Day 2
Lyon - Bastia (Corsica) - Brindisi
We managed to get away from Lyon shortly after 8am and headed south for the Alps. The overcast kept us down to 3000ft initially, but broke up as we approached the high ground and we got up to 9.5 which saw us clear the high ground comfortably. There was some standing wave turbulence, which the L2 hates, but nothing to write home about so it was mostly an easy ride. Marselle Information was still in bed until 9.30 and had a charming message on the frequency which said "We are closed, if you have an emergency call 121.5"
Being Saturday we had a rather "relaxed" response from the Fueller and Agents in Bastia, but the flight plan was already in the system so we got off again after a 45min turn around.
The forecast for the south of Italy was not so good, with CBs and heavy rain showers so we departed Bastia anticipating difficulties once we moved into the mountains. In fact our only problem was managing to talk to Roma Information which was not helped by having to descend to stay clear of controlled airspace. Once we got hold of them all was plain sailing though. The visibility in the mountains once we had passed Naples was not brilliant but once we reached the Brindisi FIR things improved considerably and Brindisi cleared us direct. The SEAP airport handlers had lost the fax sent the previous day warning them of our arrival (as usual it has to be said), but once they found it all was well and the crew were happily shopping in town by 5pm.
The only setback was the discovery, once they got back to the hotel, that the Italian shoes they had bought at vast expense had a "Made in Vietnam" label.
Not many views from the cockpit as it was raining most of the way, but here's a view of the cockpit passing the Ponza VOR. At last the OAT is starting to look reasonable!
