Garrett Fisher

Author, Pilot, & Adventurer

Email subscription form header
Subscribe
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
Powered by FeedBlitz
  • Writings
  • Documentary & Interview
  • Press
  • Economics
  • Maps
  • Flying Videos
  • TEDx Talk: Forget Economics
  • About Me

Powered by Genesis

Flight: Day 1: Spain, France: 36N to 44N

June 4, 2022 by Garrett

While I had planned on departing from Spain at roughly this time, it was the onset of infernal heat that gave some added incentive to escape. The coast itself was often quite pleasant, with strong winds blowing through the night through the Strait of Gibraltar. The problem materialized when going more than 2 miles from the water, when temperatures would rise dramatically. I was monkeying with the airplane on the ground, 20 minutes inland, when it got so hot that I was not only nauseated; all I wanted to do was eat and sleep. Ironically, it was roughly at 2PM, when the whole of Southern Spain categorically closes their shops and does the same thing. While Andalucía is not humid like the US Southeast, there is something about the form which the heat takes that erodes any desire to exert effort.

Nonetheless, the time for my escape came, with an alignment of good weather to my destination, plus a coming record-breaking heatwave. I did not need to be around when temperatures approached 40 C / 104 F….in May.

I will keep my final destination obscured for the moment, other than to say that it was planned differently at first, it is far, and it is not Switzerland.

On the way to Seville. Climbed directly to 3,000 feet to escape some of the heat.

Seville.

Somewhere near Hinojosa del Duque.

Convergence of Andalucía, La Mancha, and Extremadura. It reminds me most of South Park, west of Colorado Springs. The only difference is about 9,000 feet of elevation.

This area torments me from satellite maps, as it looks stunningly “textured.” The problem is that the scale is too large, and the aerial view can’t grab it. I find that satellites are usually terrible indicators of good texture…it is better to just find it by chance.

Over the hills southwest of Toledo. At 5,000 feet, air temperatures were pleasant.

Tagus River, west of Toledo. Air temperatures were not pleasant.

Just southwest of Madrid, before stopping for fuel. “A beautiful inferno.”

East of Madrid. Suffering in the heat. The engine radiates quite a bit through the firewall and also in the slipstream. When it is hot outside, it is hotter in the PA-11 or PA-18!

Northeast of Madrid, eyeing those rain showers with anticipation (for cooler temps).

The airplane got a bath after this.

East of Soria, between rain showers.

Entering La Rioja region. I would fly lower, except I’d have to climb back up in 30 minutes, so I stayed high.

Ebro River valley.

Southwest of Pamplona.

Basque Country!

While it is still Basque Country, one would forgive me for thinking I was in East Tennessee.

French Atlantic….20 minutes after the prior image.

Flying north in Bordeaux after a few stop on Biarritz. Those wankers wanted to charge $59 to use the toilet (after paying $43 for landing and $275 for fuel)! I had to walk quite a distance out of the secured area to urinate, then come back in. Apparently it was my fault for “not purchasing the luxury package.” Since when is a urinal “luxury”? Then again, we pay $60 to drive 6 hours across France (one way) on toll roads, where the rest stops….lack toilet seats. C’est le France, un pays médiéval. 

Bordeaux’s coast is repetitive.

Approaching Arcachon for the night….a time which had finally come. Mon derriere was suffering at this point.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

  • Español
  • Français
  • Català

Blog Posts

  • Flights: Spain, Switzerland: A Crazed Aeronautical Bender…Seven Years Later January 25, 2023
  • Flight: France: Surfing the Wave December 19, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland: A Mystery on the Eiger, 700,000th Photo November 16, 2022
  • Flight: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands: Losing My Flying-Over-Water Virginity October 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Sognefjord, Longest Fjord in Norway September 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Hardangervidda, Largest Mountain Plateau in Europe September 17, 2022
  • Flight: Norway: Galdhøpiggen, Highest Peak in Northern Europe August 20, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Jostedalsbreen, Largest Glacier in Continental Europe August 7, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Flyraseri ikke Flyskam July 17, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland, France, Italy: 2,000 Hours & FL160 July 9, 2022
  • Flight: Day 4: Sweden, Norway: 56N to 59N July 6, 2022
  • Flight: Day 3: Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden: 53N to 56N June 27, 2022
  • Flight: Day 2: France, Belgium, Netherlands: 44N to 53N June 19, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1: Spain, France: 36N to 44N June 4, 2022
  • Flight: Spain: Rock the Casbah, Sierra Nevada, Africa on the Horizon May 8, 2022
  • Flight: Portugal, Spain: Promontorium Sacrum, Last Sausage Before America April 26, 2022
  • Flight: Spain, Morocco: Spanish Africa, Pillars of Hercules, Southernmost Point in Europe April 18, 2022
  • Flights: Spain: The Antipope, Package Holidays & A Clandestine Metropolis April 11, 2022
  • Flights: Days 2 & 3: France, Spain, Portugal: España Verde, Galicia, Aggressive Eucalyptus & Andalucía April 3, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1 of 3: Switzerland, France, Spain, Andorra: Alps, Mediterranean, Pyrenees & Atlantic March 30, 2022

Archives

  • January 2023 (1)
  • December 2022 (1)
  • November 2022 (1)
  • October 2022 (1)
  • September 2022 (2)
  • August 2022 (2)
  • July 2022 (3)
  • June 2022 (3)
  • May 2022 (1)
  • April 2022 (4)
  • March 2022 (1)
  • February 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (2)
  • November 2021 (3)
  • October 2021 (1)
  • September 2021 (1)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • May 2021 (3)
  • April 2021 (1)
  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (5)
  • November 2020 (5)
  • October 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (2)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (3)
  • November 2019 (3)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (4)
  • August 2019 (3)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (2)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (2)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (4)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (4)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (5)
  • July 2017 (3)
  • June 2017 (4)
  • May 2017 (5)
  • April 2017 (4)
  • March 2017 (5)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (4)
  • November 2016 (5)
  • October 2016 (4)
  • September 2016 (6)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (5)
  • February 2016 (4)
  • January 2016 (6)
  • December 2015 (4)
  • November 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (8)
  • August 2015 (8)
  • July 2015 (8)
  • June 2015 (8)
  • May 2015 (4)
  • April 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (5)
  • February 2015 (3)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (10)
  • November 2014 (4)
  • October 2014 (1)
  • September 2014 (3)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (3)