Along with Project Propeller, the Burned Children’s Club Flying Day, at Bourn is one of my best excuses to get airborne!
Once again this year I was toting the chainmail making kit along and had also managed to kill quite a few evenings making up keyrings of the stuff for the youngsters to take away, since there was such a keen interest last year.
The weather forecast looked mixed all week and arrived wet but clearing on the Friday morning. I delayed a while for clearer skies then set up into patchy blue only to rapidly catch up with the retreating rain of the morning. The straight line over the hills was out so it was the usual skulk along the southwards route, crammed between the hills to the north and Cardiff’s control zone to the south.
The cloudbase was not actually all that low (the hills are very high!), but there were a lot of showers about and my head was on a swivel constantly checking left and right and especially behind to check I still have escape routes if it should threaten to close in on me.
Outside of the showers the visibility was really quite good making the flight rather strange and pretty. I could see the coast quite clearly, although separated from in by a veil of silvery rain, which streaked and shimmered the sky between. To the north, when the clouds parted I could see way up the valley to the high peaks of Brecon.
The cloud cleared up as I reached Newport and lower ground and I swung north to pick up something close to my planned track. Crossing the river into England just north of Gloucester I could see a line of rain which I suspected really was the rest of the morning’s downpours.
Shades of Project Propeller once again as I started trying to find a way around it, first south, then north, pressing eastwards where I could and hoping against hope not to find myself ending up diverting into Gloucester all over again.
I ticked off each landmark I reached, feeling gradually more hopeful. I bore cautiously north of Silverstone with its RA(T) for the Aerobatic World Championships though it was hard to imagine much twirlybatic flying going on in this.
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