Track for the day:
Not entirely unexpected was the realisation that a quick nightcap at midnight ended at 2:30 with the party still going strong!
A sensible move or this morning would have been difficult. It was bad enough waking to the alarm at 09:00 and realising Mr cliff was already out running.
A breakfast helped and soon we were back to flight planning.
We topped the tanks off at Kilkenny from the para drop school who have a great operation in place, then made busy preparing for our departure.
As a result of the late start we weren’t airborne until 13:30 and heading down toward the south east coast.
The route took us through the mountains; derrynasaggart and shehy before following the coast round all the way to Spanish point. What a fantastic view!
Initially the view was a bale of hay in the middle of the runway but a low approach and go around brought the tractor out to move it back over to the farm buildings…it would have made for an interesting landing 🙁
It was here that we decided to pay a toast to Roger and Maggie; Spanish point made an appearance in one of the oft repeated stories of lore that were memorised by all ground school pilots 🙂
As we packed ARAN away for the evening and started to walk up the track toward the road the farmer made his way over in hos car and offered us a lift…judging by his age he could have been the very same farmer who showed The Partises such hospitality all those years ago 🙂
As it happens they were having a music festival in the beach resort at Spanish point so we headed into the town of Miltown Malbay where we managed to get a room in a hostel in the centre of town.
Rather controversially we had Chinese food for he evening but headed into a local folk music bar afterwards to enjoy tha craic along with many hours of fun.
Chris’s photos:
Steve’s photos:
