SR20 to Caernarfon

Two weeks after returning from the trip to France, I called in at Barton on a Sunday morning to get into the air for an hour and fly my Arrow. It had been a few weeks since I took my last flight in her, as she had just returned from maintenance in Liverpool. I picked up a few litres of fuel and started the engine. On powering the avionics I discovered that the GPS was dead. The lack of satellite navigation guidance should not be a big problem, but after ten years of having the device on, it was a little disconcerting.

With only me on board, HALC lifted off and climbed strongly into the morning air. After the initial surprise of not having a “magenta line” to look at, I just navigated with my eyes alone. I have been flying in the area for years so didn’t really need a map to see where I was. I flew to the west of Winter Hill and then thought I’d head up past Blackpool Tower to Fleetwood. An hour later I was back at Barton putting the plane in the hanger and snagging the GPS.

See, you can fly without a GPS!

The following Friday morning I drove up to Blackpool to prepare to fly a work colleague in the Cirrus SR20. Earlier in the week I had thought of going to Sywell but, with the weather looking poor in the Midlands, I looked at heading north. There was only Kirkbride and Carlisle I could really think of, but Carlisle is now very expensive and there’s nothing to see or do at Kirkbride and no cafe.

A taste of weather to come in the Blackpool Sky

In the end the weather dictated the destination and it was to my old friend Caernarfon that I turned. I had not flown with Jane for two years, so she was due a trip and it was to the same place I took her last time. The Cirrus is a far more modern, new technology airplane than HALC and Jane was suitably impressed. The golf open at Lytham St Anne’s was in progress and air traffic control was keen to keep us away from the course. The departure clearance was to fly runway 10, left turn out and climb not above 1500 feet overhead the airfield with a squawk number. This all went smoothly and we were soon passing Woodvale and then to the west of Wallasey. The weather here was good but passing Llandudno the air filled with scattered or broken clouds and there was a shower or two near Bangor. We spotted the airfield at Caernarfon and joined overhead for runway 26. A smooth landing was followed by a sandwich in the cafe and a brisk walk to the sea.

Jane and the Cirrus at Caernarfon

"I am not a number, I'm a free man!"

Caernarfon airfield has many things going for it: it’s in a beautiful area of Wales, it’s very near the beach, has a good cafe, an aviation museum and a great coast line to walk, either on the sand or paths. From the airfield entrance you turn right and about 500 metres down the road is the beach. Jane was up for the walk to the shops that are about a mile and a half away, and so we headed that way at a fair pace. Usually this stretch of coast is busy in the summer but today it was almost deserted. Just a few dog walkers were around but no camper vans or cars were parked up and no families in evidence. The ice cream shop at the end of the walk has a huge variety of flavours to try and is next to the great British fish and chip shop. Licking your ice cream whilst smelling the odour of chips is a little odd!

There was no great hurry to get back to the airfield as this weather was blocking our way.

Weather activity on the Welsh coast

  We watched the rain approach our location and at one point I thought a drenching was a real possibility. Luckily, the rain and whole weather system moved into the mountains and left the way home clearer. The walk back to the airfield was cooler as the breeze had picked up, but twenty minutes later we were back at the airfield. For one moment I thought the field closed at 5pm but it was in fact 6pm. In the end we got away with a half an hour left on opening time.

The Cirrus flew off runway 26 and turned towards home, passing Bangor, Llandudno and Rhyl. We had to stay low due to the clouds, but then climbed to 2000 feet for the cruise to Blackpool. Another smooth landing on runway 10 and we taxied in and parked up. Jane enjoyed the flight and gave the Cirrus thumbs up over HALC which is hardly surprising I suppose. Comparing a 1972 airplane and a 2008 airplane will usually result in a win for the new one.

I now had to get home for a night out at a local venue for a retirement gathering. But that is another story.