Friday 28th June my friend Vagn and I embarked on a three-week flying journey. Nothing was prepared beforehand. We only briefly talked about possible place we would like to visit. It was our second three-week tour this year, and from the one we undertook in April, we had some good experiences of just-in-time planning. The whole trip was as follows:
We had a tent and sleeping bags with us, just in case we wouldn’t be able to find a hotel, but we ended up camping for about two weeks out of three. Our first destination was Pellworm, a small North Frisian island of Germany. We pitched our tent under the wing of Vagn’s aircraft, and reached to see the island in the evening.
The airport doesn’t have much of facilities; there is a toilet and bikes – and on bikes one can easily get to the bakery and restaurants. Next morning we headed for Helgoland:
It was a true paradise! We stayed in a camp on the smaller island, Helgoland Düne, and loved its larger-than-life white sand beaches. The bigger island, simply called Helgoland, was so captivating with its raw nature, magnificent cliffs and views, rich history, and birds colonies. We spent a whole day there, hiking, relaxing, eating in good restaurants, learning about the island’s history, and photographing.
It is impossible to describe, how beautiful this place is. I broke my own record – took around 1,000 photos in a day! We had to leave Helgoland, because the weather was changing, and we didn’t want to get stuck in one place for a week or so. We flew to the Stadskanaal airfield in the Netherlands, because I wanted to see Vesting Bourtange – a fortress and a village near Groningen – and it was really a worth visit place:
We had a very nice welcome in the Stadskanaal flying club, and made new friends there – Guusje and Hank:
During our stay there, we rented a car and visited the towns of Stadskanaal and Groningen. Especially Groningen was beautiful, with its old streets and a sky-high cathedral.
Our next destination was Saint-Omer in the Northern France, with a lunch stop in Midden-Zeeland, the Netherlands. Both the flying club and the town Saint-Omer had a long and interesting history, and we spent a nice evening wandering through the streets of the old town:
The day after we flew to Cherbourg, a city at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula. It was so beautiful, we spent a couple of days there. One of the harbours at sunset:
Morning drinks – why not? it’s our vacation time:
From Cherbourg, we headed for the island of Alderney, Channel Islands:
We were camping there at Saye Beach; there were only few guests there – it wasn’t the high season yet:
The campsite had its own lagoon where I was swimming in the evenings; the water was cold, and Vagn opted for staying dry.
We biked all the island around twice, and saw all the 18 fortresses of it – most of them in ruins, some of them inaccessible… There is a historic railway on the island, and we took a train one of the days:
After Alderney, Vagn wanted to visit the Omaha Beach:
We landed on a small airfield, called Omaha Beach, and stayed in a camping place nearby. The campsite wasn’t very good for the backpackers like us – the restaurant was only open in the evenings, no bikes, no soap in the toilets, electricity and wi-fi – extra charge. So food, transportation, and charging of mobile phones was a problem. Vagn rented a bike somewhere far away, and explored the WWII sites and museums; I took a bus to Bayeux:
Bayeux is a medieval town, calm and with a laid-back atmosphere. I saw the legendary Bayeux tapestry in a museum, and otherwise just spent the day wandering around its narrow streets.
In the evenings, we watched sunsets from the cliffs of the Omaha Beach, accompanied by a glass of local rosé or cider:
We had some preferences of what to see on the western coast of France, and chose to go to Vannes. What a beautiful city it was! We were also lucky to stay in the very heart of it on Place de Saint-Pierre. The view from our apartment:
We spent several days in Vannes – the city was so charming, we simply couldn’t get enough of it. As tourists, we only experienced very welcoming attitude from the locals. We had seafood and galettes de sarrasin as often as we could, and became regular customers for breakfast in the local bakery.
About two weeks of our vacation time were gone, and we had to think of slowly heading back. We decided to visit Reims, a city in northeastern France. On our way there, we did a stop in Blois. It was a kind of a ghost-airport: no aircraft, no people, no ATC, video-surveillance and self-service. There was a nice small briefing room for the pilots, with free tea and coffee.
Reims was a nice city, with a stunning cathedral in its centre:
Bastille Day was celebrated on the evening of our arrival; we bought a bottle of an excellent champagne, and celebrated with the French nation watching the fireworks from our hotel:
We found out, there was an aeronautical museum in one of the suburbs of Reims, and visited it. The museum had a very interesting exhibition of the history of French aviation of the region, and one Broussard:
Vagn spotted, there were champagne tasting tours, and the other day we went on such a tour. We chose inexpensive one, as we don’t understand much in champagne anyway.
It was quite an interesting tour. We visited different villages and vineyards, got lots of knowledge… A church where Dom Pérignon is buried was quite a gem – not so much because of the grave of the famous monk, but because of its history, building and interior:
And of course, it was also nice to visit the cellars and to taste different champagnes:
Vagn and I wanted to visit one of the islands on the west coast of Netherlands, so our next destination became Texel. We again did a lunch stop in Midden-Zeeland, and had beautiful views flying by the coast:
Texel couldn’t be called a charming place, but it had other things to offer – nice weather and endless beaches where we spent lots of time playing in its warm waters:
Though we’d rather bike, we rented a car because the island is quite big, and drove the whole day around, stopping here and there, and doing some sight-seeing:
It was a bit difficult to chose a next stop. It was going to be Germany, but we’ve already been in many places there… After a bit of research we decided to go to Bremerhaven:
We landed in Blexen, and stayed in the flying club there. Blexen has a ferry connection to Bremerhaven:
Bremerhaven overwhelmed with port- and maritime life:
There were many exciting things to see. Bremerhaven Port is definitely worth visit – it is one of the four largest in Europe. And then a submarine:
It wasn’t as raw and authentic as the one in Peenemunde, maybe because it was more polished – but surely a very interesting place to go.
And then the last day of our journey came… It felt very strange… We both could continue flying… We chose to flew home via the Danish island of Ærø where we had a small break. Landing in Kræmmersten, Vagn’s home airfield:
It was a very nice trip. 23 days on wings – unbelievable! Sometimes we had strong disagreements, but we enjoyed every single part of our journey, and definitely learned more of each other, became better friends, and better pilots. Did I miss something whist on tour? Yes. I missed my independence, my healthier lifestyle, my good quality tea and coffee, my meditation time, and my freedom. But I had a terrific tour, and without Vagn it wouldn’t be possible. I was also grateful for his patience and adventure spirit.
Thank you for one more fantastic journey!
P. S. After we landed, we talked about what made the strongest impression. For both of us it was: Helgoland, Alderney, Vannes, the church on the champagne tour in Reims, and the sunsets of Omaha Beach. If I should point out one thing I loved most – it was Helgoland. For Vagn it was Alderney.
P. P. S. If you want to read more in details about every place we visited, please go to my relevant posts I wrote about every singe day of the tour – I didn’t want to repeat myself, so I just mentioned as little as I could here.