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The Grumpy Gang

The Grumman Aircraft Pilots Association European Branch

BUT the welcome we received was tremendous. A wholehearted greeting by the flying club President

and a throwing open of the on-field restaurant (Restaurante Helice), all made us feel at home.

It would appear that not too many visitors brave the runway and we suspect that had we known the actual condition of the runway, then perhaps we would have bypassed the place - That would have been a great pity as the airfield has a lot to offer.
We quickly erected our tents (some quicker than others! - (an 'in' joke amongst us campers, as mine only took 8 ½ seconds!! - Your scribe) and settled in for a two day relaxation. The club President invited the local press (The Espinho Journal) to attend. They interviewed and took photographs of our intrepid group together with our aircraft. The on-field restaurant did us proud. Since language was going to be a problem, the manager persuaded a great young man to help out. Ricardo was his name, he spoke excellent English and he did a sterling job throughout our stay - (mucho gracias Ricardo). The restaurant staff prepared lovely meals and kept us well supplied with beverages of the vine kind

On the first evening, the town mayor came to dinner along with his town colleagues. A riotous evening was held by all - we are not sure if the Mayor knew quite what he was letting himself in for - he offered to pay for the drinks!!! Not realising we had been partaking of the local hooch for much of the day prior to the meal. We think he may need to increase his town borrowing requirements for the next fiscal year!! Loads of speeches, loud promises of our future return (to inaugurate the new runway!), freshly cooked local produce and much laughter was the order of the day. We went back to our tents that evening very content and at peace with the world.

As an added bonus, the wind changed during the night and we enjoyed the 'pong' of the sewage works for a couple of hours - Ah! The benefits of indoor plumbing! Did I mention the rain? Yes to augment the 'pong' we had the rain during the night but we were mostly too blissful to care and anyway it had cleared by morning.

The next day was spent sight-seeing, looking at the crashing waves on the seafront, walking the runway to clear off the various stones and brickwork and walking in to town to see how the other (non-camping wimps) elements were existing.