‘Dear Mum’: English paraglider lost in the mists of Norway

Dear Mum,

We both know it’s high time you had a letter from me, and I’ve just had this really bizarre experience you might like to hear about. Earlier this summer I realised there wouldn’t be many chances for me to fly during the holidays, so when I heard that my local flying club were arranging a long weekend trip to the Norwegian mountains I leapt at the opportunity. Little did I know of what I was getting into.

Let me just begin by saying that the whole Swedish-club-activity thing is hard to understand. First you have try to imagine 29 people voluntarily climbing into VW vans at the crack of dawn to drive 600 km into the middle of nowhere. Then you need to picture them happily carrying their wings in the rain, still hoping to fly while the weather forecast promises two more days of solid rain and a small storm. Honestly, what did they expect from the country that coined the expression: ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing’?

Don’t get me wrong, the Swedes are very practical, as I discovered in the morning when I found one of them struggling to stir a bucket of porridge by hand. And of course, they have a plan for everything – from whose turn it is to light the barbecue to which one of us is going to lay the table and who gets to clear it off afterwards. It was like being in the boy scouts all over again, but with longer trousers and Microsoft Excel.

Anyway, despite the fact that the weekend was almost a complete wash out, we did actually enjoy ourselves. The first day we sat around in the hunting lodge watching films about paragliding while the rain poured down. The club had booked the services of a couple of celebrity Norwegian instructors, so we even had a bit of a theory class together with the stuffed animals. Come to think of it, I’m sure the animals learned the most. And speaking of wildlife, one of the instructors had a serious case of fox-behind-the-ear (Swedish term for a mischievous personality).

What I liked most about these two characters was their approach to paragliding. What they shared with us was their philosophy of flying – how we should think in order to become better pilots. I felt it was really valuable; meeting a couple of old hawks who were intent on enjoying free flight for a very long time, and who were prepared to share their secrets with us.

After this we drove around in our minibuses taking in some of the landscape, which was brilliant when the clouds lifted enough to see it. With its waterfall coming over the top of the mountain, Hydnefossen is a real beauty spot. Luckily we did manage to get one little flight, so I can now boast that I’ve spread my wing in Norway. There was this one guy from the Swedish club committee, a real action man, who managed to find enough rising air to hang about at the top of the ridge for a while. We were all getting excited at the prospect of joining him until we saw him spiralling down as fast he could to avoid being sucked up by a cloud – or Thor himself.

Lots of love,

Simon

PS: Enclosed are a few snaps in case you think I’m making it all up.