We took off from Mâcon and turned towards the river for a quick fly-past of the marina where Mark’s parents’ boat was moored.
It was then a pretty uneventful trip northwards really. The AFIS controller at Troyes was not particularly welcoming. He spoke English but was not easy to understand. It was perhaps our fault for not sticking to simple calls but he misunderstood us enough to send us round to join downwind for R35. https://www.dropbox.com/s/qkrfp9d5svbjakm/PVWW%20Troyes%20Arrival.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4o868ids762o2es/PVWW%20Troyes%20Departure.mp4?dl=0
The up-market café in the terminal building provided us with excellent coffee and we swapped co-pilots before departing during the tower’s lunch break. We missed the grass taxiway to the R35 hold so had to make a dashed backtrack down the long runway before taking off.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/74qrqvmbdlci1ck/PVWW%20Troyes%20to%20Abbeville.mp4?dl=0
We used our now well-polished French calls into Abbeville and the welcome was again excellent. We refuelled and took a taxi into the town – not sure why really. We had coffee and cakes in the square, reminisced about the trip and one us was frog marched into a barber shop for much attention to facial hair growth. The motel on the airfield did good food although the rooms were in dire need of a make-over.
Peaks, Valleys, Water and Weather 