Le Touquet, and the air display that wasn't .....

We decided to break our journey back from France with a couple of hours people watching at Le Touquet. As we drove over the bridge at Etaples, which forms a boundary with the airport, we saw a line of spectators and cars. Being British, when this happens the correct form is to stop and join them; rather like the way we always join a queue!

The Patrouille de France, the French equivalent of the Red Arrows were lined up with their engines running. You could smell and taste the paraffin in the air.They taxied to the runway, although Tim thought that with the weather conditions they were unlikely to display.

One of the planes did take off, but quickly disappeared into the clouds. Eventually the other planes taxied back off the runway to their parking spots to leave room for the rekkie alphajet to land.

This is what we missed ....

We continued with our journey to Le Touquet which was still really busy at 7pm.

As we walked along the seafront we came across the pilots chatting with tourists. The display was originally  scheduled for 2.30, put back until 5.30, sadly didn’t happen. This must have been really disappointing for everyone.

The queues leaving Le Touquet at 8pm were massive, making us wonder whether we would make it to the shuttle in time.

Sadly we did ……