Back Roads

Having been prevented from flying yesterday by the rain and wind, and having recognised that today's weather was forecast to be much better here, I managed to get a 2 hour booking for the plane this morning.

Left home at 8 to drive the 20 miles to the airfield to be ready for 9 ... loads of time!
Except ! There had been an accident with a tanker on the M4 early this morning, and the eastbound carriageway was shut. This caused all traffic to divert through Swindon and down to Marlborough, and then presumably along the A4 to Hungerford to re-join the M4. Because of this it took 2 hours for the half hour journey! And despite having left Swindon in glorious blue sky, a batch of clouds had arrived at the airfield with a low visibility and a low cloudbase. We got a bare 15 minutes of flying time!

Rather than take the risk of getting caught in further traffic snarl-ups on the way back we decided that the back-roads were the place to be, so as we drove home I snapped this, plus a few blurry shots, through the windscreen. Don't worry - I was the passenger!

In some places the autumn colours are very obvious, but this section of the road goes through a still green tunnel. I think I'll try and get a comparison picture in a few weeks time!

Sometimes our plans don't work out as we expect, but at other times they far exceed our expectation. Mrs TPV and I were disappointed this morning, but it was an experience that I guess we will talk about for a while, and it will make next time we try and fly together even more memorable!