ROUND ENGLAND TOUR MAY 2007

What a great idea!  Graeme Ritchie and Richard Murphy were inviting Kim to join them on a Big Adventure, flying to Land’s End and then to destinations unknown (or rather, to be decided later).  Kim had had a particularly horrible year in one way or another, culminating in her father dying while on holiday in Madeira.  Kim was hugely enthusiastic, knowing that she would learn loads just by being backseat.as well as getting a break from the realities of life… 

Would Gordon and I like to come too?  Oh yes, we certainly would!!!  We had planned to go to Land’s End this time last year, but got no further than Fishburn in County Durham (weather, of course),  and didn’t get to christen our tent at all.

The forecast, once again, was fairly unpromising, and so we only planned for the trip in a half-hearted way, but as the planned departure date got closer, the weather forecast improved – it looked like it was going to be windy at home, but beautiful in the south.  It was beginning to look like a realistic plan.

Then came a big disappointment – Kim’s father (a bit of a thorn in her side during his lifetime now proved to be the same in death) had to be buried on the day we were going to go….  All attempts at changing the funeral date were thwarted, and so we pushed our departure date back by a day.  Still no good for Kim though – what with family commitments etc, she had to cancel.  A real shame – I was looking forward to some female companionship!

Day 1 So on Tuesday morning there were five of us – Graeme, Richard, Tertius (Richard’s passenger) and us.  The weather was quite good as we excitedly set off from East Fortune – cloud high enough to get over the Lammermuirs and we had a lovely tail-wind all the way down.  Waved at Eshott, then over Newcastle (the hallowed turf of St James’ Park wasn’t there – strange to see it brown instead of green – we were speaking to Newcastle ATC and there were plenty of green places to land, if necessary.

Our first stop was at Baxby, just north of York.  We had never been there (hell, I’d never been anywhere!) and so it was exciting to go into a ‘new’ microlight school and strip.  It was even more exciting when we saw the high tension pylons at the end of the runway we were about to use….. a go-around was not an option … and then, as we were trying to see the circuit, each other and the pylons, it began to rain.  Visors were obscured and it became a bit tense, but Gordon and I went in first, landing nice and short, but as we went up to the pylons to taxy round, there was a strange fizzing noise and crackling on the intercom.  Weird!

All down safely but poor Tertius (he’s South African and though his name is pretty strange, he’s a lovely chap!) was feeling pretty sorry for himself.  He’d ‘talked a good fly’ when we were up at East Fortune, but didn’t like the bumps and felt pretty sick by the time we reached Baxby.  He had done well to ‘hang on’ but decided to quit while he was ahead and the folk at Baxby were kind enough to run him to the station.

Down to 4 now, we set off again and the weather improved greatly once we reached south of the Humber.  Amazing flying over the flat countryside of Lincolnshire and the fens – long straight canals and huge mudflats by the Wash.  We crossed the Wash at the narrow end(!) and then pushed south east to Suffolk, aiming for a strip called Priory Farm.  The airfield information we had printed off told us that Priory Farm is quite close to a larger airfield used for gliding, and so we located the larger airfield and flew round and round in circles looking for the strip….  Richard, Gordon and I couldn’t see it for love nor money but Graeme had spotted it straight away (it was a lovely long, newly cut strip – how did we miss it??!!!) and led us all in.  It is also a goose farm (very noisy!) which was a bit different, and we were greeted by Bryan Smy -  a lovely chap who used to be a club member and lives very close to Priory Farm.  He had managed to get 90 litres of fuel, so we refuelled the aircraft and ourselves and set off again towards the Thames.  Although the weather was lovely, visibility was not – very hazy - and I spent my time straining my neck looking out for other aircraft though the murk.  Crossed the Thames at Shewburyness and down into Kent, where the countryside changed from mudflats to rolling hills, woodland and cultivated fields. 

Gordon was flying (of course) with his aviation maps (no GPS for us, as most of you will know!) but I decided to make the journey a bit more interesting by following our track on an AA roadmap.  Great idea!  I could point out stately homes and the names of villages en route – and it was lovely to see Leeds Castle (in Kent – nowhere near Leeds!) which I’d visited a few times. 

My aunt and uncle, Liz and Brian, live near the town of Battle in East Sussex and it was our intention to stay the night there (Land’s End had been postponed when we’d put back our departure date). We’d heard through the grapevine about a little strip quite close to Battle and got PPR to go in there and leave the planes for the night.  They were lovely folk who put their windsock up, cut their strip and welcomed us with cans of cold beer – VERY welcome at the end of a long day, when the temperature was in the mid 20s.  They run an old-fashioned hopfarm (which I toured the next day) – fascinating.  Brian came to pick us all up and we arrived at their house to be greeted by numerous cousins and their children – a lovely family time for me (though I expect it was a bit strange for Graeme and Richard!).  Supper in a local pub and then fell exhausted into bed. 

Day 2  Breakfast was very surreal – sitting at the kitchen table, where Gordon and I have sat loads and loads of times, but this time with Graeme and Richard, was a bit weird!  Still, we ate and set off back to our hopfarm.  Gordon flew my aunt over their house, which she loved, and then we all took off and flew over it – me crying my eyes out!  I’d waited 10 years to do that, and it was a very special moment. 

It was another beautiful day and there was more family to see – this time Richard’s mother and sister, who live in Hampshire.  So off we went for a lovely flight across Sussex, counting the swimming pools and craning our necks for other aircraft, of which there were lots!  There are masses of little airstrips down there – and lots of aircraft buzzing about too.  Our next stop was Colemore Common – and this time (having proved himself at Priory Farm) we followed Graeme, until he got himself lined up to land in a nice crop field….  “Er, where are you going Graeme?  Could it be that the strip is actually that long field with a cut grass section and a windsock just over there?”  Touché – one all on the landing cock-up stakes!  Colemore Common, once we had led Graeme in(!) was a very nice strip with absolutely nothing there, except a windsock, a control ‘C’ sitting by a fence and (strangely) a hi-vis jacket on a hook…..?  No buildings, nothing but a sign saying Hampshire Microlight Club or something – again lying against the hedge!  Richard’s sister met us and off we went to the pub for lunch – boiling hot!  Graeme’s thermometer said it was 30 degrees in the shade!  Phew!

Off from Colemore Common and turned northwest, our next stop planned as Halfpenny Green in Wolverhampton.  Now we come to a slightly tricky bit of the story….  to carry on our route we wanted to go through the Brize Norton MATZ (military air traffic zone for those who don’t know) and Graeme had phoned them to check that we would be allowed through.  No problem, they said….

Gordon was leading the group as we approached Brize Norton, and he had elected to do the radio there, so we all changed onto their frequency and Gordon made the initial call asking to transit the zone.  Were we transponder-equipped? came the reply.  Er no, sorry, we’re not.  Then we can’t let you through I’m afraid – you’ll need to fly overhead a place called Faringdon and then Lakeysomething and go north from there.  Right – but it was at this crucial point when Gordon realised that he really needed some bifocals.  He had been flying with a magnifying glass taped to his mapboard and had been quite happy using it up to that point, but he’d managed to draw his trackline and waypoint markers right over the names of Faringdon and Lakeysomething and just couldn’t see them.  His specs went on, but he couldn’t see to fly, came off and he couldn’t read the map.  We had thought we were in the right place as we were close to a large military airfield, but nothing else seemed to fit…  eventually we looked right and saw… another large military airfield – gulp!  Oh heck – where the hell are we?!!  Poor Graeme and Richard knew exactly what had happened, but felt unable to butt in on Brize Norton’s frequency to tell us!  Gordon eventually had to confess that we were ‘temporarily unsure of our position’ – HUGELY embarrassing for him,  but great ammunition for everyone else and, I’m sorry to say, there WILL be mention at the Christmas do this year.  Can’t be avoided really… So, new bifocals will be duly purchased.

Halfpenny Green was a lovely place – you could see it from MILES away.  Alex Cosser had told us it was a friendly place – quite a big GA airfield with two controllers – and it was really busy so they were needed.  One of them comes to work by microlight – he has a Blade!  He had been up to East Fortune and had even slept in our caravan, so he was very welcoming.  Good café there (great cake!) and they held the fuel pumps open for us, which was much appreciated.

Off and up through the much-hyped ‘Manchester Low Level Corridor’.  I was quite concerned about the amount of traffic we might meet and wondered whether north-bound aircraft kept to the east of the lane and south-bound to the west, but Gordon assured me that this didn’t happen.  I held my breath waiting for all the planes to arrive – and we didn’t see any!!  You do have to fly low, but there was always somewhere to go if necessary.  On to our next stop at St Michaels, Graham Hobson’s school and club near Preston – the place where the ‘hurricane’ destroyed the hangars in November…. scary.  Landed, tied down and got our tents up.  Graham invited us to use the clubhouse – a caravan not unlike ours.  Richard’s phone was dead by this time so he was keen to charge it, but none of the plugs in the caravan worked – er, no electricity…!  Off to the local pub and Richard was trying to stick his charger in the plugs there – wrong type of socket, socket not working – aarrghh!  For Richard to be without a phone is about as bad as it could be!  Still, a few beers and whiskies later (you know, it’s ages since we’ve been in an English pub – of course there were folk smoking, but also they only had ONE malt whisky – extraordinary!)  Luckily it was a nice whisky so we had another, and another….. taxi back to airfield.

Day 3 – heard a bit a rain in the night..  not a good sound when you want to fly over the Lake District in the morning.  Sure enough – undid the zip of the tent and there was cloud just about down to the ground.  Typical Lancs weather.  Hey ho!  Breakfast on bananas and Yorkie bars then packed up the planes and made a bid for freedom.  Another plane had arrived during the morning (from a very close strip) so we thought we had a chance of getting round the coast.  The plane arriving was meeting up with a St Michaels member and they were heading off to – wait for it – Morocco!  One was a Quik and one a Quantum 912….  They hadn’t been in the air very long when we heard the Quik on the radio saying that he was circling to wait for the Quantum.  He’d be pretty dizzy by the time they reach Morocco…..

Took off, got to about 700 feet and hit cloud.  Pressed on for a few miles, but as the ground began to rise and the cloud got lower, we decided to turn back, land and walk back to the pub for lunch (where we all eventually got our phones charged!).  By the time we’d walked back (it was a fair walk…) the cloud had lifted a bit, so we set off again, this time successfully making it round the coast, near Morecambe Bay (couldn’t help thinking of those poor cockle pickers when we saw the sands there), over Grange over Sands, past Sellafield nuclear power station, and past some very pretty countryside and lovely beaches.  We were going to land at Carlisle for fuel, but we could see sunshine to the east and reckoned we could press on to Eshott and refuel there.  We had a fabulous tail-wind going over Hadrian’s Wall and were beating the traffic on the roads below – it was a lovely part of the flight, and great to know that we were heading into better weather in the east.

Eshott as always was a great place to stop – Storm Smith and Steve Clarehugh came to welcome us and Steve went off to get us some fuel while we had a cuppa in the clubhouse.  By now it was pretty darn windy – westerly - but we decided to press on to get home to our own beds. 

Now came the worst part of the whole journey!  The flight from Eshott up to the end of the Cheviot hills was rough as nuts – horrible (in my humble opinion!).  I had to hang onto Gordon’s training bars just to have something to hold (his head didn’t seem to be a good idea…).  It settled down at the end of the hills, and then we approached Berwick….  also approaching Berwick (but from the north) was a huge rain cloud, pretty low over the hills and dumping down as it came towards us.  As we met it, the visibility became really bad and Graeme and Richard (sensibly) decided to put down in a field.  In his best ‘Round Scotland Rally’ spirit, and because he could see a little way ahead, Gordon decided that we should press on.  I know that his reactions are good enough that if the engine had failed he could have got it down in a field, and there were loads of fields below us, so I was happy (cough) to carry on.  As soon as we got over the low hill at Berwick, we could see into the distance.  Debated about landing at Ayton Castle to wait for the others, but it seemed silly when we could be getting back so we flew on towards the most beautiful sunshine over East Lothian!  There was a perfect golden beam through the clouds and it seemed to be drawing us home.  It seems strange to be back over Traprain Law and East Linton and it felt like we’d been away for weeks, not just 3 days.  The airfield was deserted when we landed at 8pm so we unpacked and waited for the others, who arrived at about 9.15pm. 

No pub that night – everyone was keen to get home, eat and get washed, so that’s an outstanding beer we’ve got to have, boys?!

Slept for Scotland that night…. and we (speaking personally) were still knackered the next day!  But it was a really wonderful trip, and we feel inspired to do more of them – next time, perhaps we’ll get to Land’s End!