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Little day trip Shoreham EGKA to Bembridge EGHJ August 2024

I went with my A&P/IA mechanic who looks after my plane so well

We were going to go to Alderney EGJA but it suddenly fogged in. So switched to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight (no time to do the GAR notice to most other interesting places; not even LFAT) where I had not been for some years. A very long flight of about 20 mins each way but would have taken half a day to get there by car etc.

The place is fully embracing the British “we did not work during covid because the govt looked after us so generously, so why should we work now” culture, with half the places shut, including the “famous chips and grease” Propeller Inn next to the airport. I live near a pub and that one also works maybe half the hours it used to. The owners probably think they have an easier life but it is a downward spiral because you only need somebody to offer a decent service and these lazy buggers will go bust.

But it was a good walkabout and we picked a load of blackberries Found a great cafe in Sherborne Street which did a lovely mocha with oat milk It’s always a good test of an advanced civilisation whether they do oat milk mochas

On the way back, Shoreham suddenly got fogged in too! We had to waste an hour or two, sitting on the grass, and flew back the instant it was above minima. The approach was actually VMC all the way down by the time we got back.

The airport is same as always. Nobody there but the ancient concrete runway is good and the grass is fine too (safe and almost no rocks on the tarmac boundary). £20 in the honesty box.

Amazing how much hassle one can get all in one day, but fog is the hardest of things in flying and is almost never forecast with any reliability, both in formation time and dissipation time.

Bembridge International. Hut locked up

The Propeller Inn, shut

This is where you pay

The Britten-Norman Islander factory. They moved to the mainland (juicy govt grants) but are now back and there is a little bit of activity visible

I liked this plate… wonder if his grandfather fought at Iwo Jima?

One of the Napoleonic fortresses (from the days of simple warfare)

Isle of Wight in a nutshell

This place did “food” of sorts

Next to the walk from the airport into town is this windmill. Shut of course but you can climb over the gate


Database report

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I like Bembridge and I like the Propellor Inn; always enjoyed my food there. As for the closing times: if there’s no demand then why would you waste money opening up?
Most of all I like the walk up to the monument and then along the cliff top to Sandown where the food options are multiple.

Last Edited by Stickandrudderman at 13 Aug 14:27
Forever learning
EGTB

if there’s no demand then why would you waste money opening up?

I think that’s a circular argument. People learn of a shorter opening and stop coming. I have a pub very near my house and see this clearly.

Anecdotally it appears that the pub used to be packed, and I remember that too.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

From your many prior visits to Bembridge, do you recall the Propeller inn always being open 7 days?

The grass to the north of the main parking area actually has Perfo installed so you can park on it in the winter, I don’t think the main parking area does though. You can’t see the perfo as the grass seems to grow over it after a few years.

Last Edited by IO390 at 13 Aug 17:03
United Kingdom

Not been there for years, so it was good to visit again.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

My favourite airfield 😊

I’ve not eaten in the Propeller Inn since 2021. From memory the restaurant had recently had a change of ownership, and the food was noticeably better than on previous visits. I normally wouldn’t touch ‘pub food’, but it was good. I think on that occasion someone was trying to book a table for Sunday lunch the next day, and was told they were already fully booked. Like Stickandrudderman, we’ve gone to Sandown (by bus) for food the last few trips, or just had a picnic on the hill/beach.

The pub being right on the airfield is very handy to buy a bottle of water or use the toilets when travelling with the children.

Our village shop, now disastrously ‘community run’, drastically cut its opening hours to reduce costs, and still can’t work out where their sales disappeared 🤦‍♂️.

It is quite common in France for customer-facing businesses like bakeries and restaurants to close on Mondays and Tuesdays, so that their employees can have a (displaced) weekend.

The emergency phone number is worth knowing.

EGHO-LFQF-KCLW, United Kingdom

@Capitaine the availability of fresh bread, locally, every day of the year, is of great importance to the French.
It used to be that a village or villages in close proximity would have an arrangement so that they never closed on the same day.
If no 2 bakeries they would have an arrangement with a depot du pain which would get their bread delivered from a village a bit further away.
Nowadays, we have gone high tech (🙂) and fresh bread is available from vending machines 24/7 but there is usually no viennoiserie or patisserie.🙁

France
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