After a quiet day on the Bwlch we were looking forward to our second day on the hills. The rumoured arrival of the RCAF Hornet on the Loop had lit up social media overnight.
Day 3: Wednesday 17th July 2024
I was awake at 5:15 am and then found it difficult to get back to sleep! We were very early for our breakfast before leaving for the Bwlch.
We passed the layby under Bluebell at around 6 am and it was jammed with cars and motorhomes. Up the pass the laybys for the Spur were also full. Clearly the rumour of the Hornet’s pass had motivated a lot of people to come to the Loop. The parking news continued as the Bwlch layby was also full…
We did manage to squeeze onto the verge opposite and further down the road. The verge was large enough that the car was well away from the white line.
We were parked at 6:30 am!
On the Bwlch
Once we had climbed up to Top Shelf the outlook didn’t not look too promising.
By 8:20 am the valley below was clear.
One Texan T1
At 9:30 we had our first pass – a Texan.
First sight of the RCAF CF-18 Hornet
We knew that the Canadian CF-18 Hornet had left on its flight to RAF Fairford via the Mach Loop. From our vantage point on the Bwlch we watched the plane come from Bala and go through Cad.
These images were with my lens at 500mm. Then we waited to see it=f the Hornet would appear below us on Bwlch.
The CF18 Hornet
Then we were rewarded by our first sight of the Hornet, as a speck as it made the turn towards us.
And the Hornet was gone…
The plane made the turn and went through Cad again.
Hawk T2 at 10:19am
And Hawk T2 ZK013 again at 10:23
The valley was quiet and we sat for a drink. Above us we could see people on the top of the hill.
This Texan came from Bala and went into Cad.
Two Texan T1s at 12:07 am
The Texans came through very close to each other. I didn’t zoom in as I wanted an image of each plane. The result was not great images of either one.
Hawk T2 at 12:21 am
We could see a broken down minibus on the pass below us. The rammed laybys for the Spur meant the mini bus was stopped on the road.
As well as a breakdown van the police were there to help with traffic, We could see all the passengers were now over the Armco barriers.
Two Texan T1s at 2:43 pm
This time I concentrated on just one Texan.
Rumours were on social media about the possibility of a Typhoon and we were all ready!
While I was having the last of my tea and a snack, I noticed bilberries by the ground sheet. Not as numerous as the ones I remembered on the moors when I was a kid – but there nevertheless.
We chatted all day to the other Loopers. The car park had started filling up at 3 am and to get to the layby they had woken up the motorhome guys to move closer together to allow more space for their cars!
I really enjoyed chatting to the guy from Switzerland who talked us through what it was like in the air force there as volunteer ground crew. Especially as the volunteer pilots made sure the ground crews were treated with respect when on exercises and were invited into all the messes etc.
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