Day 11 Latvia and Estonia

It didn’t look as though much was going to be possible today as there was thick fog when I woke up at 6. A quick check on the weather showed it was unlikely to clear before midday, so back to bed for a lie in. Sure enough it gradually lifted and suddenly the sun broke through. Back at Klaipeda aerodrome all was deserted. I filed a flight plan for Palanger (all of 10 miles away and I was already inside their control zone) and off I went. The big problem with flight plans is the delay they introduce. You have to submit them an hour before the flight and you rarely get the chance to submit them ‘til everything else is done. So even though I tried to get through as quickly as possible it was still two hours before I was on my way to Riga, fully refuelled but with a credit card nearly £100 lighter for the landing charge, the handling charge, the fuel delivery charges, the air traffic control charge, the air transport tax (yes that did apply to private flights there). As I crossed into Latvia aiming for Riga I was asked to descend to 1000 feet and then call Riga approach. I did and no response. I couldn’t hear them at all until I climbed a bit just for an experiment. Still they couldn’t here me so I called Riga Information. They told me I had to talk to Riga Approach and I explained the difficulty. They offered no solution other than to keep trying. At this point I felt uncomfortable going into a major international airport with lots of aircraft already talking to them (BA, Easyjet, Lufthansa, SAS are those I remember, so I asked for a diversion to my alternate. This was quickly granted and I found my way to Ventspills. I got a great welcome there, but they apologised that they had no fuel. All scheduled services were stopped last year, and it appears that they keep on 2 people simply to maintain the paperwork so the airport can be operational during the summer. I so had my plan filed, a landing fee of 19 euro seemed quite reasonable. Was then off, with my first long sea crossing of about 60 miles. Once I reached the other side, the scenery had dramatically changed. These Estonian islands are more like northern Sweden than anywhere else. The trees are still in bud and spring is only just beginning to arrive. The sun was shining and it looked quite idyllic. I continued to Kadla and was almost immediately cleared to land. On landing I was met by the Airport manager (also the refueller and Air Traffic control). He helped me park up, refuel and secure the aircraft and then offered me a lift to the hotel. The hotel is quite pretty, all made of wood and charges the princely sum of €40 euros dinner and breakfast included. Sounds like a bargain to me. The airport manager is coming to collect me tomorrow morning and he assured me that this would not incur a fee.
Kardla itself is a small town set on the northern edge of the island. Apparently it comes alive in the summer when the population rises from 10,000 to 70,000 and hence the airport.
As I arrived I could see the line of thunderstorms marking the Finland coast. clearly not something to mess with today. I just hope tomorrow brings a calmer outlook.

So progress today 260 miles making 2841 overall. Fuel consumption is working out at around 15 litres per hour, so better than I thought.