Sunset surprise

I left the house and was driving along the coast road in bright sunshine on my way to Benalmadena five minutes later than usual this morning, thanks to our new location, and still arrived on time to help prepare for the nine thirty Eucharist. Just nineteen people present today, perhaps because of the seasonal resident turnover. Getting back to Los Boliches afterwards was without delay, with less traffic than my last visit a fortnight ago. You just have to be ready for anything. There were just forty at St Andrew's and at the end some made their farewells, as they'll be on their way home during the week. Such is the nature of ministry this chaplaincy offers around the year.

When we got back, I cooked lunch. After eating, we were both pretty dozy and wasted a couple of hours snoozing before we finally went down to the beach for a walk as the sun was setting. We saw two paragliders descending several kilometres down the beach to the west of us, the evening sun illuminating their canopies as they turned. I hadn't brought my proper camera, but used my Samsung phone to grab a few pictures on their return run - not the usual quality, but even so ...

As they slowly approached us I started to be impressed at their skill in staying aloft for a long period when they only seemed to be a hundred metres up in the air. It was only when they were about two hundred metres away from where we were seated, having a drink in a beach bar that the sound of engines became audible.

Both pilots wore a small propellor engine pack, requiring a different kind of flying skill to the glide only version, not so reliant on evening thermal air currents. An unusual sight at Sunday sundown.