The sunrise in Uelzen flying club Sunday morning 16th June was calm and peaceful:
With patches of thin fog here and there the airfield had a mystic look. Birds were singing gently, accompanied by croaking frogs in a pond nearby. Those frogs did crock a lot during evenings, and it was very cosy. Sometimes the pilots from our group would go to the pond, stay there trying to see the frogs, but they were difficult to spot.
It was a warm and sunny morning, and our breakfast was served in the garden. The food was really good; Detlef did a great job ordering from the right catering firm:
Then there was packing time:
And refuelling. There aerodrome had both 100LL and MoGas:
Vagn and I were not going home, but to Heringsdorf:
Two weeks ago, when I was in Heringsdorf together with my Swedish friends, I forgot a GPS device in a hotel there. That was the reason for visiting Heringsdorf again – to pick that device up.
The town of Plaum am See that overlooks the Plauer lake:
It is a very nice area, with forests and interconnected lakes, The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau, sometimes called “the land of a thousand lakes”. It would be nice to land there, and to explore the area on foot and by boat… The town of Malchow:
We landed in Heringsdorf as planned:
Taxi to the hotel in Ahlbeck, picked up the GPS device (they recognised me at the reception!), and straight to the beach, and into the water:
Though it was quite windy, it was a great pleasure to spend some time by the sea. Being in the water is almost as good as being in the air. If I wasn’t a pilot, I would be a sailor… And I admire those pilots, who have the time and skills to master both activities.
Vagn and I had lunch in a seaside cafe “Milchbar-Ahlbeck”. The soljanka soup (East-European soup, also popular in Germany) was disappointing, but the fried herring was probably the best I ever got. It was very fresh, light and crispy. The furniture in that cafe was very simple for the outdoor sitting, but inside it was charmingly decorated with ship models, pictures, and other maritime stuff. They had nice napkins with the map of the island of Usedom (where the town of Ahlbeck is); and toilet paper with a print of wind roses and aeroplanes, and a saying “never stop exploring”.
After lunch we went for a walk, and I did a sightseeing tour of Ahlbeck for Vagn.
Seebrücke Ahlbeck – the oldest pier in Germany (1889). It stretches for 280 metres into the Baltic Sea:
Before going to the Heringsdorf airport, we had time for an afternoon coffee and ice cream. I like the Mövenpick ice cream very much; it is more expensive than other brands, but there is a reason for that:
Our second flight that day was back home to Kræmmersten:
The air was cold and calm, and it turned out to be a real pleasure flight, with good views. The northern tip of the Darßer Ort with its white sand beaches:
In Kræmmersten, we were going to land on RWY24, Vagn’s favourite. But… coming closer, we didn’t dare…
Although we took off from the same runway (06) for two days ago, and new it was ok, it just looked very short and extremely narrow from the air. We went for a go around at first, but quickly changed our mind. There wasn’t any reason for taking unnecessary risks. We had talked about plan B that morning, before leaving Uelzen: to land in Holbæk (EKHK), if the wind or other conditions would be unfavourable. So we headed for Holbæk.
In Holbæk, we loaded all our stuff off the aeroplane. There was only about 15 litres fuel left in the tanks, i.e. alone and in a lighter version of his aircraft, on his home airfield Vagn would be able to land with no significant difficulties. And he did. Vagn drove back to Holbæk in his car, and picked me up, together with all our baggage.
In Kræmmersten, we had our debriefing and did the paper work over a freshly brewed (in a coffee machine) cup of tea, and had a delicious juicy mango for dinner.
It was a wonderful 3-day trip, and we also sent our warm thoughts to the Uelzen flying club who hosted a fly-in with the purpose of visiting Fassberg Air Base where we could experience the commemoration of Berlin Airlift, and especially to Detlef, a pilot from that club, who organised everything so well.
