A Long Trip -  Can anyone help me? by Nick Darbyshire

Are there any fellow pilots out there who can help me??
I live in Lancashire and since buying my trusting Fly castelluccio Mach 4 in May this year have thought long and hard about a cross country journey from Wigan to Penarth in South Wales. Why Penarth you may ask!. Well, I drive there to visit my sister at least twice a year and the Welsh countryside is amazing.

I can only imagine what it's like to see it from the air, especially the Brecon Beacons. Despite how inspiring it is, I decided to leave it 'till next summer to get some flying hours in, it is after all only six months since my first flight. I have logged over 60 hours without so much as a scratch and have had a couple of 45 mile flights from Bradford and Longridge Fell before I bought a big 10 Litre tank. Navigation wasn't a problem on these trips, neither was fuel. The 5.5 Litre tank lasted the one and a half hour trips downwind which was expected. Now the nights have drawn in and the wind and rain pelts the window, I can only think of that trip to South Wales maybe in Spring when I'm lucky enough to get an anti-cyclone in the west giving calm weather and a nice northerly breeze. 'I thinks it's time to start the planning' I thought. So here's what happened.

Plan number 1
I got out my airmap showing highway code of the sky right across Wales and studied it. Great! I realised Wales is one of the quietest regions for restricted airspace. That's easy. I noted all the microlight air fields that I could maybe land and refuel (permission of course) and spent a good hour on the net to get the phone numbers. Over the next couple of days I realised this trip was to be harder to plan than previously thought. I called each microlight club and told them of my plans and politely asked them for permission to land there with prior notice. I was a bit let down by the fact that out of the 5 club I called not one would let me land there or give me any info. on where I could land. This was going to be tricky, as we can only legally carry 10 litres of fuel at any one time - enough for 70 miles maybe. I wanted to fly 180 which would require 2 refuels.

Plan number 2
I decided not to give up and take a very long drive through the heart of Wales and source fuel stations near a suitable landing fields. I planned on visiting the local farmer who would own the land to ask for permission to
land sometime in spring. Then the second problem arrived. Have you seen
the amount of land a farmer can own in Wales?? You can find his field but try and find his house! You never will. So that was that. I couldn't find> who owned the land so I couldn't land there!.

Plan number 3
This was probably the best plan of all. I bought some Stella and went to my mates. After consuming quite a few cans I told him of the trip and asked
him if he wanted to be my ground crew, responsible for the fuel and the
butties etc. He accepted. Good. Now I don't have to worry about that. Theonly problem I now have (and I ask for help on this one) is where to land to refuel? I don't have to land near a fuel station so I have a big choice on where to land now. However I still have the problem of contacting the landowners. Can anyone help me on this??? Driving through the country reveals miles and miles of farmland. If I can't find the landowners then what about the common land you see, the land that is not cultivated in any way. The land that looks like no-one owns it. Would it be unwise to land on that? Does every piece of land belong to someone?

I need to do this trip and would appreciate any help anyone can give.

Thanks

Nick Darbyshire