On tour in Colombia’s Cauca Valley

I found myself on my own in the Cauca Valley: time to put into practice some of the things I had learned over the last week or so. Having pushed on a bit on my own I had become separated from the rest of the group. Some had landed out already and, from the chat on our radio channel, I knew our guide Seb was helping others further north. The Sports-Class Racing Series was also on so I’d been using them as thermal markers, but they had moved south and I wanted to head back north before the building clouds turned to rain. It was time to look for the clouds and, hopefully, birds climbing.

I spotted a good cloud slightly off my course line. It seemed to be forming on the south end of some low hills, where the north wind would be coming back together creating convergence. I set off on bar. As I approached I spotted a couple of gliders climbing low, then some of the local black vultures...