a mountain railway, in the north of the Massif Central. It takes all wind directions. Big grassy takeoffs. The train runs every 20 minutes so it’s easy to get back up the mountain. Epic XC flights towards Mont Dore to the south. There are countless other mountain sites in the area, surrounding the Puy de Sancy (highest peak in the Massif Central) and the Plomb du Cantal to the south.
Corsica – wild and rugged, Corsica has a varied flying: the Gravona valley is a great XC playground, with flights finishing at a beautiful beach. There is also great coastal soaring which can save the day if there is overdevelopment inland. Around Lozzi there is some fantastic high mountain flying, within a couple of hours’ hike from the village.
Val Louron – Take off is from rounded green and grassy mountains, and landing next to a peaceful lake. Just 10km down the valley the mountains are more extreme – with peaks rising to 2900m. XC’s east and west are also possible, to St Lary or Luchon.
The Chasseral – long east-west ridges causing convergence conditions for great XC flying, and landing next to the lakes to the south. Excellent swiss public transport makes it easy to get home again or back to launch.
£175 return if you travel with us by road, sharing between no more than 4 people. Please don’t book 3rd party travel until the Thursday before departure, as we will choose the destination at the last minute as the weather dictates.
Albatross Paragliding – a BHPA registered Air Experience School. The Chief Instructor is Dave Harvey. Michel Carnet or Martin Ayers may join us depending on numbers. Please note our instructor qualifications are for tandem flying rather than teaching newbie solo pilots.
The rules in France forbid us from instructing or guiding without French qualifications. Rather than taking care of you by making decisions for you, we will all share information and make decisions together about where to fly each day. This leads to better awareness, learning, and safety. In order to come on this trip, you should be confident at launching (including forward launching in light winds), landing, and making independent flying decisions. If you need intensive coaching, for example to improve your launching and landing skills, the time to do this is before the trip – get in touch! Tandem flights will be on offer for anyone who wants them, at no charge.
We request that XC pilots attempt to make their own way back (or nearer) by hitching or public transport (but not expensive taxis). We find that hitching works very well in the mountains especially with a paraglider shaped rucksack. At the end of the flying day we will collect anyone who is still not back. Extra points if you can fly straight back to the holiday house.
Pilot rated pilots looking for introductory or more serious XC flights. You must be confident in your forward launching technique and ground handling – we can give you coaching on this before the trip – please make use of this if you are in any doubt. You should be prepared to walk up to an hour with your glider, maybe more if we go to Corsica. These skills can easily be perfected on our local sites. Please talk to us before booking if you’re not sure if you’re ready for this trip.
Dave Harvey organised the last two Sky Surfers Mountain flying trips. In 2016 we went to the Puy de Dome, and in 2018 we flew in the West Highlands of Scotland. In 2019, under Albatross Paragliding, we returned to Puy de Dome, where we also flew mountain sites in the Monts de Cantal and around Puy de Sancy. In September 2020 we did a trip to the Bavarian alps in Germany (see the video here). In October 2021 we went to St Andre in the Southern French Alps. More recently we’ve done a short trip to Corsica and several trips back to the Massif Central. The vast majority of trips had excellent weather with flying every day in awesome landscapes.
Chris Drabble came with us to the Puy de Dome and says: “The club trip was great fun and a super way of getting to know club members with all levels of experience. We all worked together to make sure everybody felt supported and had the opportunity to fly in areas suitable for their level. I can really recommend this to anybody who wants to fly and enjoy a good holiday.”
Justin Simmonds came with us to the Highlands and said: “We flew every day and saw some amazing sights. Scotland was where it all came together for me, learning to thermal under Dave’s watchful eye and guidance. I would recommend the trip to anyone wanting to meet likeminded paragliders and learn new skills. Dave is also an amazing cook”
It’s recommended that you take out travel insurance that includes paragliding, medical expenses, and repatriation. It’s good if search and rescue costs are also covered. Albatross Paragliding is not covered by the BHPA’s insurance when organising trips – this is not considered a problem by the BHPA, but it does mean you need to be certain you have your own insurance.
Breakfast: Tea, coffee, granola, cornflakes, fruit, yoghurt, pancakes, maple syrup, and (if we’re not having an early start) english breakfast or croissants.
Lunch: we provide fresh bread, sandwich fillings, and fruit for you to assemble your own packed lunches.
Dinner: simple home-cooked food such as roast chicken with mash and greens, mushroom risotto, pasta carbonara, steak and chips, etc. Local cheeses and homemade desserts. We will probably eat out once during the week, with a contribution from the food budget of 25 euros per person.
We’ll be staying at a holiday home close to the main flying sites. Please expect to share a room with one other person – let us know if you want your own room and we’ll do our best to arrange this.
Please bring the following extra bits of kit:
Four weeks or more before departure you can cancel with a refund less £200 (ie. we keep your deposit).
If you wish to cancel after that, we will do our best to find someone else to replace you, but a refund less £200 will be conditional on this. In the unlikely event that the trip becomes unviable for any reason, we will refund everyone in full.
The total price of this trip is £750 not including travel. To travel by car with us costs an extra £175. If you’ve paid the £200 deposit to secure a place, the balance of £550 will be due 4 weeks before departure.
Please describe your paragliding experience (hours flown, any mountain flying experience) and confirm any special dietary requirements (please say whether life-threatening). We will also require an emergency contact, please provide us with a name, phone number plus any other contact details you wish to share.
Four weeks or more before departure you can cancel with a refund less £200 (ie. we keep your deposit).
If you wish to cancel after that, we will do our best to find someone else to replace you, but a refund less £200 will be conditional on this. In the unlikely event that the trip becomes unviable for any reason, we will refund everyone in full.
In order to stay safe on this trip, you should avoid groupthink and keep alert in your own decision making! You know yourself, your capabilities, fears, and desires. Just because more experienced pilots have judged the weather to be OK, it might not be OK for you, and the weather might change, or the more experienced pilots might have missed something that you’ve noticed.
This trip does not include guidance nor instruction. As a group, we will share information and discuss options for each day’s flying, before making a decision together about which flying site to travel to. Each pilot remains responsible for their own decision making – nobody is obliged to fly, and each of us must satisfy ourselves that the forecast and flying site are suitable before taking off. Your awareness of this will help you stay safe.
We expect good flying weather in the next few days (12 Aug onwards)
