Yeehaaaa!

At last the clouds are beginning to lift. I’m finally shaking off the dreadful chest infection that has gripped me since my Hurghada break, we are still enjoying an excellent high-pressure period with high temperatures (for the time of year, 20 degrees Celsius!) and I’ve begun to make real plans for my upcoming Spring flight to the UK.

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I want to make the most of weekends and/or public holidays in France so I don’t have to bother about the low-level corridors that criss-cross France and I also want to include the UK bank holidays to give me the best opportunities of meeting up with my friends and family. So I’ve got two windows to aim for. The first is the week from Saturday 20 April to Sunday 28 April, which includes the UK bank holiday on Monday 22.

The second is more flexible as although I’d like it to include the UK bank holiday on 06 May, I don’t want to stay over for much more than a week. Wednesday 01 May and Wednesday 08 May are public holidays in France so I could fly up on 01 May and back on 08 May. However, that would make for a bit of a short stay in the UK but I would have the options of either flying up earlier on Sunday 28 April or back later on Saturday 11th May thereby extending it.

Knowing the vagaries of the weather, it makes sense to aim for the first window as if I miss it and the weather is poor for the second one, I might well miss the opportunity of flying over completely. But anyway, the dates have been agreed with everyone concerned and I can now start making firm plans.

One slight complicating factor is that the UK has now changed over to radios with 8.33kHz frequency spacing whereas we in France as yet haven’t and won’t have to for another year, if not longer if the delay in doing so is extended. This means that although it will technically be ‘illegal’, I’ll still be able to contact Farnborough Radar for my Channel crossing on their ‘old’ frequency (even though it’s now an 8.33 kHz channel and not a 25kHz one), which is of some comfort for safety reasons. However, I won’t be able to talk to Headcorn who now have a completely new radio frequency.

I will need to drop in there before flying on to my friend’s private field in Kent, to close my flightplan and clear UK customs. However, they have said today that so long as I liase with them beforehand, as I am well versed with their procedures I’ll be able to go in there non-radio. So that’s good.

It’s a great feeling to be planning something exciting again. And what a bonus it will be if by then I’ve been able to sell my X-Air and Weedhopper, both of which need to go to good homes, and also finally resolve my Kia problem. Then I’ll feel as though I’ve at last got control of my life back 🙂