Well, it was some months ago that the idea was dreamed up to fly down to the Scilly Isles for a couple of nights. We thought that this must be possible! Nick put the idea to Shane who was immediately interested. The idea was then put to fellow Circus members and the rest of the XK crew. Finally XK's crew was settled at Nick, Shane and Paul with Peter considering bringing UD along if the long range weather the week before looked good! A few weeks before, accommodation was booked for the XK crew and various lines were drawn on maps. The plan was to drop into Goodwood, then Dunkeswell for fuel, then on with the life jackets for the final leg to St Mary's on the main island of the Scillys. After some discussion the return route was to head up the north Cornwall and Devon coastline and then cut inland to Eaglescott for more fuel and then virtually due east to Popham and finally the last leg home to North Weald.

The weekend before, Peter checked the weather and the long range forecasts were looking very promising indeed so he booked some accommodation too, being very fortunate to get into the same place as us - The Harbourside Hotel.

The morning of departure arrived and looking out the window gave the view of some low cloud but this was set to clear leaving a cavok day apart from some rain forecast in the extreme south west - whose idea was it to go to the Scilly Isles?!?! Nothing to do with me!

We arrived at North Weald and filled XK up with bags, life jackets, fuel and bodies. A phone call to Peter at Andrewsfield confirmed he was ready for departure so the plan was set in motion. The three of us would meet him at Goodwood and then split into pairs to ease the workload for him being on his own.

On the ground at Goodwood. GPS's on.

XK departed North Weald around 10am with improving conditions with Shane P1, Paul naving and Nick in the back enjoying the new DVD headrests that have been installed. As we flew south east towards the Thames we switched to Southend to be greeted by a call from Peter in UD. We both arrived at our first waypoint, Thurrock, together and flew within a few miles of each other all the way to Goodwood, where we all found it ok, joined and landed on 06. We won't mention anything about Shane's positive landing or Peter's long base leg which led to a few comments like, where is he going?!

All safely on the ground we paid our landing fees and went to get a drink and plan the next leg to Dunkeswell, via Cowes on the Isle of Wight, through the gap between Southampton and Bournemouth and west through Yeovilton's AAIA. Peter continued his day of adventures by trying to close the club house door before walking through it! It kept us entertained!

Goodwood race course. Fratton Park.

We saddled up again, Peter and Shane in UD and Paul P1 in XK with Nick naving. We all departed Goodwood, catching a great view of Goodwood house at the hill climb course. Aiming for Cowes, then routing Beaulieu and Stoney Cross we had contact with Solent who in turn passed us on to Bournemouth. Once clear of controlled airspace XK climbed to around 4,500ft to admire the view heading straight for Dunkeswell while UD routed through the overhead at Compton Abbas at a slightly lower level. We passed though the Yeovilton AAIB without any problems. As we approached Dunkeswell the ground began to rise up and you could see the south coast disappearing into the distance. If it hadn't have been for some more high ground, Exmoor, we would have also been able to see the north Devon coast too. We both joined and landed on 35 before vacating for fuel. Dunkeswell were particularly friendly and assisted us with re-fueling both machines and some further Notam information. We took the opportunity to take on some food at Dunkeswell too. It wasn't long before we were back out to the aeroplanes, life jackets on, St Mary's and the hotel telephoned with an ETA.

XK in the air. XK on the ground.

Shane was still naving for Peter in UD and Nick, now P1 had swapped seats with Paul in XK. From Dunkeswell we both headed south towards the VOR at Torquay. UD was slightly ahead of XK at the VOR but then went further round the coast to Dartmouth before heading west. XK turned west at the VOR and it wasn't long before we were side by side. It stayed like this pretty much all of the final leg. We routed just south of Plymouth's ATZ, via, Looe, St Austell, Truro and the Lands End VOR. Both aircraft took their turns to lead the way. We both spoke to St Mawgan and Culdrose, the latter of which asked us what our 'transit' altitude would be. XK replied that we would like 3,000ft as that was what we were already at. The controller did not bat an eyelid at this. We were expecting to have to fly in the Lands End Corridor below 2,000ft but there was no mention of this so we proceeded at 3,000!

Land. Water.

Truro. St.Ives.

As we coasted out from Lands End we could clearly see the islands which was very reassuring! We passed onto Scilly's Approach, who asked us to route via St Martins Head and then join overhead for runway 33. This was the longest runway at 600m but was also 'quite' hump-backed! The controller said that it would not be a problem for us to do a low pass to assess the gradient and approach path. XK lined up with the extended centreline and flew, if a little high (see the four white papi lights picture) a good approach and landing. Once down we rolled to a stop on the significant upslope and vacated left onto the apron awaiting UD's arrival. It wasn't long before the controller said 'UD please vacate left and park behind the tower'. This was followed by a double click response on the PTT switch from UD - they had arrived! (see the four red papi lights picture).

St Mary's. Scilly rocks.

The white, and the red.

By now, time had ticked on and it was approaching 5pm. We secured both aircraft round the back of the tower and made full use of the concrete block tie downs. We had made it!! What an exciting and exhilarating day. By now the weather was overcast at around 6,000ft and apart from some slight drizzle somewhere over south Devon we had been very lucky with the weather. We unpacked and made our way over to the tower to pay our landing fees. There we were met by a member of staff saying there was no need to come up now as she knew where we were staying. Her cousin runs the hotel!! I guess we hadn't appreciated how small this place was!! It wasn't long before we were all in a taxi and heading to the hotel. We'd had to wait for the taxi drivers to finish their coffee break!! Island life is a much slower pace than we're used to.

Lifeboat house. Peter bursts into song.

Once in the hotel and with rooms sorted out we dumped our bags and headed out into the town to GET A BEER! We checked out the menu's of various eateries but ended up settling into the Bishop and Wolf as the draw of beer became too strong. We sat down and talked over our experiences on the flights down. This was followed by more and more beers and in the end we opted to stay where we were as they did food and we were hungry! Once all food had been devoured we aimed ourselves at the pool table in the back room where we all struggled against the effects of alcohol to play pool to the best of our abilities! Eventually we headed for bed around 11.30, only to be met by rain outside as we walked back to the hotel.

After a fantastic full English breakfast we left the hotel a set off for a walk through the town and around one of the headlands. The weather was absolutely glorious. As we rounded the headland we came across a church which we discovered is where Harold Wilson is buried. We walked around the bay and stopped in a cafe where we grabbed a coffee.

Scilly. Flowers.

We then continued around the next headland which led us right on to the threshold for 33 where there are a number of signs advising you not to loiter and only to cross when the green light shows!! We hung around for a few minutes but with no sign of any aircraft we carried on - typical, as we got about 100 yards away along came an aircraft! This pathway led us through a small wooded area into the next bay where we peeled off through a nature reserve area and eventually ended up on the 'main' road into Hugh Town.

A runway. A bay.

Whilst walking back we discussed the idea of a round the island bus tour which as we stumbled upon the particular bus in question we decided to go on. The bus took us right around the island in about and hour and a quarter. However, the bus actually spent more time parked up somewhere with the very dry witted driver telling us all he knew about the various points of interest. The island really isn't that big at all! It was still a very worth while trip.

On the bus. Big rocks.

Once back in town we headed for a shop and bought some sarnies and then ate them on a bench looking out into the Atlantic Ocean - nothing from here until Rio! Afterwards a quick march around the Garrison and Star Castle was opted for as this was the only headland we hadn't walked around! We were very sheltered on the south west side with the easterly wind, but you can imagine, with the trees growing sideways round there, it does blow a fair bit!

Pilots. Castle.

Once scrubbed up and changed we headed out to find somewhere to eat dinner. After some quite bizarre confusion regarding where they were and weren't allowed to serve starters we had a lovely meal rounded off once again with some more games of pool. This time we played better due to a lesser quantity of alcohol being consumed and actually being able to get right around the table properly with a cue.

We woke to find the weather men had pulled out their joker. C**p viz and low cloud! Hmmmmm. We continued to the airport after breakfast to assess the situation. Once there the viz and cloud base had improved such that we decided to go for it with the promise of much better conditions back on the main land. We paid our parking and landing fees in the tower and made our way to the aircraft which had been parked on a slope. Oops, all the fuel is in the lower wing - we should have turned the fuel cock off. We turned the aircraft around and pointed them in the opposite direction while we packed our bags in and drew a few more lines on the maps.

This first leg across the water was going to be interesting, 28 miles of water to cross in poor viz and absolutely no horizon. So lets go........ at about 10am Shane taxied XK for 09, straight into wind, with Nick now naving, we lined up and off we went into the murk. Upon reaching about 15 nm DME from Lands End, Scilly passed us onto Lands End but we just heard UD depart before we actually switched over. We began to see the coastline of the mainland about 10 nm DME which confirmed that the viz had now greatly improved and a horizon was forming out there somewhere. We tracked up the north Cornwall coast line passing St Ives, Hayle, Perranporth, through the north west edge of the MATZ at St Mawgan - who were happy to let us bumble through - over Padstow, Polzeath, Port Issac, Tintagel and finally heading inland at Boscastle, heading for Eaglescott. Eaglescott was our return fueling up point, we both found it easily thanks to what looks like a huge golf ball on the north east boundary. Here we re-fueled and swapped seats for the next leg to Popham - lunch! Whilst we were sorting our things out the north Devon air ambulance dropped in, re-fuelled and shot off again.

We were soon pointing at the far end of 08 and heading off almost due east to Popham. Nick now in UD naving for Peter and Paul P1 in XK with Shane naving. We headed east, XK to the south of Dunkeswell and UD to the north as they were parachute jumping there now, being a Saturday. We both called Yeovilton as we approached the AAIA but got no response - Saturday again! Bournemouth it was to be. UD seemed to suffer a radio failure after switching to Bournemouth - 'we'd better switch to com 2' says Peter, 'I've never used that before'! Sure enough we get a response from Bournemouth and we continue to Popham, staying outside controlled airspace by sneaking up the tight gap between Middle Wallop's MATZ and Southampton's ATZ. Soon enough we were joining overhead for 03, downwind and finals over the trees - blimey we are getting thrown about a bit! Once safely down, Peter enquires as to whether Popham would actually pay him to land as it was such a challenging approach! XK soon follows us to the parking area and into the club house for some well earned food.

A quick swap around putting Nick back in the P1 seat, Paul naving and Shane hoping for some inflight entertainment in the back of XK for the return leg to North Weald. We departed before Peter in UD, who was to make the final leg on his own as he was going back to Andrewsfield. XK routed north to the Compton VOR and then north east around the top side of London via Booker and Elstree before joining downwind for 02 at North Weald. Once landed and vacated we found ourselves right in the middle of a row of aircraft about to take part in an air race practice. The marshallers were keen to get us to park on the end of the row and join their party but we had other ideas and continued back to our usual parking spot. Brakes on 15:45 - not bad progress - over 300 miles into around 20kts of headwind with two stops.

What an excellent trip..........made better by the great company, fantastic scenery, good weather, some beer, enough food and of course a couple of trusty aeroplanes. Thanks for coming guys. Next time we must make sure we round up a few more aviators to join us. I for one will certainly be going back.
 

[Text: Nick]

[Photos: Shane, click here to see the them all]