We enjoyed this event last year, if only because it offered 5 days of doing nothing but sitting around, watching a few aircraft and eating ice cream. The weather forecast suggested that the following days would be sunny and warm so we packed lots of salad and liquid and headed off. We'd forgotten what a pain in the posterior Oxford is to drive around. Who designed the roads around there? A model of absolute stupidity, but eventually we managed to find our way to the Gloucestershire DA Temporary Holiday Site near Fairford, saw some familiar faces from last year, quickly pitched up and....relaxed.
On Tuesday and Wednesday we did very little. The weather was OK-ish with a few showers (we still, foolishly, believed what the Met Office had told us. We never learn) and Chez, the ice cream man, stopped at our pitch every day, so it was all very relaxing. It was very nice to get away from the thunder flies at home (and the next door neighbour's ridiculous Harley Davidson) and enjoy the peace and quiet, but we found that the lack of flies was probably due to the wasps eating them all. Our wasp kill rate was probably about 10 a day.
It was our intention to get a bus into Cirencester during this trip for a look around, but found that there were ridiculously few buses per day and it was difficult to tie them in. Well done Gloucestershire Council - that's the way to encourage public transport use.
On Thursday we took our lives in our hands and walked along the road into Fairford. The aircraft for RIAT had started to arrive and some were rehearsing, so the journey took longer than it should as we kept stopping to watch the skies. Having a break from salad we stopped for a pint at the excellent Bull Hotel, but were chased out of the beer garden by the wasps and retired into the bar where we enjoyed a fantastic chicken pie. After lunch we grabbed a few provisions from the limited supplies available and headed for home.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday RIAT went into full swing and the days were filled with the deafening roar of fast jets as they swooped and roared directly overhead. We are sure that there is a much better view from the campsites than there is from the show itself. On Saturday the pizza man visited so we enjoyed another break from cooking. The pizzas were delicious.
We didn't want to come home on Monday. It was so peaceful and relaxing in our field and we had some lovely neighbours we enjoyed chatting to. Unfortunately we had to brave the stupidity of the Oxford road system for the 3 hour journey (it's only 110 miles) home, stopping briefly at Rushden Lakes for a quick mooch and lunch.