Cryotherapy

It was going to be the coldest night so far, with beautiful flying weather the day after. Flemming insisted on going watching the sunrise from air. I said “Ok, no problem. Pick me up at 06:00.” We settled for 06:30.

Driving by the Stena Recycling in Roskilde, we were puzzled by the chimneys’ smoke going down, not up:

It happens when the air near the ground is cooler and denser than the air above it – the temperature inversion. It was -12C in Roskilde that morning.

Flemming and I arrived to my flying club in Holbæk at 07:30. The skies were clear, and a beautiful sunrise was on its way. Kenneth, a pilot from the club, was already in his hangar, preparing for a flight.

Though there wasn’t much snow, it was a bit difficult to pull my Aeroprakt out of the hangar. Alone I wouldn’t be able to do it.

It was -10C and my OY-9797 didn’t want to start. We had to watch the sunrise from the club house:

Soon Kenneth was back with some very nice pictures of the sunrise from air:

I tried several times to start the engine, it was getting better, but… It was still -10C and I joked that Flemming and I were getting lots of cryotherapy. We had to run back to the club house from time to time, to get some warmth.

Then came Boye. He gave me a tip, I did what he said – and the engine started! Flemming and I finally got airborne:

The island of Nekselø under the snow:

The views were breathtaking:

Frozen Salltbæk Vig:

And a closer look at its ice:

Clear blue skies were promised, but nevertheless, sometimes clouds appeared out of nowhere:

We turned away from the clouds and flew south. The 1,000 years old Viking castle Trelleborg covered in snow, a UNESCO World Heritage site:

Trelleborg was built around the year 980 by King Harald Bluetooth. The remains of the large royal castle were clearly visible in the terrain.
Trelleborg was part of the Viking Age military power system. Four other castles are known which were built in connection with Trelleborg and according to the same model: Aggersborg on the north side of the Limfjord, Fyrkat at Hobro, Nonnebakken in Odense and Borgring at Køge. Of these, Trelleborg is by far the best preserved and also the only one with a fortified forecourt.

Trelleborg Castle covers a total area of 6 ha, equivalent to 12 football pitches. On the picture below you can see the traces of long buildings inside its walls:

Long shadows of the threes are always so fascinating from air:

After we got enough of freezing during the flight, we landed. Flemming prepared salad for lunch:

He also brought meatballs, and we warmed them up – it was nice to get some warm food:

We left Holbæk flying club on a sunny afternoon. I couldn’t get enough of pictures of that sparkling snow:

At home, I made vin chaud, my favourite winter drink. It was very much needed after that wonderful cryotherapy:

Though we didn’t get to see the sunrise from air, we were of course very happy about out flight. The winter landscapes were so beautiful!