After an unpromising start, a wonderful flying weekend!
Friday:
The planned trip to Cornwall in the Gazelle had to be abandoned when Penzance Heliport reported a 200' cloud base - confirmed by St Mawgan. Is it likely to improve later? "Well it hasn't for the last four days - try Devon, they're doing better."
Saturday:
Wx no better on the Cornwall coast. Change of plan - glorious weather in Wales. Flew to a hotel site in the Brecon Beacons and explored the local area for a couple of days. Mountain flying is fun - as long as it's done with respect for the mountains and the wind.
Monday:
Time to see more of Wales from the air. Followed the Welsh coast from Swansea Bay round to St David's in Pembrokeshire. (Dyfed?) Landed at the Warpool Court Hotel, only minutes walk from the centre of St David's. Wonderful Cathedral in a glorious setting. I'd forgotten how beautiful the Welsh countryside is - in the sunshine!)
Then off to Haverfordwest for some fuel. "Hold by the Control Tower for a minute, a Cessna 172 is just finishing refuelling." True, he finished refuelling in a minute, then started packing his bags into the a/c, then decided they needed rearranging, then repacked, then rearranged them again. At last - he's moving. No! Five minutes later, it's kisses all round to the people seeing him off. At last - no, someone has been left out of the goodbyes! I can't get to the Jet A1 pump because it's next to his Cessna. I won't repeat the conversation in our cockpit because this is an open forum! Eventually I give up - a quick call to the Tower, (cautiously because I'm a visitor and assume he's local) does the trick - they come out and push him away.
The Cessa pilot walks over when I've shut down at the pumps, and I recognise the face under the baseball cap - an old friend, fellow London lawyer, and very experienced aviator - but he obviously doesn't know how much Gazelles cost per minute. I'm not going to let him forget that appalling inconsiderate airmanship for a long time!
In contrast, the staff at the airfield couldn't have been more helpful. - I'd recommend Haverfordwest, the surrounding area and coast line is stunning. (Landing fee £8)
Time to start heading back to Brecon? Well, we should really? On the other hand, the weather is beautiful, a perfect flying day.
We continued up the Cardiganshire Coast to North Wales and landed at Caernarfon. Again, a very friendly airfield - landing fee £10.
Snowdon is only a few minutes flying from the airfield. After playing around in the mountains, we started our way back to our hotel on the Southern edge of the Brecon Beacons.
Snowdon - a slight detour to see Bala Lake - and on to Aberdare. The Gazelle cruises at 135 knots, and we were back at our hotel 55 minutes later, just before sunset.
Tuesday:
Ambled back to London, stopping en route for a relaxing lunch at a hotel site in the Cotswolds. Then back to London via the Heli Routes, and a detour to cross Heathrow. My passeneger hadn't seen LHR from the air, and I enjoy it every time I do it.
A perfect flying weekend!