Flying Adventures

Outbound to La Roche Sur Yon for customs. Mandatory handling for customs users! Expensive €69 for 15 min on the ground including refuelling! Fontenay Le Comte nice airstrip very quite. One night in Le Rabelais hotel 3* good restaurant.

Return via Le Mans (48 hrs notice) €11 landing fee. Tricky light thunder to navigate around. Rennes very helpful, no problms to go inside Caen TMA to avoid weather.

A relaxed day in Le Touquet. Bike rental euro 15 each. Seafood lunch at Perard. Coffee and crepe on the beach at La Voile Blanche.

A week touring. 1300 Nm 11 Hrs flying.

Route:

Popham – Newquay – Le Mans – Argenton Sur Creuse – Beziers – La Rochelle – Popham

Newquay – EGHQ

Good well managed for GA through FlyNqy. There’s a good tie down wire in the GA parking area. 

Argenton Sur Creuse – LFEG

Middle of France so a good staging point. Aerobatics. Have fuel. Friendly people, radio in French. No taxis but got a lift from an aeroclub member. Interesting town of Argenton sur Cruese (on a river) is nearby with some comfortable hotels and restaurants. No taxis available. Hotel owner ran us back to the aerodrome.

Beziers – LFMU

 Good efficient airport. GA parking on loose gravel needs care. Limited tie down weights. And it can get gusty. Self service fuel (relatively expensive). Landing and 2 nights parking €30

La Rochelle Ile de Re – LFBH

Efficient GA airfield with lots of commercial airliners, GA is left to self park / handle on separate grass G apron which works well. Fuel relatively good value. Customs for ex Schengen 48 hrs PN. Which wasn’t confirmed until 24 hrs to go, so unsure if accepted or not. Customs didn’t turn up at the agreed departure time. Told to call them on the phone, and they came out in 5 minutes.

The plan was simple: head down to Bolt Head for a weekend tour of farmstrips across Devon and Cornwall. The weather, didn’t play ball. Low cloud over the coast an Bolt head. so the group diverted inland and made Dunkeswell the base instead.

Not as good as the welcome and planned BBQ that Alice had arranged for us at Bolt Head, but Dunkeswell has plenty of space for visiting aircraft, a friendly welcome, and a decent café for waiting out the weather. By evening , everyone was pitched up beside their aircraft.

The evening was all about swapping stories, comparing routes, and making plans for the next day. Some had a longer evening than others.

Route:

Deauville – Oaksey park – Kemble – Wing farm – Compton Abbas – Newton Pevrill – Eyres Field -Dunkeswell – Bolt Head – Stoodleigh Barton – Barton Farm – Belle Vue – Brown Shutters – Popham