However, as the highway started climbing up the slopes, cutting across long tunnels and venturing over hair-rising bridges, I started having the feeling something was going to be different...
At the end of the ride, when I finally walked to the take-off site, well, I certainly changed my mind! I was standing there, in amazement, at the edge of a small field, suspended on top of a precipice, dropping some 850 metres into a deep blue sea... At the bottom of the ridge, a series of small beaches and steep slopes were running away for some 20 Km, with tiny fishing villages nestled in between... Bagnara and its little beach were just below us, while far away to the left I could see the town of Scilla.
My friends gave me some time to pull myself together - "That always happens to whoever comes here for the first time..." - they commented. I was then invited to prepare for take-off, as the wind conditions were ideal. I was shown the emergency landings below, the top landing area and our cross-country target, a small beach next to Scilla, some 12 Km. away...
After an easy reverse inflation, a step forward was all I needed to get immediately lifted up. The extremely easy and smooth lift cleared all the tension I always accumulate before a new flight and up I went, over the steep slopes. In a few passes, I had climbed some 100 metres above take-off, enough to venture for the first crossing of a large valley. As I started speeding my Paraglider through the deep valley, I was keeping a wary eye on my altimeter. In fact, I was soon back to take-off level, then down by 50 metres, then 100 metres...
The great potential of that place however did not fail to show: as soon as I reached the opposite slopes I found a good thermal which, after a series of tight spirals, sent me 200 metres above take-off! A long, straight flight over the ridge top and a few more valley crossings took me to the final destination, the village of Scilla. Only... the intended landing place was one thousand meters below! I noticed, at that point, some of the local pilots flying over a hilltop, well past our destination...
"Well, I don't mind exceeding my target, as long as I keep finding lift!" was telling myself while heading towards them. That was where I had the biggest surprise of the day. I climbed to 1200 meters and was reaching the hill when the whole Strait of Messina came into view... Wow! I ended up talking loudly to myself, amazed at the beauty of such a scenery, spanning from the Calabrian towns of Cannitello and Villa San Giovanni up to the town of Messina on the Sicilian side. A number of Ferry-Boats were busily going back and forth through the channel while smaller crafts were just sailing along it.
I had to share my feelings with someone and called my friends over the radio. They too were enjoying the amazing view, in the crystal clear day. A giant pylon, 300 metres high, once supporting the electricity duct to Sicily, looked quite attractive and wanted to fly over it. Being it close to the narrowest point of the Strait however, it was in a very windy location and hard to reach. I had to speed up my Response and lose a good deal of height to get on top of it, so once there I quickly turned around heading back to the hill, where I soon recovered my height.
By that time, I had been flying for more than two hours already, in a cool day and at 1200 metres above the sea level and was starting to feel the chill. Right when I was about to start the long glide down to Scilla, my friend called on the radio, inviting me to follow him... all the way back to the starting point!
"Er, well..." I was hesitantly saying, "the wind is slowing down and we may not make it back...".
"Then we will land half-way!" was the obvious reply.
To the hell with it, such an invitation was far too attractive to be turned down and I soon started trailing after him. This time we adopted a different strategy though. Instead of crossing from valley to valley, we headed straight to Bagnara, flying at maximum efficiency and far away from the ridge...
That worked very well, thanks to the nice evening restitution and - to my surprise - a straight glide of about 30 minutes took us across the 13 Km distance! So, there I was, back to Bagnara and with some 700 metres to spare... The wind was really dying off but lower down, right over the town, a flow of warm air kept me circling for quite some time allowing me - even without making any significant height gain - to extend my flying time to the three-hour mark. An easy landing on the small beach next to the village closed in style the exceptional day.
Only... I was nearly crying for not having brought my camera along! In front of a good beer, later my friends were trying to console me: "That's good, so it will make sure you come back!".
"Frankly, I don't need that to come back to such a wonderful place!" I quickly replied.