A Bimble Around the UK
- Jun 29
- 15 min read
A Bimble around UK - A 3 day flying tour over Icons, Castles, Lochs, Rivers and Bridges
“Teeside Radar, I may have to divert to yourselves due to heavy rain and turbulence ahead….” I said. About 10 miles north of our planned track, I could see 3 dark vertical curtains of heavy rain. Do I fly through the gap between each “curtain” as I have done so many times all over the UK and Europe or do I turn back, that was the question. Teeside was already on our frequency providing us a transit through their CTR along the east coast. The ugly remains of “ironopolis” dismantled steel plants and the neighbouring extinct coal fired power stations lay on my left hand side to the west, while the many scores of wind powered turbines on the eastern seaboard were spinning furiously.
The 20 knot winds flowing over the Cleveland Hills in the North York Moors was the culprit creating the turbulence as we flew along the coastal VFR points at 1500 feet. I couldn’t go over the broken clouds as the wind was stronger at altitude and some of the cloud tops were higher than 8000 feet.
A few moments earlier, I had heard a brief transmission from a commercial twin turboprop ATR aircraft (which carries about 70 passengers; weighing about 20 tons) asking to change his track to avoid turbulence in the vicinity. I decided that our half ton Pipistrel would do well to stay out of that kind of rough air and I had a very personal duty of care for my passenger on this round UK tour, my dear daughter.
Originally, we had planned to fly to the ULM fair in Blois that week end in June as a treat for her birthday and also to satisfy my curiosity about new type of microlights in Europe and to meet some flying buddies from across Europe.
In France, the presence of a “Dome of Heat” or “Dome de Chaleur” phenomenon and the high probability of large thunderstorms, (which I wrote about a few years ago convinced me to plan a different route).
A leisurely take off on Friday in bright hot sunshine from Damyns Hall crossing over Luton Airport with our mascot, “Grogu”, waving at the aeroplanes taking off and landing below us, whilst the “Mandalorian” and “Princess Amidala” enjoyed cruising serenely northwards in the Pipistrel Alpha.
The landing at our engineering base for quick oil change was interesting due to the wake turbulence from the wind turbines about 3 miles away upwind. I like “interesting” approaches and landings as they test my aircraft handling skills and do give me buzz reminding me why I enjoy flying Microlight aircraft. The professional engineers at Airmasters, showered their full and meticulous attention to the works on the Alpha whilst we caught up on the latest Microlight news with a cuppa and donuts.
Flying over RAF Bruntingthorpe, Amy remarked at the thousands of cars and lorries parked on the old runways.. “ why are there cars and not airplanes there…” she asked. “because parking cars generates more income for landlords, than collecting landing fees” I said.
The ex-military airbase was where the FAA and CAA tested the effects of bombs exploding inside a Boeing 747 to assess the effects after the Lockerbie disaster. (ref Wikipedia)
Leicester was busy as we climbed up to 3000 feet to stay outside their cylinder of activity, looking out for gliders in the clear blue sky and encountered the turbulence at the “temperature inversion” layer. I decided to descend and stay in the slightly cooler air but the northern sunlight streaming into the cockpit was uncomfortable despite the deeply tinted windows and windscreen of the Pipistrel.
Passing Melton Mowbray, I pointed out to Amy signs of the disused airfield, which was the RAF base for Spitfires, Hallifax bombers and the Thor nuclear missiles. The town is on our driving route to see family in the Midlands, so I am familiar with it on the ground (not desirable to be caught in traffic in Melton Mowbray) as well as from the air as I have landed nearby in farmers fields to visit family.
I had telephoned, before takeoff, the Duty Officer at RAF Waddington, declaring our intention to fly through their MATZ and ATZ. “The Red Arrows are not operating today” he said. I called on the ATC inflight as we neared the “On Freedom’s Wings” sculpture just southwest of the military runway and descended in an spiral orbit to admire the unique national monument to the Lancaster Bomber. We were free to fly with our wings, because they made it possible!
Lincoln Cathedral and Castle were difficult to spot in the midday sun with no shadows, until we were almost upon it. A low fly by gave us good views of both. “Lincoln is a combination of Lindum Colonia translated as lake side colony for retired legionaries” I said to Amy, with knowledge gathered from my landside visit to the famous city recently. Amy read geography at university and I history, so our in flight conversations over various places made the views more interesting for both of us.
The straight-line distance between the 2 great rivers emptying into the North Sea on the east coast of England, the Thames and the Humber is about 130 nautical miles. Humberside Airport were busy calibrating their radar systems with a twin engine aircraft making approaches from several angles and we were told to stay clear to the west, which neatly led us towards the suspension bridge connecting Lincolnshire to Yorkshire across the Humber, with the town and the now rundown fishing port of Grimsby on the coast to our right.
Beverley airfield was a tricky place to land with the southerly wind of 20 knots streaming through the large 350 feet high wind turbines. It was a 90 degree cross wind with the combined wake turbulence from 36 blades of the 12 turbine wind farm. Don Quixote would have loved charging them on his steed Rocinante. Instead I had my “whiskey charlie” fully capable of handling such ferocious breezes. I thoroughly enjoyed anticipating the gusts as we landed smoothly and safely.
Whilst refuelling with mogas, we watched the local school Cessna practicing their quixotic crosswind landings with instructor on board shouting “I have control” just before crashing, I imagined. I had to honestly compliment the duo when they completed 6 touch and go’s with such nonchalance through the turbulence. The flight instructor had a wide grin on his face and I knew I am not the only instructor who enjoys flying in “not-really-trainable-weather”.
The clubhouse at Beverely was quiet and coolly air-conditioned which gave us an hour to recuperate and await the midday turbulence to subside, we hoped for the smooth easterly seabreeze to set in for our northwards journey into Scotland.
Alas, in flight, we found out that the westerly breezes were stronger and did not allow the salty warm air to invade inland. It is easy to follow the coastline over the seaside to avoid most rain or turbulence when the sea breeze sets in, but on this afternoon it was too weak. The VFR route along Bridlington with the distinctive Flamborough Head, Scarborough with the castle and holiday camps, Whitby harbour with its uniquely shaped whale mouth piers, catching and mixing the waters of the River Usk and the North Sea, is a very familiar route that I have flown along many times. I was very pleased and privileged to show my daughter the sights I have seen and am familiar with.
As we passed east of the Cleveland Hills towards the Redcar and Hartlepool VRPs, I saw that curtain of rain showers. It was nearing 3 pm and my in-flight thought process was racing ahead to landing, finding a hotel and dinner. I know it all takes time and some airfields in the UK close at 5 pm (or have no services available, even though daylight hours may be long). The combination of warm weather, turbulence, rain ahead and special passenger, told me to think about diverting into a safe haven.
“.. Whiskey Charlie, no problem, you are cleared to enter controlled airspace not above 2000 feet; runway 23 in use, right hand circuit, join base leg…”
“Thank you ma’am, Wilco…”
As soon as we entered the Tees valley, the turbulence reduced… Good thinking, I said to myself.
“Cleared to land runway 23, wind 250 degrees, 10 knots”
I read back the clearance and landed. “Do you wish to stay long or overnight” said the ATC.
“can we decide shortly please” I said.
“the handling agents will help you” she said.
A silver people carrier drove up next to us while we were still in the cockpit, handling agents spilled out, trying to stay clear of the now drizzly sky. “Can we find hangar space or a sheltered parking spot for this light weight plane please” I asked.
Naturally they had never seen a Pipistrel Alpha before and were so bemused to see it parked on the large concrete apron in vicinity of big cargo and passenger planes as well as a row of twin engine military fighter jets for mock combat sessions with the RAF.
Handling agent from Jet Centre by Willis then confered with ATC and her manager; two more silver vans turned up with more helpful agents, all dressed similarly in yellow jackets. I spotted the manager as he was the only one with a neck tie and business suit under his hi-viz. All tried their best to find us a spot away from potentially gusty winds overnight; (none forecast, but you can never say what Mother Nature could do in the dark to a Microlight.)
By the time, we tied down safely, locked controls, put the travelling covers on, the drizzle passed. We found a hotel in centre of Darlington town centre. The Premier Inn is in the old but renovated town centre. George & Robert Stephenson and their Quaker financial backers started the first steam locomotive passenger train services in the world, from Darlington.
A great achievement, which undoubtedly changed the world as we knew it then. I was reminded of the words of the EAA President; to paraphrase - “build a mile of road, you can drive for a mile, build a 10 mile railway, you can travel 10 miles; build half a mile of runway and you can fly around the world”. We had taken off in the morning from a runway which is ½ a mile long; seen some friends, flown over some national iconic monuments, crossed airports and bridges, enjoyed the views of this pleasant and green land and now were in an historic town.
We enjoyed the best authentic South Indian cuisine with Mumbai street food for starters and watched Toy Story 5 for afters. What more could a father and daughter ask for in one day!
Day -2 of A Bimble around the UK
After such an eventful day, and a shared room, Amy did not sleep well due to her Dad’s snoring; I did not sleep well because I had eaten too much tasty food. First decision was made at breakfast… separate rooms and eat less. The flight planning was easy, as it was a bimble and we had no fixed destination nor a time table to obey.
I said to Amy, “lets simply take in the sights from the air and see where the weather lets us fly”. The sharp weather front and associated turbulence had passed into the east during the night and left clear blue sky with light winds, taking us northwards towards Newcastle, another historic city.
I wanted to see the Angel of the North, which Amy and her mum had driven past on the A1 motorway. As we approached Newcastle airspace, I said to ATC “may I make an orbit around the Angel please…” ATC said “as you wish, report completed…”
After taking a few photos and marvelling at the rusty metal structure (like the Helter Skelter at the Olympic Park in London and the “On Freedom’s Wings” near Lincoln) we went north to cross the River Tyne over the 7 bridges which are quite iconic along the riverside, even more so from the air.
More photos, more thoughts of how lucky we are to be able to view these from the air in a Microlight (thanks to “those who went before us…” ), and the pride and privilege to enable my daughter to see what I see in my line of work!
Passing the famous (in the past) town of Morpeth and over its ex-RAF airfield now reverted to agricultural uses, we angled over the Rothbury Forest crossing the River Coquet at the Harbottle Castle, towards Edinburgh. Amy was “pilot flying” whilst I enjoyed the views and watched the clouds create patterns on the bald hills of the approaching Scottish Cheviot Hills.
Talking to Scottish Information, I told them of our onward route and the radio chatter fell silent. We both remarked upon the deforested hills, wondered how much unintended damage the “industrial revolution” had caused to the countryside and to our way of life all over the planet. In a way I felt slightly guilty enjoying the fruits of the technical progress we were enjoying at the moment.
We soon crossed the River Tweed tracking between Kelso Abbey on the east and Roxborough Castle on the west, once the stronghold of the Scots against the English. The fabric tweed does not takes its name from the river, but is a mis-reading of the word tweel meaning diagonal weaving pattern.
Heading northwest towards Edinburgh between Lammermuir and Moorfoot Hills, we saw there were wind turbines of various sizes, “baby, mum, dad” sizes we named them in jest. Seemed like they plant more turbines than trees nowadays. And also more solar farms than corn fields. Well… there’s more to see from the air than from the ground; different perspectives indeed.
In the clear blue visibility ahead with clean cut cumulus above us and bald hills below, our track took us towards a strange yellow structure, which was surely not a castle at Musselburgh…. As we came closer it revealed itself to be a cluster of brightly painted foundation pillars for wind turbines for the Inch Cape Wind Farm, about 12 nm east of Dundee.
“Edinburgh Radar, request entry into your zone…” I said. After the usual pleasantries, we received permission to fly along Arthurs Seat, (with tiny figures of hikers waving at us) then over Edinburgh city, past the castle, the train station, the church tower towards the VRP at Hermiston.
We were “cleared to cross over runway 24 above and behind the landing ATR on final approach…” Amy was pleased (and I think faintly envious) to hear the female commander’s voice from the landing commercial aircraft.
Flying over the bridges on the Firth of Forth, I recalled to Amy that I have a series of photos of the new bridge being built in various from 2011 to its completion in 2017. I also have fond memories of great cloudscapes on the Forth and watching our two aircraft carriers being assembled at the Rosyth dockyard.
This time we saw 3 submarines moored at the docks as we flew past towards the next iconic structures of the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies. These are just on the western edge of the Edinburgh CTR, but can be difficult to spot from 2000 feet, so we descended to 1200’, with permission from ATC and circled around both the river boat canal lift, doing its low power elevating and the stainless steel horse heads rearing out of the ground as if by magic. Both the Falkirk Wheel which is not really a wheel but a canal boat-lift device and the Kelpies are unique in their design ethos, structural and engineering beauty.
Cumbernauld airfield were expecting us, quickly refuelled us and sent us on our way with no landing fees in celebration of their 60th anniversary!
Glasgow ATC cleared us to fly along their boundary through the scenic River Kelvin valley, staying low and out of the mild hill turbulence. Tracking west just north of the River Clyde, we crossed over the port town of Alexandria on Loch Lomond and then the Firth of Clyde and north-westwards to Oban.
Some mild turbulence and my belly saying “need lunch soon” was a distraction but we carried on, whilst I kept Amy awake with some stories of previous flights over the Scottish highlands and lochs. Landing at Oban in a 20 knots wind was great fun; obviously no one else was there in this wind. My old friend Brendan Walsh was pleased to see us as customers for the excellent food they serve at his superb Glenforsa hotel.
We flew to Oban before they shut at 5 pm daily, but were too late to do a whiskey distillery tour so had to settle for a tasting session in the bar. Highly recommended! Then a leisurely saunter across to the port side fish restaurant in the bright sunshine at 7pm to be very well served with excellent seafood. It was after all, Amy’s birthday treat on the midsummer, combined with Fathers’ Day weekend.
I had stayed previously at the hotel on the bank of Loch Etive, which has a good view of the “Falls of Lora”. When the shallow part of the loch near the bridge sees the strong tide coming in from the west, the “falls” face east and when the tide flows out, the “falls” face west! In the hotel at breakfast, both having slept and rested well in well-appointed rooms, we heard co-travellers speak many different languages from around the world, but we were the only ones who had flown in to Oban, everyone else was travelling by surface transport. How lucky we were.
Day 3 of A Bimble around the UK
The Sunday flight route back was as planned with the wind behind us and blue sky ahead. Follow the wind patterns I have always said. As mentioned earlier, our original plan was to go to France, however, on checking the weather, our bimble was altered to go north along the east coast and back south along the west coast, anticipating tail winds along our route.
I am pleased to say that, once again, my decision making process was correct!
Super smooth sky over the highlands and lochs at 5000 feet with a slight tail wind, brought us towards Prestwick. But with several IFR inbounds, ATC said to “stay outside controlled airspace” which meant we were obliged to descend to 1200 feet along the Irvine Bay and turn east at the VRP Doonfoot with its Millenium Bridge for pedestrians. It is tiny, but I was looking for it and identified it easily as the sun shone on the plastic tunnel over the River Doon.
Enjoying the smooth tail wind, we landed at Kirkbride for a quick refuel. It was hot and we were both feeling the effects of the warm temperatures. Luckily on the Sunday the White Heather hotel at Kirkbride was open for lunch for Fathers’ Day. It was full of pensioners enjoying their Sunday fixed menu lunch with their families, young and old plus pet dogs. We bought a couple of cans of sweet cold drinks with ice and cooled down under a shady tree in the garden. An hour later, suitably cooled and rested, another take-off ensued. I stayed low flying over the Lake District, looking out for paragliders (saw only one) flying over Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwent Water. I loved going through the narrow gap of hills over Thirlmere on south bound towards, Ambleside and Windermere past Beatrix Potter’s Cottage.
It took a leisurely 20 minutes to fly over the Lake District from North to the Morecambe Bay tidal flats, (the site of the tragic deaths of 23 slave cockle pickers in 2004; which led to regulations and laws against modern slavery, Gang Masters and Labour Abuse). This was all news to our mascot “Grogu” as well as “Princess Amidala”.
Blackpool ATC allowed us to loiter around the Tall Tower for pictures then cleared us southwards to Liverpool airport. My plan was to fly along the Merseyside docks and then over John Lennon Airport (which I have landed at in the past), but were told we might have to wait for several incoming IFR flights. Not wishing to loiter in the heat and controlled airspace, I decided to fly over the Flint Bridge on the River Dee.
Locally known as the “bridge to nowhere” because it does not connect to a motorway, this is an iconic bridge, with it’s soaring white A shaped pylon and cable stays, it is strongly reminiscent of the Santiago Caltrava bridge designs I have seen elsewhere in Europe, especially the one in Jerusalem where I had flown in my microlight in 2011.
From the River Dee to the flat plains south of Shrewsbury, we flew east alongside the Long Mynd, Wenlock Edge, Corve Dale, crossed the River Teme, then over the Malverns to land after a long 2 and ¾ hours for a much needed comfort break and to cool down at Kemble airport.
Sufficiently refreshed at Kemble, we stood by the nose leg and marvelled looking up at grand size of the decommissioned British Airways Jumbo Jet converted into a restaurant. However, we were soon scurring outwards and upwards as we were shooed out of Kemble because they close at 5 pm and no late departures are allowed.
Flying back home was interesting as we went past RAF Wroughton which is now a solar farm. I had my first view of the Vulcan Bomber doing a flying display at Wroughton some decades ago. I was then invited to visit the cockpit and was surprised to see how small and cluttered it was. I was impressed of course and the Vulcan crew teased me about flying microlights, all taken in with good humour.
We saw the white horse just north of Marlborough in bright sunshine and then flew over Amy’s grand-parents’ house, bringing back some fond memories for me of meeting my wife’s parents for the first time.
With the pleasant sky continuing eastbound, I contacted Farnborough Radar for a transit towards home, where we flew over our house, with my wife wearing her bright blue dress and waving a white bed-sheet she was hanging on the drier.
Another iconic bridge we had to cross before landing at Damyns Hall is the Queen Elizabeth II bridge on the River Thames.
A three-day “bimble” in the UK taking in the iconic sights, crossing rivers, viewing castles, dales, hills, lochs, enjoying good company both on the ground and in the air. Meeting helpful strangers with good will in their hearts was very satisfying indeed.
Deepak Mahajan
29 june 2026
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