This web site will be up-dated regularly to the end of October 2013 and will cover the trip from Madrid (Spain) through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauratania, to Senegal and back to Madrid.

We will meet up with the other French Aircraft in Toulouse and will then be travelling the following route.

Toulouse

Muchamiel

Tanger

Essaouira

Tarfaya

Laayoune

Dakhla

Nouadhibou

Saint Louis

Dakhla

Tan Tan

Taroudant

Fes

Castellones

Madrid

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You can follow us with SPIDERTRACKS in real time when we are in the air, we are identified as P2-TNT on the site, or you can see where we are parked if we are not moving.

SUN 22 SEPTEMBER - MADRID
Bob arrived in Madrid and was met at the Airport by Sergey and his daughter Anna. Sergey had been in Madrid for about 5 days doing preparations for the flight.

MON 23 SEPTEMBER - MADRID
Bob obtained his Senegal visa at the Senegal consul in Madrid as well as getting a Yellow fever injection.

TUE 24 SEPTEMBER - MADRID (Casarrubios - LEMT) - TO - TOULOUSE/LasbordesS (LFCL) - FRANCE
Todays flight was 375 Nautical Miles and was 2 hours and 55 minutes flight time. It was a good flight, the weather was fine with no clouds and the winds were neutral.

On arrival in Toulouse we met some of the other French people who we will be travelling with. Some arrived in their aircraft before us while other came later. Bob was struggling with all the French speaking people while Sergey was brushing up his French and by the end of the day he was speaking like a Frenchman.

We all had a briefing at the Airport at 6.00 pm followed by dinner.

WED 25 SEPTEMBER - TOULOUSE/Lasbordes (LFCL) FRANCE - To - ALICANTE/Muchamiel (LEMU) SPAIN

Todays flight was 395 Nautical Miles and was 3 hours and 5 minutes flight time. It was a good flight, the weather was fine with no clouds and the winds were neutral.

We initially tracked more or less directly to Valencia on the east coast of Spain and then to Alicants. This took us over the Pyrenese just to the west of Andorra.

There was little cloud over the Pyrenese and they looked rugged and spectacular from the low level that we flew at.

The Pyrenees, is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain. It separates the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extends for about 491 km from the Bay of Biscay (Cap Higuer) to the Mediterranean (Cap de Creus). For the most part, the main crest forms a massive divider between France and Spain, with the tiny country of Andorra sandwiched in between. The Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre have historically extended on both sides of the mountain range, with small northern portions now in France and much larger southern parts now in Spain.

THU 26 SEPTEMBER - To ALICANTE/Muchamiel (LEMU) SPAIN To - TANGER (GMTT) MOROCCO

Todays flight was 414 Nautical Miles and was 3 hours and 40 minutes flight time. It was again good flight, the weather was fine with few clouds and the winds were neutral. However the controled aitspace around Alicante and San Javier took some effort to navigation around. We also had to hold near Tanger for about 30 minutes due to air traffic before they allowed us to land.

The flight along the Spanish Mediterranian at 300 meters was spectacular with housing and appartment develelopments being a significient feature of the landscape. They simply stretched to 100's of kilometers. This part of Spain is a popular holiday destination for people from other parts of Europe where they can come to and enjoy the warm sunshine.

Along the Spanish Mediterranean coast one finds many of the most popular holiday destinations in Spain. Holiday favorites where sun and beach are the main attractions. The pleasant Mediterranean climate is an all year magnet for northern Europeans and the Spanish coast is so easy to reach from all other European countries!

The photo on the right is of a small development taken along the way is the town of Guardama.

Some of the larger developments are really incredible.

FRI 27 SEPTEMBER - TANGER (GMTT) MOROCCO - To - ESSAQUIRA (GMMI) MOROCCO
Todays flight was 360 Nautical Miles and was over 4 hours. It was again good flight, the weather was fine with few clouds however we had strong headwinds of up to 44 kts and this made it quite a long flight for the distance travelled.

Once back into a muslim country it did not take Sergey amd Bob long to get into morning prayers. They got out their best Jalabas and stopped for prayers at all the Mosques.

Sergey and Bob were also mistaken for a couple of well know muslim comedians and the locals insisted on having their photos taken with them. They could not believe how much they looked like the comedians even down to the colour of the Jalabas.

SAT 28 SEPTEMBER - ESSAQUIRA (GMMI) MOROCCO - To TARFAYA - MOROCCO

Todays flight was about 300 Nautical Miles and took just under 3 hours.It was again good flight, the weather was fine with few clouds and the head winds had mostly disappeared.

In the 1920s, the French commercial air carrier Aéropostale constructed an airfield here. A small monument now stands at that site to honour the air carrier, its pilots in general and the French aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in particular. He served as station manager here during his career as an airmail pilot.<

Sergey came back from the beach exhausted and hungry and selected his spot for the night.

Accommodation at Tarfaya was in an open communial tent on the airstrip. The tent was where we slept and ate. It was in a desert area and there were no clouds and no chance of rain. However it turned cold night and there was a wind coming into the tent as it was abdulled with one side completely open.

The aircraft were parked just a short walk away.

SUN 29 SEPTEMBER - TARFAYA/MOROCCO To LAAYOUNE (GMML) WESTERN SAHARA To DAKHLA (GMMH)WESTERN SAHARA

We did two flights today with a total distance of about 300 nautical miles. A refuelling stop was made at Laayoune and we stayed in the Buena Vista Hotel in Dakhla.

Most of the airports that we have stopped at have long sealed runways and nice terminals but few aircraft movements. We were also required to go through passport control even though it was a domestic flight. There were shops and cafes that were closed because of not flights. It seems such a waste of resources.

During the colonial period, the Spanish authorities made Dakhla the capital of the province of Río de Oro, one of the two regions of what was known as Spanish Sahara. They built a military fortress and a modern Catholic church, both of which remain points of interest for visitors to the city, until the demolition of the fort by the Moroccans in 2004. A prison camp also existed at the fort during the Spanish Civil War, at which writers such as Pedro García Cabrera were imprisoned.

MON 30 SEPTEMBER - DAKHLA (GMMH) (WESTERN SAHARA) To NOUADHIBOU (GQPP) (MAURITANIA) To SAINT LOUIS (GOSS) SENEGAL

Todays flight was about 500 Nautical Miles and took 4 hours.It was again good flight, the weather was fine with few clouds.

The officials in Mauritania became difficult so we elected to overfly Mauritania and proceed direct to Saint Louis in Senegal. This is as far south as we are going and we will stay here for two days and then head back to Europe.

We more or less tracked coastal and the desert came right down to the Atlantic Ocean so for most of the time we were flying over the desert or the ocean.

We are just to the north of Dakar which is the most westerly point in Africa.

TUE 1 OCTOBER SAINT LOUIS (GOSS) SENEGAL

This is a non flying day.

Saint Louis today is an overcrowded, dirty and smelly city located on the Senegal River. The buildings, roads and other infructure are poorly maintained as are the buses and taxis. The vendors and street sellers push their wares onto you far too forcefully to the extent that they become annoying.

However there is evidence of Saint Louis' former glory when French Airmen in the 1930's flew flimsey aircraft from Saint Louis across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil. The hotel where we stayed, The Hotel de la Posts Saint-Louis, has many old photographs of these historic airmen and their aeroplanes on it walls and in its rooms.

WED 2 OCTOBER - SAINT LOUIS (GOSS) SENEGAL To DAKHLA (GMMH) (WESTERN SAHARA)

Todays flight was about 500 Nautical Miles and took 4 hours and 40 minutes.It was a good flight, the weather was fine with few clouds, however we had a 25 knot head wind for most of the way and this made it a long flight. We again over flew Mauratania and went directly to Dakhla.

Upon arrival at the immigration counter in Dakhla to re-enter Morrocco, and before we handed over our passports, Sergey and Bob were immediately recognized by the immigration officials. The immigration officials wanted to know why we both were not wearing our Jalabas for they said that they had seen us on Moroccan TV with them on, they then started to laugh and thought that we were quite funny.

We have decided to leave the group and go back to Madrid via a different route. The group will continue onto Tan Tan in Morocco tomorrow while Sergey and Bob will head out to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. However should the weather proove unfavourable or should there be any difficulties with the flight approvals then they will stay with the group.

THU 3 OCTOBER - DAKHLA (GMMH) (WESTERN SAHARA) To GRAN CANARIA (GCLP) CANARY ISLANDS

Todays flight was about 295 Nautical Miles and took 2 hours and 40 minutes.There was a dramatic change in conditions in the last 100 Nautical Miles of the flight from the Western Sahara to the Canary Islands.

We went from a flat, hot, clear and dry area in the Western Sahara to a mountainous, cool, cloudy and wet place in the Canary Islands. The Islands are only 100 miles off the coast of north west Africa but the change is amazing. It was also somewhat of a cultural shock going back to "Western Civilization" for the Canary Islands are part of Spain. When you see the local people and tourists dining out in Las Palmas in rather flash restuarants it is difficult to envisage the financials problems we are told that Spain has.

We found a cheap hotel on the beach in Las Palmas on the Island of Gran Canaria and had a selection of restuarants close by along the water front where we could enjoy the local cuisine and watch the passing parade.

FRI 4 OCTOBER - GRAN CANARIA (GCLP) CANARY ISLANDS To MADEIRA (LPMA) (PORTUGAL)

Todays flight was about 280 Nautical Miles and took about 2 hours. It was a good flight with nice weather and little wind. It is the type of flight that we have become accoustomed to on this trip.

Madeira airstrip is on the coast but because of the close proximity of the mountains on the island straight in approaches are not possible. The mountainous nature of the island also means that there a many road tunnels, and the tour guides tell me there are 70 such road tunnels to get from one part of the island to another.

Maderia is a popular year-round resort, being visited every year by about one million tourists, noted for its Madeira wine, flowers, landscapes and embroidery artisans, as well as for its annual New Year celebrations that feature the largest fireworks show in the world, as officially recognised by the Guinness World Records, in 2006. The main harbour in Funchal is the leading Portuguese port in cruise liner dockings, being an important stopover for commercial and trans-Atlantic passenger cruises between Europe, the Caribbean and North Africa.

SAT 5 OCTOBER - MADEIRA (LPMA) (PORTUGAL) To CASCAIS (LPCS) (PORTUGAL)

Todays flight was 520 Nautical Miles and took about 4 hours. It was a good flight with nice weather and light and variable winds.

Cascais is not only the General aviation airport for Lisbon but it is also a well known holiday destination on the Portguese coast about 19 kilometers to the west of Lisbon.

Due to Portugal's neutrality in World War II and the town's elegance and royal past, Cascais became home to many of the exiled royal families of Europe, including those of Spain, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Nowadays, Cascais and its surroundings are a famous vacation spot for the Portuguese and foreigners, aiming at both the "jet-set" and normal tourism, who seek to enjoy its beaches.

We had our final dinner in a nice footpath restuarant in the main central square in Lisbon.

SUN 6 OCTOBER - CASCAIS (LPCS) (PORTUGAL) To MADRID (CASSARRUBOIS - LEMT) (SPAIN)

Todays flight was 260 Nautical Miles and took 2 hours and 35 minutes. It was a good flight with nice weather and light and variable winds.

We had departed Madrid two weeks earlier in a north easterly direction and arrived back in Madrid from a south westerly direction. We had completed a full circle covering north west Africa and the nearby islands out in the Atlantic.

Sergey's daughter Anna, was at the airport to welcome us back to Spain and be our driver/guide.

MON 7 OCTOBER - MADRID (SPAIN)

Sergey and Anna took Bob "out on the town" for his last night in Madrid. We went to an Argentinaian restuarant and drank Argentianian wine as well as having Argentinian food.

In the backgroung of the photos are the Royal Palace and the Opera House in the centre of Madrid.

Bob will return to PNG and Sergey will go home to Russia until they decide where to go to next.

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TRANS NIUGINI TOURS is Papua New Guinea's leading inbound tour operator. Trans Niugini Tours operates cultural and nature tours in Papua New Guinea and owns and operates a number of award winning Wilderness Lodges there.