Paragliding in Cyprus

Today’s guest post is from Scarlett Redman.

‘You must try this!’ the over enthusiastic hostel owner insisted, wafting around dog-eared pamphlets of tandem paragliding. My destination, Cyprus, became much more, shall we say, ‘exciting’ from that point on. Having spent a relaxed week in Kyrenia (North Cyprus), it didn’t take much coaxing to venture into adventure. After the customary pick-up flit around hotels in Cyprus, a rickety ride up the mountains ensued. Jostling against fellow Europeans, trying to exchange pleasantries in three languages and keep hold of my breakfast, we pulled up aside a makeshift shed.  Five men emerged, our instructors apparently.  Imagine my (misguided) delight when the young, cute, stand-offish one of the group declared I was with him; the shine dulled somewhat by his reply he hadn’t been instructing for very long at all…

After a lot of dithering and mountain berry picking, the weather was announced suitable for flight. Deniz beckoned me over, placing me in front of the gargantuan balloon spread on the ground, fiddling with my harness before instructing with a heavy Turk accent:

Deniz: OK, is very simple, but very important.  I say run, you run. Evet?

Me: Evet! You say run, I run.  What then?

Deniz: Is all! You run, run (points to menacing cliff in front of us), and to land, same, you run. Oh, I forget! When you run, do not stop, is very important you do not stop! Evet?

Me: Evet, got it, I run.

Deniz: Ready? RUN!

So there I was, running off a cliff edge, followed by a man and a bit of material. About five metres from the edge, the quartet of instructors yelped, ‘stop, stop!’

Stop? STOP?! You told me not to stop! Deniz yanked me back like an unruly horse, pointing up at our half erected balloon which appeared to be at a funny angle and not going in the same direction as us (story of my life). However, the balloon carried on up so a second yelping session ensued, the instructors shouting ‘Run! RUN!’

I was hoping for a miraculous ‘ET’ moment, where they cycle off the cliff and carry on cycling mid-air – no such luck. We basically ran off the cliff edge with the balloon not yet fully functioning, meaning we had to stumble down the cliff face until it sorted itself out. I awaited the much documented ‘life flashing before eyes’ sequence you’re meant to experience when it looks like Game Over; nothing, no visions, no calm moments, just a lot of colourful expletives in English and Turkish…  The journey down the cliff had boulders and bushes to flail over before, finally, we were airborne. The nervous laughter of Deniz was followed by ‘Is ok, landing is not so difficult!’ For around ten minutes or so we sauntered along the Cypriot sky, dripping blood from our mangled legs as we enjoyed the silence and the specs of civilisation from above. Paragliding is a strange sensation – the harness feels like a giant daiper keeping you in a seated position on a floating chair, the tips of your trainers framing the seemingly minute fields below – a movement of your foot and whole fields disappear!  However, this serenity and childlike curiosity was punctured all too quickly by the prospect of landing.  ‘Remember when we land, you run. Start to run before we get to the ground!’ A man and a woman perched on invisible chairs, wearing two big daipers, running in the air: landing was never going to be pretty. Sure enough we collapsed on the dirty ground in an undignified heap.

Never trust a man with a balloon.

Author Bio: Scarlett Redman

Scarlett is a postgraduate social researcher with a heavily stamped passport, an empty bank account and a desire to eternally dodge the rat race…

*All photos provided by Scarlett Redman.

*Please remember all photos on this website, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted and property of Beers and Beans Travel Website, Nariko’ s Nest Weddings & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!

Like Our Post? Subscribe by email and get new posts delivered straight to your inbox!