Yesterdays 24hours of rain was a relief to many after the long hot and very dry season so far. Today looked like it might bring more of the same but an early trip to the roof terrace rewarded me with small blue patches amongst the clouds and lots of enthusiasm to fly in the sky.
On the drive up to Pico is was amazing to see green has returned so quickly to the mountains as if the dust of a long summer has been washed away and the plants can breathe again.

Schäfchenwolken :)

The early first transition out into the valley was a dream cloudscape of fluffy cumi's in every direction but at only 11am this was a sign of how the day would develop. Looking back at the start it was as if Mordor was looming behind and running bravely away was the best option.

Getting messy in the flats ... time to run bravely away

As the valle heated the clouds started to grow and grow, quickly becoming congestus although spookily in the mountains the clouds disappeared to nothing and the hills were bathed in sunshine. Its been a strange season but this was totally opposite to normal!
After floating about in lovely smooth gentle thermals and dithering about which direction looked the least damp I landed back in Rolda having been tempted to a non-existent climb by some pesky birds. Once I had committed to it the all glided away flapping and laughing at me! :D
And to continue the theme of being laughed at I set up a nice landing approach at the outskirts of town into a green paddock, touched down softly and then fell flat on my face as if my legs had been tied together ... they had!
The field was full of the vine-like grass known locally as "tumbatonto", in this case I was the "falling-stupid", to the delight of the local kids on the football pitch.
It seems that if you stand still for more than 5 minutes you can actually see the stuff growing and binding your legs together ... the countryside here loves the rain!

ArcoIris in the valley