Day: August 21, 2016

Wednesday 17th August

Leg 1 – Rochester to Abbeville

I couldn’t wait to get out of the dratted Rochester Holiday Inn after my dismal stay there. Having made my preparations, or most of them because I found after I’d taken off that I’d omitted entering the flight leg headings into my knee-board and entered the times instead in the wrong column, leaving the time column blank, I struggled out of the hotel and back over to F-JHHP with my case and flight bag.

Memo to self: never EVER take such a large case again, filled with clothes that you’ll never wear while away, even if it can take your lap top, still fit in the aircraft and you expect to be transported everywhere by car when on the ground.

As I had no need to pick up any fuel, I soon had the Savannah untied, packed and ready to go, so was in the air taking off from runway 02 at 8.25 am, after I’d again filed my international flight plan using my mobile phone. As soon as I turned onto heading I was struck by how much the visibility had deteriorated since I’d flown in the previous evening and in fact it was almost unflyable.

The coast, which you can usually see from Rochester, was totally invisible behind a blanket of haze as a result of a filthy inversion extending up to 2000 feet or more, topped off with a thin layer of dirty broken cloud. In fact, visibility was so poor that I decided that it wasn’t worth taking any pictures and thought it better to concentrate on flying the aircraft on the correct heading instead.

Above the inversion layer there was no horizon to mention but the top of the layer itself served as a visual reference and flying using the GPS was therefore quite safe. I could see that there was no further cloud above the layer, all the way to France by the look of it, so I thought that I’d give the Channel crossing a go and see how it worked out. If it didn’t, I could always turn around and return to Rochester, or more likely Headcorn, as it was closer and I needed to think about my fuel reserves.

I returned by the same route that I’d come by and soon I saw Folkestone slip under the wing through a gap in the cloud layer that topped the haze. So then all I had to be concerned about was getting to France without anything silly happening.

Flying at only 4500 feet rather than the 5500 feet plus that I usually prefer, to the left and right there was no horizon and nothing but blue where the sky met the sea in an undefined blue void. But I wasn’t heading in either of those directions, and ahead I could see what looked like sea fog over the French coast. This made my heart sink a bit, until as I got a bit closer I could see that this was actually lowish cloud over the well-defined coastline at Cap Gris Nez.

This was good news because it meant that there was clear air below the cloud level that I’d be able to get into and from my experience, the cloud level in northern France invariably rises the further inland you get, away from the effects of the coast. So I began my descent at what I judged to be the right time and coasted in at around 2500 feet or so above Cap Gris Nez before continuing on towards Boulogne.

Here’s a shot that I took of Boulogne harbour as I passed by. I should add that because of the poor visibility, almost every photograph in this posting has been edited to enhance detail and colour, except for ones that have been left untouched and unedited at various points to show just how poor visibility was at the time.

I didn’t bother taking any more shots before making my approach to Abbeville and joining downwind for runway 02. There was no other airborne traffic but a bit more activity down on the apron, where I bumped into a couple from Luxemburg at the refuelling point with a Savannah ‘S’. They asked me where I’d come from, and when I told them ‘England’, a look of surprise came over their faces. They told me that they’d taken one look at the visibility over the Channel and decided that that was one they’d give a miss. In fact, they said that their plans had been to head south to the Loire but in the light of the current weather and the forecast for the coming days, they’d decided to return direct to Luxemburg.

I’d already filled in the Abbeville movement sheet and after I’d topped the F-JHHP’s tanks up, went back to the bureau to settle up for the fuel and landing fee. I was quite surprised to find that I’d taken 60 litres on board, which meant that after landing, there had been only 10 litres remaining in the tanks.

This was cutting it much too fine and was the result of only having had enough time to put in 48 litres before setting off from Dorset, which was not quite enough to fill the tanks. I knew that but had judged that I’d had enough on board to fly to Rochester and then onward to Abbeville, which proved to be the case but with hardly any reserve for safety. If I’d had to turn back over the Channel, I’d have needed to make the decision to do so early on to make it back to Headcorn. Another solemn lesson learned.

I also made another mistake at Abbeville. I bumped into an English couple returning in a Vans from Switzerland to Popham and because they’d faxed ahead (as the English always do being sticklers for formality) there were three Douaniers present checking their papers. I ask you, they were leaving France, not entering! I happened to mention that I was British too and when asked, said that I hadn’t faxed ahead because I hadn’t had enough time.

If the Douaniers hadn’t HAD to be present because of the Brits being desperate to conform, nobody would have cared but as they were there, they said that they HAD to check my papers too. So I HAD to dig out my passport and the papers for 77ASY/F-JHHP and they HAD to fill out their forms that nobody was really interested in, this being France. And I ended up losing nearly an hour.

What is it about the Brits?

Flight time Rochester – Abbeville 1 hour 40 minutes.

Leg 2 – Abbeville to Saumur

The man in the office at Abbeville said that he’d close my flight plan for me so I was then able to take off and continue heading south into the haze. Here’s a shot that I took of Vieux-Rouen-sur-Bresle just south of the airfield.

The next shot is an unedited one showing the visibility while approaching Vernon on the river Seine.

The next shot is of Vernon itself (remember, this one has been photographically enhanced).

This shot is of the river Seine at Vernon looking towards the south.

This picture is of Breuilpont, which is located some 15 kms south of Vernon.

Next, Saint-Remy-sur-Avre.

About another 7 kms further on, Laons.

Remember the old NATO airfield, Senonches, that was pictured on the way up? Just past the airfield heading south is the town of Senonches itself, which gave its name to it.

The area to the south of Senonches is covered by dense forest. Sorry about the hand reflection 🙂

Here’s Fontaine-Simon a bit further on south.

On the way north, I shot a photo of the distinctive road pattern at Nogent-le-Rotrou. That only showed a small area in the north of the town and now here’s a picture of the main part, to the south.

Next up, the small commune of Dollon.

Abeam Le Mans, the visibility began to deteriorate further, as shown below in this shot, which has incidentally been enhanced just a little.

A bit further on, I came once again to the ‘Émetteur Le Mans-Mayet’ and as I’d kept to its south on the way north, this time I skirted round it to its north. Previously it had been clearly visible in bright sunlight but this time it was shrouded in the haze. I’ve since found out that this mast, which transmits TV and FM radio is, at 342 metres, taller than the Eiffel Tower and is, indeed, one of the tallest structures in France.

Saumur was only 65 kms further ahead and it wasn’t worth taking any more photographs in the haze before landing there. From the windsock, I initially decided to land on runway 28 left hand but while I watched, it swung around. I responded by flying along the runway heading and then turning to join downwind for runway 10 right – not that it really mattered because there was no other traffic and when I signed the movements sheet later, I found that mine was the only aircraft that had taken off or landed there for the whole day up to then.

Flight time Abbeville – Saumur 3 hours exactly.

Leg 3: Saumur to Malbec

After topping up my tanks for the second time at Saumur (with 100LL, no ticket available on either occasion), in view of the weather conditions, I was in a hurry to get away again. I took the next shot of the city while climbing out from runway 10.

Almost immediately, visibility began to deteriorate even further from the poor level that it had already been at.

As the flight progressed, it became steadily worse making it essential just to follow the GPS line and stay on heading. This was not always easy there being no exterior features to fly towards and I found that if I allowed my attention to lapse for much more than I few moments I would be off course by as much as 20 degrees.

By the time this wind farm, which I’d photographed from altitude on the way north, came up I estimate that the visibilty was down to 5 kms or possibly even a bit less. However, with good sight of the surface directly below and around the aircraft and the whole of the world surrounding it being wide open fields in which to land if necessary, I viewed that it was quite safe to continue onwards.

The visibility had slightly improved by the time I came to Nontron in the Périgord, but not by much as the following (enhanced) shot shows.

But shortly afterwards the weak rays of the sun broke through a gap in the clouds, as if to welcome me home again.

Things had improved markedly by the time Périgueux Bassillac airport came up on my right hand side and when I could spot Fleurac and the runway at Malbec in the distance, I knew that I’d almost arrived. Just the landing on Malbec’s 160 metre runway now to contend with – but no problem in the unusually calm conditions and no hint of the ‘bucking bronco’ ride that we often have to deal with because of the valley and trees just before the threshold.

In fact I pulled off a greaser and possibly the best landing of the whole tour, even though I say it myself. Nothing to do now except taxi up to the top of the runway and switch off.

It was good to be back! Now it was time to unpack, put 77ASY back in the barn and head home for a very welcome long, cold beer. And that’s just what I did 😉

Flight time Saumur – Malbec 2 hours 15 minutes.

Total flight time for the day, Rochester – Malbec 6 hours 55 minutes.

Total flight time over two days Bowerswain Farm (Dorset) – Malbec (Dordogne) 8 hours 50 minutes.

Total distance flown Bowerswain Farm – Malbec 1016 kms.

Tuesday 16th August

Having only arrived in Dorset a few days before on 12th August and spent a couple of days chilling out with my sister and brother-in-law, I was looking forward to spending a pleasant week in Dorset. I’d then planned a relaxed flight to Rochester in Kent on the following Friday, an enjoyable meal that evening, probably a Chinese, with my son and step-son and their partners before staying overnight at the latter’s home and departing for France the next day.

But all that changed in an instant. The weather dictates everything to do with matters involving flying light aircraft and so it was that on the Tuesday morning I consulted the weather forecast for the next few days as usual and felt the smile disappear from my face. The weather gods had decided to entirely overturn my plans.

Every on line forecast that I consulted agreed that bad weather was due to sweep into southern England and northern France within the next couple of days and that ominously, it could last for a week or more. This had serious implications for me, because if I ignored the warnings and just decided to hang on in England, I could well end up being stuck there for an indefinite period.

And not only that. Bowerswain Farm had been sold and its current owner had already moved out and I had no idea when the new one would be moving in, so for all I knew F-JHHP would be standing out in bad weather for an indefinite period with absolutely no form of surveillance or security. This didn’t appeal to me at all. And then there was the question of what would be happening back in France – there were also things there that I had to deal with.

So I had to make an instant decision – and I decided that there was nothing for it but to hastily repack my cases, refuel the Savannah and make a dash for Rochester that afternoon. Any thoughts of a pleasant evening meal went out of the window – it was impossible to arrange anything at such short notice and anyway, I’d need to spend most of the evening finalising the necessary plans and arrangements for my hasty flight back to France the following morning.

But I had to move smartly if I wanted to get to Rochester airport before it closed at 5.30 pm. Michael, my brother-in-law, luckily had a clean jerry can that had only contained water but it had to be scrupulously dried out as it still contained a few drops. While he was doing that I finalised the flight plan that I’d pre-prepared before leaving home in France for the flight up to Rochester.

Then we loaded a small pair of steps into the back of his car so I could get up to refuel the Savannah and it was off to Morrisons for the first 24 litres of premium fuel. We were just getting ready to start pouring it into 77ASY’s right tank when the Bowerswain Farm gardener, who was looking after the now empty house, appeared on the scene. He managed to produce a taller pair of steps and a large, clean filter funnel (without the filter) which made the refuelling job much quicker, so we were soon off to pick up the next 24 litres before having a bite of lunch and returning.

All went smoothly and my sister and brother-in-law were at Bowerswain Farm to watch me take off at 1.55 pm. Its runway is a bit bumpy but I soon left the ground taking off in an easterly direction using no more than half of its 200 metres even with a slight tail-wind. Then it was time to settle down for the flight to Rochester, which was pretty uneventful.

Stoney Cross came and went and this time I didn’t bother calling up Solent Radar as they’d had problems hearing my radio on the trip down and hadn’t seemed that interested so long as I remained clear of their controlled airspace. The next waypoint was Beaulieu, an old now-abandoned airfield.

Then the Esso Fawley oil refinery came up on my left hand side.

And the next waypoint was Fawley power station just a bit further on.

After that Cowes harbour on the Isle of Wight was visible out of the right hand window.

Next the aerodrome at Lee-on-Solent where a glider was visible wheeling over the town before losing height and turning onto final for a landing.

And then the main attraction, Portsmouth. Despite the rather poor visibilty, I managed to get some very good shots after a little bit of editing.

And finally, the ‘money’ shot featuring the harbour and the Spinnaker Tower that I’d missed on the way down.

Then, not to be forgotten, the ‘other’, less glamorous Portsmouth.

Now one for all Pompey supporters – Fratton Park football ground.

Then a bit further on, a couple of shots of beautiful Arundel with its impressive castle, the home of the (apparently) now reconciled Duke and Dutchess of Norfolk who had been living separately in the East and West wings after a marital spat in 2011. What a mine of useful information this blog is!

Next up, Burgess Hill. God bless it and all of those poor souls who (have to) live there. I’d hate it!

And what do we have here? The Bluebell Railway, I do believe.

Shortly after, Tunbridge Wells popped up and it was time to give Rochester a call as it was fast approaching their closing time and I wanted to get there and deal with the formalities of landing and parking fees before the staff left so I wouldn’t be held up in the morning. The runway in use was 02 and as I was approaching on a heading of 040 degrees I suggested that I might make a straight in approach, just calling long final.

The very pleasant young lady working the radio in the tower agreed and it was no sooner said than done and 77ASY was landed and parked up on the main apron. I didn’t need to take on any fuel so it didn’t take long to complete the formalities and tie the Savannah down using some weighted tyres that were next to the east side fence. Here are the shots that I took before heading off over to the Holiday Inn hotel next to the airfield.

So that was it, quite an enjoyable flight for all of the earlier hassles. I wish I could say the same about my brief (I’m glad to say) overnight stay at the Holiday Inn, which I found grossly over-priced with pedestrian food. The pork cutlet that I had for dinner was large but sickly and the bathroom door in my room had had its hook pulled off leaving gaping holes in the now-bare woodwork. And the space on the working area was so small that the welcome tray had to be hidden in a cupboard and when I eventually found it and wanted to make myself a cup of tea, I had to put it on the floor. Ghastly!

Flight time Bowerswain Farm – Rochester 1 hour 55 minutes (compared to 2 hours 5 minutes for the shorter distance from Headcorn when I flew down).