The flight to Gdansk was fairly eventful to say the least. As we came into land in thick cloud the plane suddenly went to full power and started to climb steeply. For about 5 seconds I sat there waiting for the worst until I surmised we had missed whatever we were about hit, then the pilot came on to say he had had to abort because of the low cloud down to 30m. He then went on to say that he would have another go and that we wouldn’t hear from him until we were either on the ground or on our way to Warsaw to refuel. Fellow Brit Sarah Bayliss was on another pink plane going through the same process. We came in for a second time with a very nervous atmosphere spreading through the plane, I suppose everyone thinking of the terrible crash in which the Polish President died recently. Just as I caught a glimpse of the grass through the window the engines roared again as the pilot aborted again. Everybody started to relax a little and off we went to Warsaw, although there was quite a lot of turbulence on the way.
After about an hour on the ground in Warsaw we refuelled and then returned to Gdansk to applause as we eventually landed 3 hours late.
After a taxi ride to the event centre and a lift to our accommodation by the Hungarians who had driven 18 hours to get to Gdansk!! we headed out onto the model event area to to tune in and make sure our bikes were working after the flight.
The rideability compared to the map was very variable and many huge unmarked fallen trees made route choice a lottery but we learnt enough to make it worthwhile.
Accommodation for us is at the Gdansk Fencing school, a brand new facility which is very plush with food just down the road at the event centre, lots of salads and polish fare including a pudding of a cross between a berry dumpling and ravioli which we saw several teams eating as a main course with the salads!
With the last of the GB team flying in late Wednesday night and the registration process now complete we are all looking forward to the first race a sprint this afternoon in the parks of Gdansk near the sea front.
Results should be available at