London to Darwin #2: In'n'Out (no burgers in sight) of Italia.

The weather moving across Europe chased me to keep moving, so from Lyon’s sunrise departure, I ventured into the hills for Gap Tellard for a technical stop - suitable fuel, and it turns out, home of Behringer wheels, as used on the plane. That turned out to be lovely, with the whole family coming out to have a look - but as a special bonus - they were able to give me the 20 French stamps I needed! I was also met by Christian, from Lake Como, who drove all night to see the SeaBear and I took him for a really quick fly, given his effort and enthusiasm! Perhaps we’ll see a SeaBear on Lake Como soon - that would be very cool! I then left confident I’d still make Rome for the night, and had planned to skip Pisa because the weather didn’t look great when checking the night before.

But alas, I was barely an hour down from the hills approaching the coast when it became VERY clear that weather in Italy was the least of my worries - getting out of France was the first issue. The mountains to the north surrounding Marseille through to Nice were covered in cloud and there was no path though. After a couple of looks I turned back nice and early (having learnt my lesson, and made promises to Anne, and myself) and requested vectors to a nearby airport, which really helped reduce the workload, and was soon on the ground in Vinon.

A small airfield, the few people there were quite surprised to see Southern Sun arrive, and after a quick chat I made use of the incredible resources we have access to these days to study weather radar. After about 20 minutes an obvious path was opening up, so I flew Sou’Sou’West - slightly the wrong way, to get down to the coast where it was quite clear and much better conditions.

Far from a straight line… A couple of landings and some dancing around, but great to end up in Pisa.

It was clear now that reaching Rome was marginal, but Pisa’s weather had cleared up, so with a few radio calls the destination was amended and off we toodled, due East over the med after an exciting passage over towns such as Nice, Cannes and just south of Monaco! Same route the VV took, and they pretty much had all the same problems in this area at this time of year… They originally had planned direct to Rome, but stopped in Pisa when bad weather made them realise they wouldn’t make Rome by nightfall. What they didn’t have, was an ipad accessing weather radar maps to help make those decisions.

On approaching Pisa I asked the controller if prior to landing I could please fly over the Tower of Pisa to take some photos, to which he pretty bluntly advised it was simply not possible, which highlighted while we have navigation benefits not present 100 years ago, what they didn’t have was a concept of controlled airspace and restrictions on what they flew over and photographed.

But in the end I was so pleased I stopped in Pisa. I took a room right near the Tower, and had just over an hours daylight to have a look around. It made me disappointed in myself for not looking around in Lyon, I had got so busy trying to make up time after the delays in Russia, my speedy passage through UK needed to change or I’d miss it all. So while I need to fly every day for a while to get back on schedule, even if I only get an hour or two in town, must make the most of this…

Next morning was sunrise start again, and oh it really pays off to rise early and see the sun rise from it’s slumber with an early take off. Crossing the mountain range at 9,500’, which the SeaBear ascended with ease, got me across to infinitely better weather on the East Coast. It was a pretty easy run down to Puglia, but alas, the planned airport of Taranto was not available because they had found an unexploded WW2 bomb ! I first landed at Brindisi, partly because it was not only nearby, but I’d wanted to visit since 2015, as it was one of the original 1938 Qantas Empire Flying Boat landing locations, but I had been unable to back then due weather.

But having seen the harbour from the air, once landed at an international airport it just didn’t feel right - this wasn’t what retracing this historic route was all about…. I spent an hour nursing a couple of espresso’s and found a few options, made some calls, and found a flying club near Taranto that was happy to have me - so jumped back in and flew about 15 minutes across to a very, very small, but very, very charming place, Aerotre airfield. It was a club of mainly ultralights, and I think they were shocked a plane of the size and presence of the Seabear could land at an ultralight field - but that is one her great strengths - she can go in and out of strips the same as an LSA can - incredible.

They were absolute champions and helped with fuelling and after more espresso and some local delicacy involving bread, olive oil, tomato and herbs picked straight from the ground, I was seconded to the most gorgeous little b&B in the medieval town of Oria - bellisimo! This was followed up with a wonderful classic Italian spread for dinner, then an early night. Special thanks to Pietro and Cosimo.

I’ve fallen into the habit of rising around 4am, to get some work done, a basic exercise routine, all important espresso made in my room, with my trusty Handpresso, then some flight planning, then off to airport before sunrise. Great way to squeeze a lot into the day.

The take off on the 390m field was just fine, despite taking on 350lt of fuel and with the Sun just above the horizon, Southern Sun only used 2/3 of the runway to continue on her way… The further south we tracked, the better the weather - and once over Greece it just seemed to flick the ”perfect switch.”

I dealt with airport matters as quickly as possible, (but too boring to type up…) which still must have been just over an hour getting tomorrows flight plan sorted, then into the old harbour part of town to seek out the location photographed by Ross Smith, and also get to the Post Office for the stamps I’m trying to get in each town for envelopes and postcards. But wait, we haven’t covered my transfer from the plane to the terminal! Usually the marshall or handler will give me a lift in their car, or perhaps walk. Not today… what’s bigger than a limousine?

My wondeerfully friendly and bubbly handler Kyriaki booked me into the perfect spot, a nice hotel right in the harbour. When I showed the hotel staff the NG photo and asked for help working out where it was, they asked the barman, Georgos, to assist, as he was, they outrageously suggested, almost old enough to remember the Vickers Vimy visiting… Here he is in glorious widescreen!

As you can see - I quickly found it! Very chuffed. And a lovely harbourside, where I would enjoy dinner - after finding the post office - where I scored a great haul of stamps… and check out the detail on one of them - it’s the 100th anniversary of the Hellenic Coast Guard! So many centuries, they just keep coming around, seems like every hundred years or so.

Which brings us to the small balcony for my room at the hotel looking over the softly lit cafes and restaurants around this small, very old harbour. Feeling quite content having got back into the groove of this adventure flying, and even receiving a text from Anne while over the Med letting me know I had to try a dish called Dakos, which I promptly did and was delicious - thanks hon.

Time for lights out, early start tomorrow, further south over the Med, leaving Europe behind, for my first flying visit to the continent of Africa. Woo hoo.

Southern Sun, standing by…