My 2nd 100km XC (Almost) to Segovia in 5 hours 35 mins

After a valley day at Piedrahíta, Tuesday 23rd July was forecast for NW winds, and crucially a similar airflow at Avila. Cloudbase also wasn’t much past 3000m meaning it would be easier to keep under 2900 when into the airspace from Avila on.
After launching at 13:46 the first 50km milk run proceeded as expected keeping mostly above 2500m (1500m above ground) with smoother climbs than on the Monday. Pushing north at the 50km mark was where I got down to 1500m (272m AGL), which can be gone in a flash when you run into 4m/s sink. However just when I thought I’d be listening to tales of an epic XC from the ground, I had a low save and was back up at 2800m and ready to cross the city of Avila. Both my cameras had then stropped working for some unknown reason, which is a shame as it was an exciting part of the flight. After an initial good glide I needed to top up on the East side of the city, and this proved to be a bit gnarly, with a 40% LH asymmetric. Interestingly I ended up doing at least one right hand turn with the wing in front of me in the rough air, before I was able to sort it out. There’s nothing really discernible on my track log, and it’s a real shame it wasn’t on video, so I have to rely on memory.
With a now elevated heart rate, I saw Luke land, and with no immediate company I proceeded in the direction of Segovia. I was unfortunately south of the road now and being conscious of the airspace in that direction kept trying to push NE, so by the time I was near the windmills at Ojos Albos I was uncomfortably low and warm.
I knew the ridge there would work, being into wind and in full sun but it wasn’t a pleasant experience getting up again. Thermalling kept pushing me into airspace, so I couldn’t take thermally high and it was rough as badgers down low. After 5 mins or so I decided I’d had enough and was just going to fly straight and out the front of the windmills. This actually worked and I spent the next 5 mins or so going up in a straight line and catching dives. I will try to avoid this section in future by flying further north, climbing in the flats in cleaner air!
It then got smoother at least with my last decent climb of the flight to just under 3000m near Villacastin before tracking NE again. As I got lower, my Segovia goal became harder and given I was now quite tired I focussed instead on getting 100km. I did manage it but the climbs to get there weren’t the best, and I was extremely happy to land just south of Los Angeles de San Rafael after 5 hours and 36 minutes in the air. A PB for me.
After landing a grumpy local told me I shouldn’t have landed where I did, but I of course professed to not understanding. Then came along a friendly chap in a pick up called Eduardo and he insisted I get in with him. Knowing Ester was on her way. I didn’t want to go far, so I tried to convey that I’d like to go to a bar. Thankfully one word we both understood was Cerveza and we headed off on what I hoped would be short journey to a cold beer. Unfortunately my hopes were dashed by the super efficient Ester arriving and asking where I was, so after some rapid fire Spanish between her and Eduardo over my radio we had to head back without seeing a bar.
When we pickled up Steve, and drove the 2 hours back to Piedrahita arriving at 10pm. The next day was going to be epic, with another goal of Segovia…