Last week was grubby weather in the UK so we decided to “follow the sun” by TB20.
Angers LFJR : The first leg was 200nm due South to Angers, all at FL65 cleared through airspace as usual in France without a single detour. There we found a very friendly airfield ideal for customs (they came to the plane and took my passenger to the terminal with passports, by the time I had put the cover on he was back and we were free to go). We booked a EuropCar in advance from the airfield – which is essential as there’s nothing much there and taxis are crazy prices.
I was NEARLY put off Angers by the incredible overlapping Danger, Restricted Aerobatics etc areas on the chart – but as always in France, once you talk to the controller they all seem to evaporate. The main restriction LFR28 is actually only “Radio Contact Mandatory below 2,500ft.”
We stayed at the ridiculously lovely Chateau Des Briottieres – again you wouldn’t do this without a car. You are welcomed by the family who own and run the place and treat you like a house-guest, "Here, try my brother-in law’s champagne – or would you prefer some Cremant from my cousin). The rooms are as they have always been (we stayed in what had been Grandpa’s room), the pool is new, and the bars are honesty bars. The wife of the owner cooks delicious and creamy traditional French cuisine. The bicycles have seen better days and the distances between villages with shops are long, so best is to drive your hire car to Angers (lovely) and surroundings.
Quiberon LFEQ : After three days the sun shifted West and we went with it – a straight line to Quiberon – in trying to get cleared through the danger area over the bay we discovered it has “changed” and isn’t relevant any more, so another straight line, this time due West.
Nobody at the field when we landed but you see plenty of circuit traffic and parachutists on a Summer weekend. Steel rope tie-downs set in to the apron and a mailbox for your “tax” of €10 landing and €10/night. We stayed at the Hotel Europa : the long grey building in front of the runway threshold in this pic:
Our room had a small balcony with a view of the sea and the runway :) Not opulent but clean, comfy, friendly, cheap and a very good restaurant. A quick stroll round the runway to check-in and they rent you bikes from the front of the hotel to explore the peninsula (its almost an island, and apparently used to be).
Rennes LFRN : We didn’t go there but I mention it as I planned to use it as a customs stop on the way home. I called up and they said handling is now mandatory for everyone but couldn’t say how much – "just put your request through “my handling” website 48hrs in advance blah blah" – all seemed very unwelcoming.
Dinard LFRD: Dinard required only 24hrs notice and charged €7 – the fireman even gave us a lift 200m to the terminal after he refuelled us, since we didn’t have an Air BP card. This is a very easy customs stop for Brittany – you DO have to walk in the arrivals door, present your passport and walk out the Departures door, for which you MUST have your licence; don’t leave it in the plane.
Brest control cleared us to FL75 for the return and there we stayed for 1hr3mins, another straight line, until landing at Shoreham.
Couldn’t have been an easier trip and I heartily recommend all the above destinations. Especially Quiberon, I will be back, and next time will explore Belle Ile, which has I think 660m of runway rather than the 775 at Quiberon.
Oh you do know how to make people jealous 
Yes, Quiberon is great. And Belle Ile is just as nice.
About Rennes LFRN (my homebase) : for sure GA aircrafts parked on GA apron don’t need assistance :
Great post Neal
Good to see your “new” plane has more uptime, too!
Peter wrote:
Great post Neal
Good to see your “new” plane has more uptime, too!
Thanks Peter – its behaving very well indeed so far. Shame the autopilot died of old age, but we are hoping for an STC for the STEC digital autopilot over this Winter – otherwise I think we will install an STEC55. That aside she is a beautiful machine and its nice to enjoy the stable ride of a TB20 again, even if I miss the virtually-fly-for-free fuel burn of the DR401 (£22/hour seems a distant memory)!
LimaVictor wrote:
About Rennes LFRN (my homebase) : for sure GA aircrafts parked on GA apron don’t need assistance :
Thanks for the tip LimaVictor – I’d love to fly in to Rennes, how do you think I could go about arranging this if the people on the phone say it needs Handling? They said “From today” last Thursday – it MAY be a new rule, but SkyDemon has contradictory reports from visiting pilots too… is there an aero club who can do “non-handling-handling” or something do you think?
In fact there are two sides : commercial side, where you need handling, and aero club side where we can park about 10 planes with no handling at all.
You can go outside 24/24 and for going back to your plane the aero club needs to be open (7/7 9h to 18-19h LT). The phone is on the VAC map (it’s the first one) but not sure the secretary will be able to speak english.
ATC is very friendly as the GA activity is large.
There is a new Shell Avgas pump with quite expensive price for France (2,32€ at this time) which work with credit card.
Perfect info – thanks@LimaVictor I will try next time :)
Belle Île is a terrific destination and a great little airfield. Went last year and was randomly welcomed by a bunch of French pilots in the tiny clubhouse drinking Belgian beer from a single draught tap. Accidentally handed out a £20 note instead of Euros – cue inevitable and numerous Brexit jibes, but all in good cheer! Beautiful little island, worth exploring for a couple of days. I remember flying over Quiberon which sounds equally lovely – thanks NealCS
