With everything packed away and the Closing Ceremony finished, we hitched up the trailer and headed off on our journey home. We’d been gone for about 25 minutes when the Team Captain called and asked us to return to the airfield to pick up the team mast as no one else was prepared to take it home….we had no choice and so had to turn around. After loading the mast into the glider trailer, we set off for a second time.
We had a ferry to catch – so the aim was to get to Calais before midnight on Monday 27 June. The journey somehow seemed a lot easier going home than on the way up to Sweden, probably because the weather (now that the competition had finished!) was warm, dry and sunny. The route was similar – South through Sweden, across the bridge into Denmark and into Germany which, when you are driving through, just seems to go on forever and this is where we stopped overnight and slept in the car. We rose early in the morning and set off once more, finally clearing Germany and into The Netherlands, then Belgium and finally France. We arrived at Calais at 16:30 – much earlier than anticipated and paid extra to be able to get onto the 17:20 ferry to Dover.
We had another comfortable ferry ride across the channel. Back on UK soil, I followed the Tom Tom navigator in the car, only for it to direct me to the Channel Tunnel!. With no other option available I had to drive through the barrier with a special pass for me to be able to exit further along the road – it clearly looked as though this happens several times a day…very odd.
The earlier ferry meant we arrived home in the day light and were able to start emptying the car and trailer. Several of our neighbours came out to have a chat and find out how I’d done in the World Championships.
The following day Tuesday 28 June, we took the Mosquito out of its trailer to properly inspect the damage that occurred during that last field landing. We also rigged the glider to make sure that everything went together properly and so that we could check the controls and deflections. Fortunately, other than a couple of scratches beneath the starboard wing and a small dent in the leading edge filler, everything was absolutely fine.
