Still in limbo

I’ve been in the UK since 4 October, had 24ZN ready to go since the middle of the following week and here I am writing this on 22 October still waiting for a weather window to fly it across into France. The problem has been one of the most active jetstreams for possibly many years which has kept rain and high winds streaming across the UK for a period of several   weeks without hardly budging for the whole of that time.

And not only has the UK been affected because the northernmost parts of France have also been on the receiving end of the same kind of treatment, but not necessarily at the same time. This has meant that on the few rare occasions in recent weeks when I might have been able to make it out of the UK I’d then have been unable to continue any further.

And there’s another consideration. If I‘m held up while the weather is so unpredictable, there’s a risk of 24ZN being damaged, even blown over, if it’s left outside without tie-downs in the strong winds that we’re experiencing and I don’t expect to find tie-downs on the airfields where I could be landing.

So I have to either give up, return home and call it a day until the weather trend improves or continue waiting patiently until there’s a short string of days with suitable weather both in the south of the UK and down through France to allow me to get out and back home safely to the Dordogne.

Totally unexpectedly, as cloud  and fairly strong winds had been forecast for today where I’m staying not very far from Headcorn, we were surprised when after early fog the day has turned out to be calm with bright sunshine. “What’s wrong with today then?” , my brother in law asked. The answer was a band of fog in northern France that would have stopped me proceeding further and with the risk of high winds returning, I couldn’t take the risk and thought it better once again to leave 24ZN safe in its barn.

We have winds of over 60 mph forecast for the end of this week and into the week-end but for now there appears to be a window for me to get away on Sunday. But with the weather the way it is, that’s an eternity away and I can’t bank on it so there’s still a good chance that I’ll end up throwing in my hand, going home and waiting until things improve. The trouble is, who knows when that might be 😐

2 thoughts on “Still in limbo

  1. Hi Rog, I’m deciding this evening whether or not to throw in my hand. I probably will as there’s no sign of any change in the weather pattern and not many seats available on flights back to Bergerac. So that could well be it for this year as I’m not inclined to trailer it over. The wing covers are immaculate and they’ll likely end up not as good after being removed, rolled up and refitted. There’s also the problem of what to do about the tail. My idea is to come back by car around Christmas time and if the weather is kind enough, to fly it over then, returning at my convenience by Ryanair to pick up my car. You couldn’t make it up.

  2. That was the dilemma i had with the shadow from Ireland. I will be trailering it across. Maybe this could be an option for you as well.

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