The Paraglider
By Sebastien Rider
A few years ago I watched a fantastic You Tube video of some paragliding amongst the most magnificent rock towers. I would later realise I was watching flying the Dolomites, alpine peaks in Northern Italy renowned for their spectacular flying. At the time a trip there was something I could only dream of!
Coupe Icare is a truly unique event, perched above an enormous craggy ridge the village of St Hilaire du Touvet is a stunning setting for the World’s largest free-flying festival. Thousands of people descend on the normally sleepy French village filling it with all the colour, noise and excitement you’d expect from a music festival. Unlike most festivals though the activity doesn’t stop at ground level, the air is almost constantly filled with paragliders, hang gliders, sailplanes, sky divers, wingsuiters, balloons, acrobatic aircraft and even at one point Jetman!
With Mark Nicol
South Devon is a beautiful part of the country with a stunning coastline and a wild heart, Dartmoor National Park.
Gavin Jillings runs Rose Valley Lodge in Sopot, Bulgaria. He was so taken with the place that he and his wife Lucy packed up and shipped out from Belfast to live the dream of being paragliding/motorcycling guides and restauranteurs.
Gavin is a qualified BHPA instructor and runs BHPA accredited EP/CP courses in Sopot. He is also the chief admin for the BHPA’s Facebook page.
In this podcast, Gavin answers questions on his most vivid flying dream, his favourite thing to do on a rainy day and his most scary flying experience.
Listen to the podcast below:
With Anita Hafdís Björnsdóttir
I learned Paragliding in 2007 on a whim, in Iceland, and have not looked back since. In 2009 I sold all my belongings other than my glider and became a travelling paragliding bum. In 2013 I finished my tandem training in South Africa, returned to Iceland, co-founded the first Paragliding company here, and am now a full time Tandem pilot and Paragliding instructor in Iceland.
