Phew, what a long day it’s been, following our fantastic French breakfast and some very good coffee we planned for our next two flights that will take us ultimately to Northern Spain and the city of Bilbao. Starting in Marseille as climbed to the highest cruise altitude so far of 13,500ft in order to climb over the peaks of the French Alps and into Switzerland, this will be the most challenging flight so far and in conjunction with the weather makes it potentially one of the most dangerous, low cloud and high ground do not generally mix well for pilots. Our route took a north easterly track along the foothills of the alps before the majestic sight of Mount Blanc appeared off our wingtip.

Dinner was a traditional affair with Fondue and Raclette before I found a quiet corner in the pilots lounge to rest up whilst our engineer prepares the aircraft for what will become our longest leg in Europe. Coffee is replenished and snacks refilled.

Taking off from Sion we where instructed to use runway 07 meaning he had a long climb out to clear the peaks before we could turn back towards the St Prex navigational aid, climbing to a clearance altitude of 12,000ft we heading back toward Lyon and the foothills before a series of descents back to 6,000ft. The flight was smooth and uneventful which is a good thing, soon we approach Toulouse’s Airbus plant and the Champagne regions or France before heading towards the French Spanish border and the Pyrenees mountains.

Bilbao situated on the coast of The Bay of Biscay and will serve as our first Spanish stop and our overnight stop.

The Shrike is currently tired down and resting before we head out to Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon tomorrow.