It was a fine sunny Sunday and at the crack of noon, the Flying Circus once again took to the skies in search of excitement, adventure and lunch. Our mission, was to venture past the shores of our beloved ‘Blighty’, to the fabled French outpost known only as Le Touquet...

We flew in 3 aircraft, Wingco, Steve, Peter & Rob in ‘A-sud’, Jaen in serene isolation in ‘Alpha Sierra’ and Shane, Nick, Richard and myself in ‘Sierra Echo’. The 2 pipers were off the mark promptly, with the Cessna crew departing fashionably late though not late enough for a complete weight and balance calculation to have been completed(!). The resulting take off provided some entertainment for all onboard, particularly Richard, who seemed to want to join Shane and Nick in the front, presumably for a better view of the approaching boundary fence.

Some other means of getting to France

With the four of us pedaling franticly, we nevertheless cleared the shrubs at the end of runway 27L, and started a slow steady climb to cruise at 3500ft (reaching it as we passed Dover). The flight to the coast passed uneventfully and as we coasted out from Dover, Cap Gris Nez was faintly visible in the distance, though behind it the trailing edge of the low pressure region that had covered the SE of England the previous evening was clearly visible, shrouding our destination from view.

As we passed Mid Channel, Manston passed over directly to Le Touquet Approach, and as we switched frequencies, our headsets were filled with the babbling RT chatter in both accented English and French. Le Touquet, it appeared was busy.

The Crouch. La Manche

As we approached the French coast, it became apparent that the clouds that had at first appeared to obscure the land, were actually some way inland, and higher than they had initially seemed. We were able to follow the French coast south with ease, and by the time we reached Boulogne, the estuary on which Le Touquet sits was clearly visible.

Sierra-Echo. Boulogne

We contacted Le Touquet approach and confirmed that runway 14 was active, which allowed us to simply follow the coast round for a simple downwind join, followed by an effortless landing on the 6000 plus feet of runway. Pulling off at the first exit, we were soon parked up and ready for a trip into town, little more than hour after leaving Andrewsfield. Swiftly opting for a taxi over a bike, we were strolling though the town of Le Touquet barely 20 mins later. 

Base leg for Le Touquet. Sunday shoppers

Moving with some urgency, as breakfast was a distant memory, we made for the seafront, and the Circus’s eatery of choice. There we met up with the crew of ‘Aye-sud’, though not Jaen, who had apparently gone exploring. While the Plateaux de Fruits de mere looked interesting, the dish of choice was ‘steak frites’ all round.

Sunshine and shopping

By the time we had finished eating and had decided to return to the airfield, it was past two o’clock, and the French had emerged from their traditional long lunches, to transform the quiet centre of Le Touquet into a vibrant, bustling town, full of Parisians enjoying the last warm weekend of the season by the sea.

By the time we arrived back at the airport Jaen had re-appeared, and preparations were underway for the return journey. Much planning and filing of flight plans was done (though not as much filing as should have been done!) and before long we were all working through our respective pre-flight checklists. For the return leg, Richard elected to swap seats with Wingco, at which point both he and I learned the wisdom of not strapping ourselves in the back of a 172 when there is 30 mins to go before the flight plan activates…

Circus Cherokee. Non-circus Cherokee

The time passed however, and after a slight procedural hiccup with ‘Alpha Sierra’s’ paper work, we were all taxing to join the queue for runway 14. While four large lunches may have compensated in some part for the weight of fuel burnt on the way over, with 6000ft of runway to play with we took off with ease, for a pleasant hour long flight back to Andrewsfield, in time for tea and medals.

Cruising

[Text: Paul] [Photos: Richard, Rob & Pete, click to view full size, click here to see the them all]