Flew Barca last year for the first time - still waiting for my entries. (746 miles) Its a very tough race for one reason only but.........its a very big reason called the ALPS. I have had good success from race points Pau and Perpignan this side of the Alps but in my opinion to get through the Mountains, the birds have to be lucky. They need to pick the right valleys on their first trip and then they will come through everytime. The problem is, there are too many wrong valleys which lead off to Poland, Luxembourg etc. I have now decided not to send to Barcelona until the birds have been to the South of France at least 1/2 a dozen times. D.D