Myself, not a lot at the weekend because I spend my weekends on some committments these days, but today I managed a trip to Alderney EGJA.
It is a lovely place, as always. Authentic 1926 England 
A very hazy flight – apparently this is Sahara dust
Parked on tarmac. Usually if one asks for tarmac one gets it. I asked about the fuel situation and why… The big tanks near the harbour no longer meet the UK/EU safety regs, and neither does the ground tank at the airport, and it would cost a huge amount to fix this. So someone is now looking at – as coincidentally I suggested – getting an ex RAF bowser truck They are aware they are losing a lot of traffic.
The usual excellent salad at Jack’s Cafe, near the bike rental shop
The beaches look like this in high summer too!
The Saye campsite beach
For anyone expecting to find a wife on Alderney, this might be somewhat concerning
A nice pic of the whole island, on departure
At Shoreham, could not see the runway until 1-2 miles out
Had to “re-currentify” my instructor privileges so went up into the mountains north of here (ENGS) to another instructor with a P92. Never tried the P92, but must say it was a very pleasant meeting. Two old men i a P92 dodging snow showers and mountain turbulence. Fun
My plane is still down (7 months…..) so managed to rent a club plane for a few hours and decided to take a tour around northern France. The impossibility to travel with rentals overnight or even for lunch is wearing thin.
Flew EBGB Grimbergen to….
LFQJ Maubeuge
LFYG Cambrai
LFAG Péronne-St Quentin
LFAY Amiens
LFOI Abbeville
LFIS Saint Inglevert Les Deux Caps
and back to EBGB
All except LFQJ were new to me. All without ATC/AFIS. All appeared to be free except LFAY (paid a human in the tower) and LFOI (put cash in a labeled box which was on the patio of a locked building), landing fees at both were minimal. All paved except LFOI, which by NOTAM had the paved runway closed and you had to use the grass, which really needed to but cut. Overall a fun few hours of hopping around.
A bit hazy at the beginning but nothing terrible.
Bought myself an SWR meter and started trying to resolve my poor comms issues.
The aircraft was fresh out of a 50h inspection and on Saturday, I have flown a similar direction as ji. A day out in Le Touquet. A few pics:
Spangdahlem Air Base was busy, even on a Saturday…
Overflying Lille, direct destination.
In the circuit for 13.
Airport dog.
Weather was nice, but still, Le Touquet somehow doesn‘t quite „do“ it for me as a destination (although I like fresh crevettes grises… and alc-free beer)
When I returned to the airfield, it was chock-a-block on the apron. All the rental bikes (and they have many!) were gone.
The return routing had a bit of a dogleg; for some reason nothing via Lille would validate.
Brussels
Liège
