It is for this very reason that I have now chosen to fly to Le Havre instead
There might be some kind of horse riding thing on. But as far as I can tell, we are ‘safe’ until 1600 UTC, and I wasn’t going to stay longer than that anyhow. But as I said, I will triple check with the Tower when I land, and if there is anything funny, then maybe I will head onto Cherbourg.
My friend paid the taxi last time (3 years ago), and I believe it was around EUR 35.00 one way. Not cheap. But I want to be rolling off the Tarmac at Denham and be the first out of there, to spend as much time as possible at Honfleur.
James – how did you get on at Le Havre? I left Denham at 0800 this morning, and was in IMC and rain all the way down the coast nd was going to divert to Shoreham as my IMC privileges stop on the FIR boundary, however passing Goodwood I could climb a but more, and there was blue sky at FL65 so went up, eventually up to FL74.
Deauville was a complete waste of time. The first taxi driver we called said call back in 20 minutes, then when we did, he said call back in another 20 minutes and hung up. The lady in the restaurant called 3 other taxi drivers, and one said 10 minutes, and 40 minutes later, said 10 more minutes. We stood outside, jumped in the taxi when it arrived, only finding out 3 minutes down the road when the driver got off his phone, that he was bound for Deauville, and not Flonheur harbour, so turned back and dropped us off at the airport to look for his other passenger ! By now my pilot friend and I said sod it, and flew up the coast to L2K, where true to form a taxi driver turned up in 5 minutes.
So, a very good set of slightly challenging flights weather wise, but with sound decision making, but sh*t service from the French taxi services in Deauville. Maybe in another situation like that, I’d pre-book a cab, or a chauffer service, but I don’t know if my luck would have improved actually.
A few years ago I got ripped off €50 each way to Deauville, from the airport. That is a Brussells sort of taxi rate, where everybody is claiming it back on expenses.
This sort of thing makes the traditional “boycott any airport charing more than a tenner” movement, popular on certain UK sites, look totally silly. But taxi fares often dwarf the landing fee… I once spent 100 quid (10x the landing fee) getting somewhere useful from Wellesbourne, and I would say everybody trying to get anywhere from there will spend a lot more than the landing fee. Same with Biggin Hill – £50 is pretty usual.
Yes, I think when we last went to Flonheur, even though above I estimated EUR35, it was probably more like EUR50 each way. Shame, as Flonheur is a lovely setting, and I am sad to have missed it, but besides frustration with French taxi drivers, still a very good days flying :-)
My photos from today’s trip
https://www.flickr.com/photos/piperarcher2273/sets/72157646594184180/
getting somewhere useful from Wellesbourne
Is that even possible?
Piper Archer says…The first taxi driver we called said call back in 20 minutes, then when we did, he said call back in another 20 minutes and hung up. The lady in the restaurant called 3 other taxi drivers, and one said 10 minutes…
This is exactly the reason we bought bikes years ago….you can cycle to Honfleur or Deauville in 45 mins (50 mins back up that hill) both of which are quicker than waiting for a taxi….not to mention the 100euro return taxi fare, thats if you can ever find one!
