On the 14th of July at 10.00 local time Henk and Elly with their Taifun D-KFDI and Manfred and Gabi with their Taifun D-KKGG departed for a two week's flight on which they originally intended to fly to Scotland. Read the "pseudo live report" on their flight written on a daily basis by webmaster Leo who - as usual - has been left behind by our four adventurers.

Saturday July 14th 9.05 local time
Henk, Elly and Leo arrive at Geilenkirchen airbase (ETNG) where Henk's Taifun has its home for several years now. Within a few minutes Manfred and Gabi already will be airborne since they want to depart from Leverkusen airfield. Plan is to meet after making a short stop at Dahlemer Binz airfield, one of a series of local airfields favourite to glider, motorglider and small motorplane pilots. Weather predictions for today are quite fine, as long as you limit your view to the mainland part of Europe. England, Scotland and Ireland don't show stable predictions for the next few days, so it is most unlikely that the original plan to fly to Scotland will work out this time.

9.30 LT, D-KFDI standing in bright sunlight, the bags for two weeks ready to be mounted.

Therefore the original flight plan is stowed somewhere in the back of the plane and an alternative which still gives a possibility to cross the Channel in case of a turn in the weather is on the menu for today. With the new undercarriage Henk has made himself, getting the plain out of the hangar is a matter of seconds. Fast and smoothly only two are needed to push and pull the Taifun out of its home into the brightly shining morning sun. Several other pilots are present at this beautiful morning, ready to seize the day.

The alternative flight plan for today. From Lapalisse (LFHX) it will still be possible to fly to England, but weather chances are not that good at the moment.

Dahlemer Binz is only half an hour's flight away, so at 10.00 local time D-KFDI takes off, makes a little wingswing to say goodbye to your webmaster and almost immediately makes a turn southward for Dahlemer Binz.

Saturday July 14th 11.50 local time
Henk on the phone speaking from Dahlemer Binz:
"Hi Leo, did you manage to get a picture from us departing at ETNG? I noticed your car at the airfield fence, but I didn't see you!
We're at Dahlemer Binz right now and I will leave our tent behind because of the weight. Weather at the Channel is not looking very well right now, so will stick to the alternative of flying to Lapalisse (LHFX) in France or Autun (LFQF) some 50 NM NNW of Lapalisse.
I will make a short phonecall later this day if we have arrived over there, bye bye."
A short conversation with Manfred, who is very delighted with the pseudo-live report on their flight being put on the website, follows.
"Great, this way my pilot friend Urs can fly with us in a virtual way, from his chair at home in Berlin", Manfred says. "And also, this way you - as a webmaster - again can make the flight with us."
Although I - just like Urs - must follow the flight from my home in Geleen (NL), I too feel a little bit part of the flight. We wish each other a good journey, say goodbye for now and hang up the phone.

See Henk, though not very crispy, I managed to take a live action picture from your departure !

Saturday July 14th 19.50 local time
Henk on the phone again, calling from Autun in France. They have landed at Autun /Bellevue (LFQF) making a total distance of a little over 260 NM since their departure at Geilenkirchen. Unfortunately weather in England is not fit to make possible a crossing of the Channel, so the plan for tomorrow is to fly to the French west coast towards Arcachon.
They have found a little hotel opposite to the local railway station of Autun and now are enjoying the festivities of 14th of July in the Roman theatre of Autun.
Some friendly Frenchman took them to the theatre with his car and will bring them back to the hotel at 21.00 so our two pilots and two co-pilots can enjoy a well deserved overnight's rest.
We say goodbye and agree to phone again tomorrow evening at about the same time.

14th of July , in French "Le quatorze juillet" is national holiday on which the French celebrate the storming of the Bastille in 1789 during the French Revolution. It is therefore also referred to as Bastille day. On this day which first was held under the name "Fête de la Fédération" on the 14th of July 1790, one year after, the storming of the Bastille is being commemorated as a symbol of the uprising of the modern French "nation", and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution. The seven people held prison at the Bastille were liberated which was seen as a great symbolic act of rebellion although none of the 7 prisoners was an important political adversary of the French king Louis XVI. Many cities hold fireworks during the night of 13th/14th of July. Many dancing parties are organised (bals du 14 juillet) and it is customary that firefighters organise them (bals des pompiers). Most of these celebrations take place from 13 July at night to 14 July, but as your webmaster was speaking to Henk loud firecracker sounds were coming through the line as if some plane was being blown into pieces ;-)

Painting by Jean-Pierre Houël (1735-1813), entitled Prise de la Bastille ("The Storming of the Bastille"). The Eifel tower on Bastille Day.

Autun - Gallo Roman emparts at the edge of town Autun - The famous Roman "Janus Temple" Autun - St. Lazare cathedral (1210) Autun is a small city (about 16000 inhabitants called Autunois) in the Burgundy region in France. Autun was founded during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus, who also gave the city its name. Autun derives from its Latin name Augustodunum, after the emperor and was famous for having schools of rhetoric. Several elements of Roman architecture such as walls, gates, and buildings are still visible in the town. The most impressive of these Roman remains are those of the ancient theater, which was one of the largest in the western part of the empire with 17000 seats of capaticity. Autun also has a major Romanesque cathedral dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which was formerly the chapel of the Dukes of Burgundy; their palace was the actual episcopal residence. On the city boundary the remains of a Roman Temple (Temple de Janus) can be admired. Autun Roman theatre, one of the largest in western Europe, still used for festivities to this day An interesting article (in English) on Autun can be found at the Tandem E-magazine website. Well, that's all for today. I'm curious if tomorrow indeed will lead the two Taifuns to Arcachon. Greetz and safe landings, webmaster Leo LLama. Sunday July 15th As you can see in the OWS weather predictions for today, a flight to England, Ireland or Scotland is not possible due to low pressure areas and bad weather / visibilities. However, the alternative Henk mentioned yesterday evening of flying to Arcachon on the French southwestern coast seems to be no problem at all. Autun - Arcachon (green dots resp. Autun near the Swiss border and Arcachon on the southwestern coast) will probably be the tour's stage for today. Sunday July 15th, 22.25 local time Gabi on the phone: "Hi Leo. Here's a short report on our flight today. We started at Autun this morning at 11.00, course Southwest across the Massif Central. We were approaching Ussel-Thalamy airfield at the Massif Central where we wanted to make a short stop, when suddenly we were welcomed on the radio in German language by a Frenchman. As it appeared his wife had grown up in Berlin and now, together they are running Ussel Aeroclub. Ussel is situated on the Plateau de Millevaches, an upland area in the Limousin région of France, allowing beautiful views on the surrounding mountains. We were very lucky, since yesterday's festivities of Bastille Day had not consumed all French specialties so a lot of the delicious local gastronomy was just begging to be eaten by us. And delicious it was indeed. Ussel-Thalamy (LFCU) is a perfect airfield for a stop, not only when you're on your way to the Atlantic shore, but also when you're heading for the Mediterranean Sea. After 3 hours we decided to depart this lovely airfield again. Taking off seemed a little bit complicated since we suffered crosswinds with speeds of about 20 knots. On the other side it didn't pose a real threat, since Ussel's runway has a total length of 1800 meters. After flying for about 1 hour and 50 minutes we landed at Aérodrome de Villemarie, sometimes better known as Arcachon-La Teste De Buch (LFCH) airfield. For pilots there's this well situated hotel in downtown Arcachon (only 2 minutes from the beach) called Roc-Hotel."   Today's surprise: the hospitality at the airfield of Ussel-Thalamy (LFCU). LFCU turned out to be the perfect stop on our route to the Atlantic! But as you can see on the map above, it can be the perfect stop on your way to the Mediterranean too! You'd best take a look at their website for extensive info by clicking the logo above. Ocean's view from the Café de la Plage Gabi continues: "We already enjoyed our first bath in the Atlantic Ocean and right now we're enjoying a cold beer at the Café de la Plage situated on the Boulevard of Arcachon. Tomorrow it will be Elly's turn to make a phone call. Bye bye for now!" Well, your webmaster just took a look at the Café de la Plage website, and yes yes, I took a dive into my home refrigerator and with the moving images, the sound of the ocean on the website's background, my computer's mouse in my right hand and a cold beer in my left one I too am enjoying the views of Arcachon beach... Monday July 16th Maybe today it's time for a change of plans again. Weather circumstances at Arcachon might prohibit taking off any earlier than late afternoon. Rain, even showers and lightning have been predicted! In fact yesterday evening already brought some wind gusts and some minor rainfall caused a lot of people to leave the beach. So, D-KFDI and D-KKGG will probably have to enjoy Arcachon for a second day, oh what a punishment ;-) But even better news, plans are (plan C?) to fly North along the French coast, visit the Channel Islands and if weather permits, make an attempt to cross the Channel and visit England and Scotland ! As you can see at the picture on the right (today's weatherforecast) when the front with rain has passed there's a possibility that a gap is being created which could make it possible to cross the Channel. Monday July 16th, 22.00 local time Elly on the phone: "Hello Leo, today it's my turn to brief the day! This morning we went for breakfast on the street opposite Arcachon casino. After that we rented some bicycles and made a ride of a little over 15 kilometers to the dune of Pyla. There we made a walk to the top of the dune, which felt a bit strange since it turned out to be some kind of Echternach procession: 3 steps up and 2 steps down again. Anyway, when we finally reached the top we were rewarded with splendid views on the Atlantic Ocean. We sat down on the dune and enjoyed the sun, wind and ocean for an hour or so when suddenly our stomachs started to growl. By bike we went back to Arcachon again and on the way we made a stop for an excellent meal at one of the many restaurants in the region. Henk and Manfred made a sightseeing tour at Arcachon harbour while Gabi and me went shopping downtown. After that we had a nice swim and now, using our last physical reserves we're watching the sun going down in the ocean from our terrace. As you can tell we had an active resting day today. The lighnting and rain showers predicted for today luckily didn't show up, but the sun kept hidden behind clouds from time to time. Tomorrow we plan to fly north along the coast hoping to get to the Channel Islands by the end of this week. That's all for now, someone else will make a phonecall tomorrow. Bye bye !" The Great Dune of Pyla, located in La Test-de-Buch (French: la dune du Pyla) is the largest sand dune in Europe. The dune is about 60,000,000 m³, with 500 m large (from East to West) per 3 km (from North to South). Its height varies from 100 to 117 meters above the sea level and due to its favourable location is often used by radio controlled gliders and paragliders. Aerial view on Arcachon. In the back La Dune de Pyla can be seen.   Tuesday July 17th View upon La Rochelle, perhaps today's goal of the flight? La Rochelle is a beautiful coastal city about 80 NM North of Le Bassin d'Arcachon Too bad, no phone call today, and Henk's phone cannot be reached. We'll have to wait until tomorrow... Wait a minute. Just a guess from your webmaster tells us that 1) maybe our four adventurers have stayed another day in Arcachon 2) to maybe wait for better weather near the English Channel 3) maybe rented a car and 4) maybe went for a sightseeing trip, a.o. visiting the beautifull nearby cities of Bayonne and Biarritz But who knows, they might even be as far North as Ile d'Yeu? To be continued... Wednesday July 18th, 11.20 local time Henk on the phone. He tells us that yesterday at 11.40 they departed Arcachon and headed North. After about one hour of flight the two Taifuns made a stop at Royan-Médis (LFCY), situated near the mouth of the Gironde Estuary, about 70 NM north of Arcachon. After having lunch and refueling their motorgliders, Manfred, Gabi, Henk and Elly took off a little past the clock of 2 p.m. and at 15.20 local time they landed at Ile d'Yeu. This time they were more lucky than last year. In 206 all hotels and other slepping facilities were booked so they had to leave the island to search for another place to stay the night. This year however they found a nice hotel that wasn't booked full. Henk: "Right now were enjoying very nice weather. From our hotel room at the Hotel des Voyageurs, we have a splendid view on the ocean. The hotel is situated on the quay of the harbour in Port-Joinville, the largest town on the island. It happens to be the oldest hotel on the island, but it has been renovated recently. We can even watch the yachts and ferries coming in at the harbour. Today and tomorrow we will stay at the Ile d'Yeu. Here the weather is no problem, but predictions for the Channel within the next days are not looking very well, so we're not so sure if we can make it to the other side. Greetz to you all, also from Elly, Manfred and Gabi and we'll phone again, bye bye". Île d'Yeu (tourist website in English and French) is an island just off the western french Vendée coast, where Philippe Pétain, the French wartime Vichy leader, died in 1951. He was imprisoned at the Fort Pierre Levée from 1945 until his death in 1951. Pétain is burried at the cemetery north of Port-Joinville on the island. It's the same Port-Joinville where our pilots and crew are staying right now. On the left an aerial view of the northwestern coast of the island. Île d'Yeu is situated about 25 km from the French coast. It measures 10 km long and over 4 km large, making a surface of 23 km². The island is populated with some 5000 inhabitants called "islais" or islanders, of which most live in the two main agglomerations Port-Joinville (the capital, 2000 inhabitants) and Saint Sauveur (litt: the Holy Saviour), also called "le Bourg". Furthermore there are some 20 small villages spread all over the island. Its two harbours, Port-Joinville, and La Meule, located in a little loch of a wild granite coast, are famous for the fishing of tuna and crawfish Fishing and tourism are the main activities on the island. The airfield Île d'Yeu - Grand Phare LFEY is situated on the west coast. If you're able to read French, check out the yeunet.com website for further extensive info. . The ruins of the ancient castle on Île d'Yeu. One of the interesting sites on the Île d'Yeu is the old Castle. The life of this castle, built in XIVth century, covers 3 centruries of island history. It was Olivier De Clisson, big master-builder of castles, who built the castle in order to ensure the security of the islanders in case of a foreign invasion. The longest one was led by the famous English Robert Knol, who succeeded in 1355 to take over the castle and occupied the island during 37 years. The Old Castle was dismantled at the end of the XVIIth century in order of Louis XIV. It is classified as a historical monument since 1890. View of the harbour of Port Joinville on Île d'Yeu. Somewhere in the back the hotel of our four adventurers is situated. Thursday July 19th, 10.00 local time Henk on the phone: "Hi Leo. here we are again. Today Elly and I will be making a sightseeing trip around the island with some sort of tourist train while Manfred and Gabi will be enjoying sun, sand and sea on the beach. When we look out of my hotelroom window, there's this huge fisherboat and on the other side of the hotel we can even see French mainland when the weather is fine. We don't know yet what we'll do tomorrow, but today we are going to enjoy this beautiful island. We'll stay in touch. Bye bye."

Thursday July 19th, 20.50 local time
Manfred on the phone:
"Today has been our bad-luck-day. Henk has visited the doctor because he has been suffering aches on his leg, caused by a crash with the bicycles we rented earlier this week at Arcachon. When cycling down a dune near Pyla he lost control over his bike and in a tricky curve downhill the wheels started sliding on the asphalt. Some seconds later it wasn't the wheels sliding on the asphalt but Henk instead. As it appears a muscle in his upper leg was ruptured and the doctor advised him to keep calm a bit for today. Gabi and I kept calm at the beach cause Gabi is now suffering sunburn all over and I myself have got red feet, also caused by local sunburn. Gabi has discovered a real homeopathic solution by putting yoghurt on our sunburned skin. So the only one who really is safe and sound (and is using the youghurt as food) is Elly!
Today it was a cloudy day here at the Ile d'Yeu, the better for our sunburned bodies, but not so good for flying northwest towards England and Scotland. Since weather conditions in England aren't looking that well we have definitively given up the plan of going to England and Scotland.
Instead there are three alternatives now:
1. South East towards the Pyrenees
2. A little bit more East towards Montpellier, or
3. North towards the Channel islands
Looking at the predictions for the next few days option 2, after the front at the Massiv Central has passed, is the most likely one.
Anyway, tomorrow we will be sightseing Ile d'Yeu for another day and we'll be preparing our Taifuns for the next stage of this beautiful trip."

Friday July 19th, 11.45 local time
Your webmaster has just put his Black&Decker Workmate back in the garage again since it started to rain in the South of the Netherlands. Our four friends staying at Ile d'Yeu will probably have partly clouded weather, but no rain as you can see on the radar map below. All three options mentioned by Manfred are showing fair conditions. England and Scotland are no option at all.

11.45 C.E.T. radar map (20th of July)
England is no option, but the Pyrenees (P), Montpellier (P) and the Channel Islands (C) are still possible goals for tomorrow's flight. Ile d'Yeu is marked wit a Y on the map.

Low clouds prediction for the next 24 hours.

Friday July 20th & Saturday July 21st
No phonecalls.


Sunday July 22nd
Your webmaster's feeling that our four travellers have chosen option 3 and have headed North, making a short stop in Bretagne and continued their journey towards the Channel Islands appears to be totaly wrong when at 9.45 local time there's a call from Gabi apparently phoning from a windy airfield:
"Well, our pilots in command decided to stay yet another day on the Ile d'Yeu yesterday. In the morning we made a short flight around the island and in the afternoon we went to the beach again. It was a bit cold and windy, but we enjoyed it anyway. In the evening there was this party at the harbour where they served delicious white tuna with potatoes (a specialty of the Ile d'Yeu kitchen) and we had plum cake. Also the wine tasted very well! Last night it started to rain quite heavily, ending the party within minutes.
Today we will be flying to Bergerac and after a stop over there we will be heading south.
We will make another call this evening, bye bye."

23.25 local time,
Elly on the phone:
"We made it from the Atalntic to the Mediterranean in 4 hours of flight!
Tomorrow we departed Ile d'Yeu at 10.30 local time and made a short stop at Bergerac around 12.30. We had planned to refuel at Bergerac but unfortunately there was no mogas at hand. Therefore we restarted at 13.05 and made a short flight to Sarlat Domme (LFDS) where we landed at 13.35 local time. We towed and attached our Taifuns unpacked our luggage cause we wanted to stay the night in this beautiful city. But when we downloaded the weatherforecast we found out that we'd better fly along because it would not be possible to depart from Sarlat tomorrow. So at 16.00 we took off again and at 17.45 we landed at Montpellier (LFMT). On our way to Montpellier we passed the Viaduc de Millau, a very large and impressive motorway bridge. This evening we visited the city centre of Montpellier, a very beautifull old city! Tomorrow we will have a look at the weather and then we'll decide where to fly next. We'll make another call tomorrow evening. Bye!"

The Viaduc de Millau Henk mentioned in his phonecall, an impressive sight !

Webcam image of the Place de la Comedie in Montpellier at 21.20 local time

Monday July 23rd
Today our four friends have been sightseeing Montpellier since the low ceiling did not permit taking off from Montpellier airport. Gabi has been visiting a concert, Manfred has been enjoying Moroccan food from an excellent Moroccan cook and Henk and Elly have been visiting the old part of town.

Arc de Triomphe (Triumphal arch) of Montpellier.
Erected in 1691, this monument is one of several built to glorify the monarchy. The carved medallions, dating from 1773, celebrate the achievements of king Louis XIV of France. A small door under the vaulted archway provides access to the interior of the monument and a staircase winds up to the rooftop terrace for a magnificent view of the city.

Aqueduc St-Clement / Montpellier
Despite its remarkable similarity to the roman "Pont du Gard", this aqueduct was built in the 17th century. The construction supplied water from the St Clement spring 14 km away to the water tower beneath the Promenade de Peyrou and allowed the embellishment of the city by numerous fountains. The two levels of arches which support the water channel over the last 800 metres have led to the city district beneath receiving the name of "les Arceaux". Beneath its arches can be found an organic market , table-tennis tables and regular games of "petanque", all of which benefit from the space and shade created by this imposing structure.

Tuesday July 24th
Pilots and co-pilots got up early and at 8.00 breakfast was served. At 9.00 they took a taxi to the airport and about an hour later the two Taifun motorgliders took off in fairly good weather, but with strong winds. After flying along the coast for a while they flew over the Camargue where some flamingos where spotted. Then they made a 90 degree turn and headed north. During this part of the flight Manfred and Henk wondered several times why they didn't gain height when they discovered both Taifuns where suffering downwinds from the mountains. Initially they had planned to make a short stop at Le Castellet (LFMQ) but strong crosswinds made them decide to fly to Carpentras (LFNH) for a stop. At Carpentras they had lunch and refueled their planes but since there wasn't much going on they quickly decided to fly north again for today's final destination Annecy. However, the further north they got, the worse weather, wind and visibility became. After encountering the bad weather they made a 180-turn and landed at Valence airfield (LFLU). There they waited, downloaded several weather forecasts, made a phonecall to Annecy and after the rain had gone made a second attempt to fly to Annecy (LFLP). This time they made it just in time, since right after they had landed the rain started to fall again.
This evening they enjoyed a very good meal at the airport and found a hotel in the vicinity.
And now Manfred phoned your webmaster to brief this and yesterday's whereabouts.
Manfred: "It has been a beautiful but very demanding flight because of the turbulences and the showers we encountered. Tomorrow our goal is to visit some friends in Switzerland, but we'll have to wait and see if the weather is good enough. Bye bye for now and we will phone again tomorrow."
For those of you who want to see loads of beautiful pictures on Annecy and its lake, please check out this blogspot site.

Wednesday July 25th
Our four friends got op this morning quite early. After breakfast they called a cab that took all their luggage to the airport, put all stuff in their Taifuns and were taken to the city of Annecy.
There each went his own way on a sightseeing trip through thsi beautiful city. Manfred and Gabi went to visit an old castle and a church while Henk and Elly made a boat trip on a large lake.

Mountainview upon Annecy and its lake
The water was very clear and in the distance Henk could even see the Mont Blanc!

They met again at 13.00 to take the same cab back to the airport and almost one hour later they took off for a flight to Pontarlier (LFSP), an airfield situated near the French-Swiss border.
There they were welcomed by Manfred's Swiss friends around 19.00, to be driven to their house in the woods. These friends treated them a real nice and pleasant evening, both in hospital as in gastronomical sense.

Thursday July 26th
This morning Henk and Manfred took their Swiss friends on a short flight around in their neighbourhood and made a few turns above their house. After that it was time to pack their things to go to the airport.
Your webmaster received a mail around 13.30 from Pontarlier airport (LFSP) showing both Taifuns on a webcamimage, ready for departure. The final day of this tour!

Webcamige on Pontarlier showing both Taifuns on Thursday afternoon.

D-KFDI and D-KKGG filed a flight plan and made a joint flight to Bremgarten EDTG in Germany. There they halted for a short stop, refueled their Taifuns and said goodbye.
Manfred and Gabi then took off for Egelsbach, near Freiburg, to see some friends, while Henk and Elly took off for Trier airfield EDRT. At 17.00 Henk made a phonecall from Trier, but unfortunately your webmaster was not at home, so at 18.30 Henk and Elly arrived at Geilenkirchen airbase and were picked up by a friendly clubmember.
Manfred arrived at home in Berlin on friday evening.
In total the D-KKGG and D-KFDI have flown about 1530 NM in a little less than 18 hours.
And it was well worth it...

Greetz from Manfred, Gabi, Henk, Elly (and Leo LLama of course)