Not The Red Arrows

It rained so heavily overnight that it woke me. I got fed up with waiting for it to stop this morning and took Ollie dog for a walk in it. I dried my camera off and put it on top of the boiler.

After lunch I heard a familiar helicopter sound, rushed outside and snapped this Westland Wasp, which I recognised immediately.

Ollie dog and I went to Doddinghurst as the Red Arrows were due to fly over at 5:03 pm. I'm glad we allowed plenty of time as we had to negotiate lots of Essex single track tree tunnels before we found an open vantage point. As we parked a family with long lenses and lots of digital information walked across the lane. Soon after the formation appeared. What a thrill. My lens was fogged - what a disappointment. (Extras)

Our foray reminded me of when our children were small. We would pile into the car, drive the country lanes to Stansted and find a farm gateway to park in so that we could watch the planes.