In Denmark, we have a Great Prayer Day that falls on the 4th Friday of Easter. It is a National Day, and has a long history. Hans Bagger, who was a bishop in Roskilde in the late 17th century, introduced some new praying and fasting days. The amount of those days had an impact on daily life, and therefore they were combined into one Great Prayer Day, put on the Statute book by king Christian V in 1686.
With Roskilde flyng club (RFK), we had planned a four-days tour during the Great Prayer Day holidays to Ostend and Brugge in Belgium. We were eleven people who met up Thursday morning 16th May for a breakfast in our club:
We all new each other from a four-days trip to France in May last year, and it was very nice to go on a tour together again. Our original plan was to make a lunch stop in Müenster Osnabrueck airport in Germany, but a front was approaching from east, and it was going to rain in that part of Germany. Not all of us were going to fly IFR, so we changed the route via Groningen the Netherlands instead of.
Svelmø, a tiny island off the southern coast of Funnen in Denmark:
A selfie of our crew: Per Ranneries (PIC), Carsten Dasmussen (COP), Inge-Merete and I.
The German island of Spiekeroog we flew over:
Beautiful view over the Frisian islands:
Groningen/Eelde airport:
They have a nice restaurant with the terrace that is shielded by a glass wall from the wind. The view is to GA apron and the runway.
After lunch we continued to Oostende-Brugge airport, our final destination in Belgium. We flew IFR there, and had stunning views over the soft-looking cloud mass:
Later that mass became broken:
And sometimes you could suddenly see a big city beneath:
There was a strong cross wing on landing, but Per managed it well. Happy crew in front of the OY-IDB. The building behind with the sign “Noordzee Vuegclub” is a club house – pure modern luxury!
We checked in to our hotel Mercure, a nice small hotel in the centre of Ostend, and started from a drink in the lobby. From right to left: Inge-Merete, Carsten, Per, Birgit, Hans, Pernille, and I. Ejnar was taking this photo, and the rest of the group were on their way.
A walk through the city and to that larger-than-life beach:
Then we found a place for a drink, called Jilles.
I don’t drink beer, so I ordered hot chocolate. I was served in a special way – milk and chocolate separate so that you could blend it according to your taste:
Unfortunately, the milk was almost cold – so slow they were to serve it. But the chocolate was good. We waited at least for half an hour for our drinks, so if you’re not an extremely patient customer, you better look for another place.
For dinner, we wanted to find another place. It was quite late, and showed up many of the restaurants were closing at 21:00 on a Thursday. Pernille and Morten found a good place for us where they had fish and meat for mains, and we had a nice dinner there:
It was a good day, and we were excited to explore the city of Ostend the day after.
