I got back today having flown the little Cessna 150 from London down to Alicante. It took 15 flying hours spread over three days to get there, and 2 flying hours to get back in an EasyJet 737. No prizes for guessing which was more fun!
Day 1 - Departed Redhill late morning for the short hop to Le Touquet in order to get Customs formalities out of the way right at the start and allow for more flexibility for the rest of the day. I climbed up through the overcast as soon as the London TMA allowed and enjoyed some nice sunshine above the clouds until I had to go back down again to cross into French airspace mid-Channel.
I was the only light aircraft on the apron at Le Touquet which was a novel experience. Quick refuel and then off again. I was hoping to make Macon, but the headwind made that impracticable. I tried for Dijon Darois instead but as the sun started to go down a carpet of fog crept northwards and so I ended up stopping at the small airfield at Semur En Auxois, about 25 miles west of Dijon.
Day 2 – I spent the first hour scraping several millimetres of frost off the aircraft at the deserted airfield and then ringing ahead to find an airfield within range which had fuel and wasn’t fogged in. I settled on St Yan and set off in that direction, but again found that the headwind had brought my groundspeed right down. When I came over a ridge to see another great expanse of fog in front of me I decided that it wasn’t wise to continue, since by the time I reached St Yan at the speed I was doing I probably wouldn’t have had the fuel to divert if it too had fogged in. I turned round and landed at another small field at Saulieu. It was minus 3 degrees and completely deserted. I ended up sitting on the ground for a couple of hours until somebody arrived who was able to unlock the clubhouse and sell me some fuel.
By then the mist ahead had dispersed so I flew down to Saint Etienne, enjoying some wonderful views of the Alps bathed in sunlight 100 miles to the east and rising above the fog-filled Rhone valley.
With full tanks again it was a two hour flight due south over the mountains of the eastern Auvergne to Montpellier. I was impressed at the airfield at Montpellier-Mediterrnée, especially the very smart GA terminal, and of course the very low landing fee!
Day 3 - I got up early and took a taxi from the centre of Montpellier back out to the airfield as it was getting light. No frost this time, so I was able to get away in good time on a SVFR clearance in misty conditions. As soon as I climbed away the visibility improved and it was then a simple matter of following the coast all the way to Barcelona. I just beat some nasty frontal cloud coming from the west as I passed Perpignan, and it was a little bumpy passing the Pyrenees, but two and-a-half hours after leaving Montpellier I landed at Barcelona Sabadell in nice warm sunshine. An hour on the ground there refuelling myself and the Cessna and then I was off again for the final leg.
The first leg from Barcelona down past Reus was very rough because of the strong westerly blowing down over the coastal hills. The combination of turbulence and the rather extreme crab angle required to counter the crosswind meant that my groundspeed got down to a dispiriting 45 knots at one stage, and I thought I’d have to stop at Valencia for more fuel. Fortunately things improved after Reus. I was able to climb to 5,000’ and I spotted some lenticular clouds ahead. Dredging up my 20-year-old gliding experience I headed for where I thought the lift would be and sure enough I was soon surfing down the coast at a speed which was almost respectable. It’s certainly the only time I’ve had an O-200-powered Cessna 150 doing over 100 knots while at climbing at 1,100fpm!
The prospect of having to make the extra stop now receded and after a mere 3.5 hours Alicante and the end of the journey came into view.
Altogether a really enjoyable trip. I do like flying nice modern machines, and I wouldn’t want to always have to go quite so slowly, but there is a great sense of satisfaction to be had from doing a long trip in a simple aircraft without autopilot, glass cockpit or any other modern conveniences, apart from my Garmin 196 which sat on the seat next to me and did make a number of useful contributions from time to time.
Don't you just love this flying business?
