|
Andy's attempt to hide the plane from me was almost successful....
|
|
|
|
Here she is, a P34 Seneca II, pretty plane isn't she?
|
|
|
|
and here's the third of the "Huevos Conquistadores", our Pilote Extraordinaire, Mark.
|
|
|
|
Occasionally doing some flying sh#t!
|
|
|
|
Andy was in charge of Coffee, Biscuits and Jokes.....
|
|
|
|
and I got the job of stopping Mark from collapsing in fits of giggles every time we had to contact Brest Control.
|
|
|
|
First port of call was Limoges, where we stopped for....
|
|
|
|
A hero shot, and.....
|
|
|
|
some fuel...
|
|
|
|
then back into a beautiful afternoon sky, and headed down towards the Pyrenees and Girona.....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Andy, always with an eye on a bargain, decided to negotiate our room at the delightful "Self Service Hotel". Hence, rather than having a pleasant evening in a Novotel, we spent the night (at a bargain baesment price of 75 Euros) in a triple room. Oh, and as a jolly jape, MSK and AR apple pied my bed when I went out for a smoke!!
|
|
|
|
Not too early the following day (we managed to spend the savings on beer at the Novotel bar.....Andy even discovered a Lager/Cava shandy....), we prepared for the final leg of the outward trip...
|
|
|
|
A nice afternoon's flying...
|
|
|
|
, just managing to avoid a build up of CB's
|
|
|
|
Naturally, with Mark's Extraordinar Pilote status, we flew on instruments....right up to the point that some jerk airline pilot decided he couldn't find the airfield, which would probably have left us circling at 9000ft for an hour.... so we went for a quick visual approach
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Finals in to Almeria
|
|
|
|
Where a jolly chap met us with more fuel!
|
|
|
|
The next few days were one long round of eating, drinking, and relaxing. Here, we had driven up to Sierra Cabrada, a beautiful village with a very Moorish influence
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We had planned to fly one afternoon to take some arial pictures of El Pinar where we were staying, (more of that later), but I did get a couple of shots fo the village as we walked one afternoon.....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Looking down the valley from the entrance to the village, you can see some evidence of it's former existance as a Tin Mining village....these are the remains of some washing tanks
|
|
|
|
And yes, you can see the Sea!
|
|
|
|
On a nearby building site, MSK and AR pondered on how they build tower cranes...so, here's the answer
|
|
|
|
So, I said we had intended to over fly El Pinar to take some photos for the nice folks in the village.....sadly, the weather had other ideas!
|
|
|
|
It rained.......
|
|
|
|
it hailed......!!
|
|
|
|
and it rained some more......!!
|
|
|
|
Handily, our Hosts, the jolly nice Peter and Benny Kirby, had a roaring log fire burning
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
and a bottle/s of Brandy to keep our spirits up!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
even Max,who I sneaked off Shivs before I left...was enjoying the fire and a small snifter.....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I should mention the Villa...not many pictures I'm afraid, but it is stunning!!! and Benny certainly knows how to do style....of course the arty shot here is all down to me ;-)
|
|
|
|
All too soon, it was time to head home, Max pre-flighted the plane in Almeria....
|
|
|
|
Marky did some more flying stuff......
|
|
|
|
Andy read his book, in between serving coffee and biscuits.....
|
|
|
|
and as the evening drew in, we headed back to Limoges......where this time, you'll be pleased to know, Andy was left with no doubt that Mark and I were going to book nice comfy seperate rooms!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The weather the next day was looking pretty rough......
|
|
|
|
Max, sensiblty decided to collect the boarding cards.....
|
|
|
|
and let MSK pre-flight the plane ;-)This last leg was quite intense, at least for a non-pilot such as me. Flying in cloud much of the time, hearing that Jersey was shut due to less than 100m visibility, and knowing there was icing at 9000ft. Mark was splendid though, and about a mile from touch down, at 1000ft or so, we dropped out of cloud to see the runway lights ahead...Top Job!!
|
|
