Originally I had planned flying from Hawarden, remaining south of the Manchester CTA, take some photos of Jodrell Bank and then fly to Nottingham and spend a few hours exploring the city. However the weather for Wednesday looked ok, except for a little low cloud hanging over the Isle of Man so we changed our plans to fly to Islay. Once airborne, the controllers were very helpful, clearing us up to 4000 feet in class A which allowed us the spectacle of seeing an EasyJet Airbus cross us 1000 feet higher.
View toward Presthaven Beach Resort and Snowdonia in the distance
Dee Estuary
Gas Platform
Wind Park
Eventually we climbed to FL65 and enjoyed the view. The Isle of Man was pretty much covered in low cloud but Ireland and Scotland were pretty much CAVOK.
Although I know the geographic locations of Scotland and Ireland, I’ve never really been aware of their general proximity to each other – airborne over the Stranraer, you feel you could reach out and touch Bangor in Northern Ireland.
90 Minutes after departing, we arrived at Islay. The approach over the sea is spectacular, however a strong wind was blowing from the south west so the approach into 13 was interesting, to say the least.
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The beach at Islay Airport
Turning final Runway 13
Islay is an Island, part of the inner Hebrides – a beautiful location with plenty of distilleries – but a word of warning: fuel costs £3.09 per litre! I was aware, hence we refuelled before leaving Hawarden. Landing fees were around £27. Taxis are difficult to get, buses pretty rare and unfortunately there appeared to have been a run on rental cars – both of them were in use ;)
Eventually we got a taxi into Bowmoor and visited the distillery where we treated ourselves to one out of 500 bottles of a hand filled bottle of scotch. Flying expeditions like these are all about creating memories, and the memory of drawing the whisky out of the cask, filtering it (I don’t really want to chew pieces of oak cask when I’m enjoying a glass of scotch), filling and then labelling the bottle is perhaps a memory to fondly recollect in days when flying is no longer possible.
After walking around the village, enjoying the views out towards the craggy peaks of Jura, we decided to return and depart back to the South.
Upon arrival, we’d been marshalled onto the grass. Late afternoon we started up the engine and attempted to taxi – unfortunately the grass was pretty soft hence we were stuck. Fortunately, the fire service was pretty bored and they raced out to help us manhandle our aircraft from the soft soil.
Once free, we departed south towards Nottingham. Our routing was north to take in the beauty of Jura, fly down the channel between the islands, then cross Arran towards Carlisle, at which point we would fly down the Penines. For an island which is generally so green as Great Britain is, the impact of the warm weather was notable with field after field yellow / brown.
Crossing the border from Scotland into England, we flew over Gretna with it’s retail outlet
and then past Great Dun Fell with it’s primary and secondary Surveillance Radar
before entering Leeds / Bradford Airspace before being passed on to East Midlands Radar. The approach into Nottingham Tollerton airport took us directly over the centre of Nottingham with some stunning views and, once past the city, we dropped down into the circuit.
the city
Trent Bridge Cricket Ground
Tollerton is a pretty busy airfield, when we arrived the circuit was occupied with 3 fixed wing aircraft in the circuit and two helicopters training. However the arrival was simple enough, we landed 1hr 56 minutes after departing Islay and refuelled. By filling our tanks with at least 50 litres, we didn’t have to pay any landing fees, the fuel price was reasonable too. Another airfield I’ll definitely return to…..
Nottingham City Airport is where I go for fuel if at all possible because it is a decent price, the staff are most obliging, and the cafe has good food cooked to order. Worth anyone calling to sample the place.
