The Big adventure - France - July 2007.

The basic plan is to fly Victor Alpha from Barton to Northern France for a length of time numbering between one and two weeks. There is the plan. Now hopefully the reality will not differ to greatly to this plan, but knowing the weather and significant other factors, mainly reliability the plan will most probably change. This will be the first time, apart from the time spent completing my PPL in Cali, that I have flown outside of UK controlled territory, and certainly the first time I have flown over international borders. Am I scared? No, in fact I can’t wait. I am quite looking forwards to the challenge which flying in another country, where airspace classifications differ and the view on GA is well much more favourable than it is in the UK.

Although I have booked two weeks off work, I don’t expect that the trip will last for that long, I merely want a few buffer days in order to allow for the weather. Yes, even though it will be late July, it still rains a lot. Oh the joys of living in England! The fact that I am planning the trip with Sam, means that I will have no one to share the load of flying with, which should not be a problem firstly because I enjoy it and love every second of it and secondly because the legs planned are for the large part small enough to cover without the need to refuel, i.e. around four hours.

The first leg will see Victor Alpha depart Barton with a destination of Sandown in the Isle of Wight, where we will refuel, rest and then commence a same day departure to Toussus Le Noble on the outskirts of Paris. The plan is to spend a couple of days here in order to relish the joys of this wonderful city. The third leg is planned to be from Toussus Le Noble to Boon, near Rouen in order to spend a day in the legendary city where Joan of Arc was brutally burnt alive at the stake. The next leg will end at Bretteville just outside Caen. Again, this stopover will involve a slice of local history, due to the proximity of the D-Day beaches. From here, we plan to fly to Lannion near St. Brieuc in order to enjoy the wild Northern Coast of Brittany. The small airfield on the island of Ouessant will be the last stopover in France, before (weather permitting) we return Victor Alpha to UK territory via St Mary’s on the Isles of Scilly. Having flown over these in a 767 last year, it will be different to view them from a much lower altitude, before experiencing the local delights and hopefully (temperature permitting) taking a dip in the sea. The next planned destination is Haverfordwest on the Pembrokeshire Coast, visiting one of our favourite holiday destinations, St David’s Head. This will surely be an emotional time for the both of us. The return journey to Barton will commence of a stop off at Caernarfon, before flying over Snowdonia and entering the low level corridor to transit Manchester/Liverpool controlled airspace.