The (happy) end of a long journey

In short

• 14 days
• 3 islands 
• 17 airfields
• 2750+ km (straight line but I never fly straight line except over open water...)
• 28+ engine hours (total 108h16)
• No issues

See also posts from August 16th, 18th, 20th and 24th

Only a few days left and the trip continued over Massif Centrale at the center of France.

I spent a night at Brignode, an airstrip with a normally very nice, but this time closed, restaurant...

Call Cathy  in advance to make sure the restaurant is not closed...

I headed west the following day to the airstrip where my first (previous) plane live nowadays. I knew the owner would not be there but I was expected by other members of the local club.

Volcanic lakes

Artificial lakes

It was nice to see the J3 Kitten again. I have a lot of excellent memories (including my first engine failure...) from this plane.

J3 Kitten

I had planned to sleep here but run into a British couple waiting for friends arriving from the UK in their ultralight - they were all going to the France based English Ultra light flying school "Wanafly Airsports" who organized a "Chilli and Cheese Fly In"... Irresistible and only 10 minutes flight away I rapidly found myself invited..!

Wanafly Airsports - a corner of paradise!

The Kittens playing at the Wanafly Fly In Chilli and Cheese party

I spent a fantastic evening with wonderful people, excellent chilli, French cheese and top notch live music! 

We are now getting very close to the end of my trip and the last stop is Blois where the 35th edition of Europe's biggest Ultralight Fair and Festival take place.

Blois is the place to meet all the people, see all the products and feel the new trends. The rotor wing trend we have seen over the last years continues with refinement of auto gyros and new sexy helicopters. 

There is also a a strong trend for high performance, fixed wing, planes. Most are from eastern Europe but there was even a Swedish (!) plane presented. If you are not flirting with 300 km/h you will be laughed at... Most (all?) of those are really on (over?) the limit of ultralight according to the French regulations and, while very attractive, not really in the ultra light spirit...

The Shark

More in the ultralight spirit was the replicas presented, I particularly liked the Stampe (1:1 scale) replica that will fit regulations, nostalgia dreams and ultralight spirit.

I noticed what I hope to be a new trend, an increase in tail wheel planes. Back to basics. I like that.

When taking off the next morning the weather had degraded, temperatures were lower and I even had some rain on the way back home.

Not stopping for lunch I served myself an complimentary in flight snack...

Always complimentary chocolate milk and cookies on our flights

Arriving at my home base I had a strong feeling of accomplishment. This flight has been in my dreams for over 3 years now and it was even better in real life!

Yesss! I did it!