The Ireland trip had been a while in the planning, and was first mentioned by Paul Bazire of the North Weald Flying Group earlier in the Summer. Only Paul D and I were able to pencil it into their calendars, so XK was booked accordingly and early prep led by myself. Unfortunately, as Paul Bazire was our link into the NWFG and he went on a near 6 week holiday, to return only the week of the trip, communications were scant. But this was not seen as being an issue as a get together at the squadron was penciled into the calendar for the Wednesday before the trip (when Paul was back), and this much-needed opportunity could be exploited to attain all relevant information for the intrepid adventure across the Irish sea.

Unfortunately, when the time came, and Paul Bazire could be tracked down he confirmed that the get together was not now happening, and that he wasn't going anyway, and Julian Mitchel was the wing-co. Julian was duly traced, only to find that he wasn't going either. But then, that didn't bother us, as we'd just look after ourselves anyway, and see whoever's going at the other side!

With the route generally mapped out, I made a few phone calls on the Friday, including one to Haverfordwest which was to be the 'stop-off' on the way. They informed us of the 2002 Terrorism Act which required special branch approval by 1600 the day before (it was now 1500), and as there was a shortage of passports at work to complete the form, a re-route to Cardiff was required as it is a designated airport under the act. If only we had known earlier, as it seems everyone else did !!

Swansea Marina. Sun Poking Through.

Nevertheless we rocked up at Thurrock on the Sat morning (8th Sep), hoping that the weather forecast would be right, but it wasn't! After much sitting around, GPS setting, chart line-drawing, and some tea-drinking, we got going at about 1245, rather than the planned 0930, as there was a hole in the cloud over the airfield. Unfortunately that was the only hole there was between Thurrock and Cardiff, as we hopped along trying to avoid the clouds as well as the TV aerials on houses. We had to go around everything as we couldn't get the 2000' to go overhead. An IMC would have been valuable to us as the overcast cloud was quite thin.

Cardiff should probably have been an instrument approach, but we finally made out the runway in the murk, and landed. As we trundled along the runway, looking for our taxiway H on the left (where the chart showed the GA apron), the nice man in the ATC informed us that we'd passed our turn-off as it was actually on the right. Did a 180 on the runway to find an A320 looking down the runway at us as he lined up. We absconded fairly quickly to the flying club, where our Terrorist paperwork was duly completed, but due to a fax problem they had to ring it through and request we fax it later. Unfortunately, no grub available so onward to Waterford for lunch/dinner.

Rathmoylan, on the way to Waterford. Churchtown, Co Waterford.

Before climbing out of Cardiff, John McGwyne had texted to say that they were already at their hotel in Waterford, having flown IMC in a Cherokee 6 with their terrorist paperwork done the day before, and a direct leg being only 2h 20min. As we bumbled along over Wales, there were some clear spots, but remained pretty much the same until the FIR boundary over the sea, and handing over to Shannon was like a ray of sunshine (literally). Clear blue skies covered the emerald isle, and the Waterford coastline was quite pleasing. Landed at Waterford at about 1730, and the flying club guys were very friendly offering to drive us into town, etc. However, as my sister Tracey works in Waterford we already had a ride into town, not to mention a 'staff-rate' at the towns best hotel in the centre (where she works). Having checked in, we then bumped into a neighbour of mine (from back home) who is the manager of the hotel, who informed us that the room would be free, result!!

Met up with the others in T&H Doolans pub, exchanging stories. Only a 152 from NW took longer than us !! We then had dinner together in a hotel round the corner as it's otherwise difficult to get a table for 25, and back to the pub for a few more.

Lighthouse in Co Clare. Loughananna, my home.

Inishmaan architecture. Finals for Inishmaan.

Sunday morning was a perfect summers day. We took a quick half hour tour of Southern Waterford (out to Dungarvan and back) to bring Tracey for her first light aircraft experience, then made off for Inishmaan, with a detour along the way.

Routing out of Waterford, we headed west to the Galtee Mountains, and to the little villages that lie between this range and that of the Knockmealdowns. It was a clear flight at around 5000' as Irish airspace is quite uncluttered, and staying away from Shannon, Dublin and Cork means very few restrictions. We had a clear view of the new motorway construction that cuts through the fields around the villages where I come from, and we went low over my village area, and house, with family members waving on the ground. We then continued northwards via Loughrea lake (which was quite nice. Huge lake with many towns dotted around the outside), and out to Inishmaan in the Aran islands. All three Aran islands share the same frequency, so one has to be clear when on the radio and announce the island name. It was a careful landing on the 500m strip but the 10kt headwind meant a very short LDA was fine. The airfield was tiny, and deserted, so we had to jump over the stone walls to get out, walk up the road and find a restaurant for lunch. Then back to the airfield to find that it had suddenly got much busier, and made our way out to Galway.

Side of the Galtys. Blackstairs mountain peak, as we go past.

Galway was an interesting airport, very busy. We landed and were put over on a separate apron on the opposite side of the runway to everything else, right next to the fire training burned out aircraft shell. While we were waiting for a lift across, with about 15 others from the NWFG who were also shoved over there (all except the Cherokee 6 for some reason), we had time to observe the other traffic. There was a mixture of light GA, a Falcon and a Citation jet, along with the usual AerArann ATR's. The staff insisted on bringing us across two at a time in baggage trolley pullers, which go at 1 mile per fortnight, so it took a while!

I had booked us into July's Inn in the centre of town, just staggering distance from the pub and restaurant we went to, which was very handy as another good night was had by all. Most others were in the Travelodge on the outskirts of town.

Wexford sands. Big fluffy thing in the sky.

Monday morning was very murky over Galway, and the IMC guys went straight up. We decided to keep below as it was not very rough, we had 2500' and there was lots to be seen. We passed through the Baldonnel MOA (Military Operation Area) without calling Baldonnel, but we were with Shannon the whole time anyway, and couldn’t quite see them scrambling some F16's to intercept us. Probably the most memorable part of the journey was going through the Blackstairs mountains (large hills rather!) as we had insufficient height to go around (due to cloud base) so we went through between the 'peaks'. Some good pictures avail.

747, end of the runway at Kemble. Gnat at Kemble.

Over the sea was worse than land, but a beautiful clear day was to be experienced everywhere from the Welsh coast to North Weald. First stop was Haverfordwest, where the guys in the AT were down just before us. We had lunch and they got a little visit in their plane from what seemed to be the boys from the special branch, as there was an irregularity with their paperwork (i.e. apparently didn't get filed!). We then carried on eastwards through Wales at around 5000', over the Severn and touched down at Kemble. What a wonderful airfield. Their fate will be known in November ref their operations, with the council, so fingers crossed. We got back into North Weald not long before the 1900 watershed, and Nick kindly gave us a lift back to Thurrock to get Paul's car.

Welsh coast line. Oxford airport, directly overhead.

A most enjoyable and memorable journey, and highly recommended to others. Two lessons learned. 1) the value of an IMC, and 2) how essential it is to get people together, or at least communicate a full and detailed plan, with sufficiently time prior to the event.

[Text: Diarmuid]