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From Irish sea to cream teas – Exploring the Lakes on Day Three of our epic UK Tour 2021

Posted by

Becca

31 January 2022

On 10 December 2021

The plan for day three was to depart Plas Dinas Hotel, hop across to Caernarfon Airport to refuel before heading Eastbound through North Wales and if possible over the top of Snowdon. Manchester low level corridor into Manchester Barton for more fuel then a coastal route to Liverpool and then to The Lake District with a stop for afternoon tea with our final destination Farlam Hall Hotel.

Our stay at Plas Dinas was exceptional. Having stayed previously it had much to live up to and they didn’t let us down. Lovely staff, superb location and great food. As always it was a weather check first thing and it looked pretty good… A little low cloud across North Wales meant we were unable to fly over Snowdon a second time but we could see in the distance.

Lifting out at Plas Dinas hotel required a towering take off which wasn’t a problem because we were all relatively light on fuel as we had stayed light a our first fuel stop was just a very short hop across to Caernarfon airport.

Would definitely recommend flying to Caernarfon when you can. Home of both the Air Ambulance and Coastguard, there’s a fantastic approach as is situated right at the northern tip of Wales surrounded by the sea. A big airport, very friendly, helpful crew and as they were expecting we managed to all land right near the fuel pump, so we didn’t have to move helicopters around the apron and over taxi ways. Really well handled. After fuelling it’s a short walk across the apron past the HEMS hangar to either the café or the control tower to pay landing fees and fuel charges, etc.

Departing West straight out to the Coastline, part of the Menai Striat with its multi-coloured sands. Our route out of Wales was Eastbound, lush green with rolling hills and a very large wind farm. It became obvious as we were exiting Wales just south of Wrexham as the landscape became more industrial/residential and gradually flattened out as we headed to Manchester.

The Manchester low level corridor conjures a picture in peoples minds as flying through a tunnel but of course it’s a tunnel that you cannot see. It’s a corridor of airspace between Liverpool and Manchester, not particularly wide and only 1,300ft high, so it’s very important to navigate with caution and stay below it. There are a few little airfields on the way so there are plenty of distractions on your way through when busy with other aircrafts that are doing the same thing and in the opposite direction.

Just north of Manchester, City Airport aka Manchester Barton our next fuel stop and certainly a busy little airport. Lots of aircraft movements and many ways to enter and depart the airport. We usually fly up to South-eastern corner of the airfield, so you can make an approach avoiding all the runways and it puts you right near the fuel bay as well which is very useful. This approach not for the faint hearted, perfectly safe but just make sure you know what your doing so you don’t get caught up in any infringements of the Manchester Barton traffic, circuits, etc. A good bunch at Barton, I do believe it’s the fire crews that do the refuelling and there more than happy to do so because otherwise thankfully there is not a lot for them to do. You are marshalled in, once landed the next thing you know they are refuelling your aircraft for you. This time its pay at the pump or they send an invoice later which is a great system. We all rocked up there for fuel and a quick snack of mars bars etc. as didn’t want to spoil our afternoon tea at our next stop The Inn on the Lake.

Southwest bound straight over towards Liverpool. We were quite keen to go over the top of the airport and they were helpful although there was a bit of delay which meant we ended up circling around flying around each other whilst holding. Eventually… we managed to cross the runway and head up the coastline, pass the docks which is very, very cool. The stretch comprised of 3 consecutive RAF bases so a lot of radio work required. On to Blackpool and up that western coastline, round Morecombe Bay. The weather had really improved by then and was glorious by the time we entered The Lake District. This is one of my favourite places to fly in the UK; hills, lakes and quiet skies. Flying over Kendal, Windermere, Coniston Water (made famous by Donald Campbell) and on to Ullswater and The Inn on the Lake for our afternoon tea. On arrival there were a lot of spectators along the roadside. We subsequently found out that Tom Cruise had been filming in The lake District and I can’t help but think they were a little disappointed when we hopped out of the helis still it was a lovely reception!

During our delicious cakes and sarnies we saw a Puma on exercise. Great stop for anyone able to fly to The Lakes; great food, lots of landing space and incredible views of the hills in the distance. Fed and watered it was back to the choppers head west through the remaining lakes, passing Keswick, eventually over to Workington and up to Kirkbride. We flew over the top of Kirkbride airport to orientate ourselves ready for our first fuel of day 4. Just before landing at Farlam Hall we rounded the south of Carlisle, to see the huge railway depo there.

Landing at Farlam hall was interesting, lots of space but a great big slope and therefore landable ground was at a premium where the slope flattened out. There was a bit of wind up there by now, but the teams handled it incredibly well. This was a real gem, the hotel had been brought by an American couple who had spent much of lockdown renovating it which meant we were some of the first guests to being staying in there so it was immaculate and very welcoming another Elstree Helicopters seal of approval here.