April 3
Ibiza- Perpgignan (Tech stop)- Le Mans ( Divert)
A long day. John McGwyyne has flown out to Ibiza to accompany me home. For those who've been with Alpha Charlie from the start, you'll remember that John assisted in getting me out of Cranfield through distinctly dodgy conditions - heavy cloud formations, rain and strong gusts- to Gaillac in southern of France at the start of the journey to Africa in the first week of February. John is rock-steady. He helped at 8 hours notice arriving at Cranfield after the school run on the basis of a hurried 10-minute conversation that morning. I was very grateful then and I'm grateful now.
We take off from Ibiza in hazy sunshine, refuel at Perpignan two and a bit hours later and head for Tours in middle France. When we get to Tours (essentially a military airfield- featured at the start of the journey) the tower tells us they are closed till 11: 00 local tomorrow. The French can be unyielding. Quick consultation and we decide to divert to Le Mans, 50-off nautical miles further north- and nearer the channel.
It's Sunday and the tower at le Mans is closed. We are told by Seine radar to expect runway 02. A lone Jodl on a training flight tells us they using the reciprocal runway 20 when we make a blind call to alert traffic.
We join the circuit over the legendary racing track, site of the 24-hour Le Mans race, the oldest motor racing endurance race in the world, held annually since 1923. In 1955 one of the French competitors went off the track and ploughed into the crowd killing 81 people.
It was also where The Maestro, Argentinian racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio raced his Maserati 250F, the most beautiful racing car ever built, a hand-built replica of which sits on my mantlepiece at home where I shall be tomorrow.
Ibiza- Perpgignan (Tech stop)- Le Mans ( Divert)
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| Coming in to land on runway 20 at Le Mans, the legendary racetrack, site of some of the greatest triumphs (and tragedies) in motor racing history |
We take off from Ibiza in hazy sunshine, refuel at Perpignan two and a bit hours later and head for Tours in middle France. When we get to Tours (essentially a military airfield- featured at the start of the journey) the tower tells us they are closed till 11: 00 local tomorrow. The French can be unyielding. Quick consultation and we decide to divert to Le Mans, 50-off nautical miles further north- and nearer the channel.
It's Sunday and the tower at le Mans is closed. We are told by Seine radar to expect runway 02. A lone Jodl on a training flight tells us they using the reciprocal runway 20 when we make a blind call to alert traffic.
We join the circuit over the legendary racing track, site of the 24-hour Le Mans race, the oldest motor racing endurance race in the world, held annually since 1923. In 1955 one of the French competitors went off the track and ploughed into the crowd killing 81 people.
It was also where The Maestro, Argentinian racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio raced his Maserati 250F, the most beautiful racing car ever built, a hand-built replica of which sits on my mantlepiece at home where I shall be tomorrow. |
| John McGwynne, a truly safe pair of hands |
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