I may have paid a visit to Lee on Solent to go to the Hovercraft Museum as will appear (or might already have done so) in another post but it does happen to sit on the edge of an airfield. Airfields often provide an airport café, and I was after some lunch, so I made the short walk to theirs. It was a bloody cold day so the idea of being in somewhere warm overlooking the field, even if nothing much was happening seemed like a good plan.
The hot food was good, and the windows looked out over the field. There was an AW189 sitting out on the coastguard ramp but more of that another day. Meanwhile there were a few light aircraft and helicopter movements. I did head out to the viewing area outside the café on a couple of occasions to see some of the aircraft. I didn’t get everything moving, though. It was pretty cold and being outside all of the time didn’t look like fun.
The R44 arrival occurred while I was inside but, when I saw the occupants heading back out, I thought I might get the departure. However, if I was going to make my connection home, they would have to go swiftly. That didn’t seem like it was happening, and I didn’t want to wait an hour for the next connection. Eventually I bailed and as my journey home took me by the airfield, I could see them still on the ramp, so I am glad I didn’t wait.