VFR visit to Bagnoles LFAO a (FR seulement / only) field with good 1060m hard runway.
My wife and I flew from Cherbourg to Bagnoles (90nm) arriving early morning on a Monday. No other traffic heard or seen in the area. Parked on the grass and checked position was OK with what I guess was an instructor who was briefing a student, he just wrote our telephone number down and said no charge for landing and overnight stay. Looking at the AIP it is run by the Mairie de Bagnoles so this sort of makes sense. A pleasant 30 minute walk gets you in the centre of the town.
The town is a Spa town very very pretty and on a Monday very quiet. We did the 6k walk around the twenty places of interest with the route suggested on a tourist map. It seems there are a few good shops ( I can tell by how the wife slows down).
Next morning took off at 09:15 local and nobody there. We were also the only plane on Brest Info all the way back to clear customs at Cherbourg. Cherbourg remains a very good entry/exit airfield, time from Landing to Take off on arriving from UK 19minutes.
Bagnoles Airfield.
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Walk into town.
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Plenty of eats and sleeps.
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Casino on the Lake (Pond) in the centre.
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Town Hall in the middle of the Arboretum.
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The Spa centre.
That’s a really nice trip – many thanks for posting the report.
Nice plane too
Hi @Norman,
How did you get to the city from your the airfield ?
We landed, tried a path on google maps but got stuck in the bushes. Did you walk along the runway ?
Yes – along the runway, good opportunity to check surface:-)
Nice trip report Norman, those pictures give a real fresh air
“6km walk & Spa” sells quickly, that location is pinned down
Norman wrote:
Cherbourg remains a very good entry/exit airfield, time from Landing to Take off on arriving from UK 19minutes.
You don’t have to park and walk that far, just taxi near Edeis new terminal door and AFIS can advise on that !
So we had a great day trip in the 152 yesterday.
Edit : the 152 maintained 100+ knots IAS the whole trip. A good value touring plane
Airfield was deserted, but not the city. Pretty town, a little remote but it adds to its charm. I confirm Norman’s report and pictures but we are less in shape than him (we took 50mins to get to the aircraft from the lake).
The shortest way to walk to the city is along the runway until this point
then it is a nice trail.
Just some random pics :
So a great trip to improve your nav skills. Used 4G weather on SD on the way back to avoid some showers. It worked until 4000ft. Above 5000, nada.
Thanks Norman and Jujupilote. And just like Ibra says, it went on the to-fly list very quickly
I spent 2 days at Bagnoles, while the “therms season” has ended, the place still has some charme and hopefully visiting it again in the summer, I flew AR from Toussus in comfortable smooth air, 1h at 120KTAS mostly between layers and westerly landings with low evenings sun, we stayed at Hotel Spa Du Béryl
Restaurant at Toussus
I lied which Cessna
We had a 5€ voucher from hotel to go here, it felt like a trap, they had a Lambo in front of the parking, I bet it was the owner not one of the customers
We also had a lovely welcome by some aeroclub members, on arrival: one guy offered a lift and on departure: they had a members lunch and it was lovely to stay in warm place inside and have a nice chat, top spirit !
A taxi number (we used him on the way back, pretty reliable for Sunday afternoon lift in France)
Cloud break into Orly