A Visit to the Orme by Mark Ollier

Mark reports that he was visiting, in his retirement years, Llandudno for a family holiday with his wife and mother-in-law, who (I am taking Mark’s word for the fact that he has the permission to publicise her age) is soon to be 90 years young.

In the tradition of obedient husbands, as we all are (those that aren’t have found themselves separate and apart, I fear (don’t ask me how I know)), Mark did good loyal family things in and around Llandudno, earning himself brownie points in the process. This leading in process lasted a good 2 days before the itch got too big to scratch, and the inevitable trip to Great Orme became too much of a distraction.

A break from shopping

The Gods must have been shining upon him because the dutiful family days coincided with winds of 40 to 50mph, which, for those that have flown off the Orme, are challenging for the most brave amongst us – see my last article on the PSS weekend.

There is some fine planning in the Ollier because not only did the “you can fly today Mark” Thursday coincide with the best conditions, but also the wind speed was between 15 and 20mph. The wind Gods, the family Gods, and God himself were looking down upon him.

Mark’s ladies were kind enough to allow him to fly on that third day, largely because he had given them not only unlimited use of his credit card in the shops, but also as many cream teas as they could stomach in the middle of Llandudno (in fairness to Mark, that last sentence is complete invention on my part, apart from the mention of shopping and Llandudno)

How to hide your models on holiday

As some of you will know, finding space on holidays for aeroplanes to fly is a deft art of subterfuge and guile. Some of you, however, may not know that Mark has the benefit of a top of the range Campervan, which he will endlessly discuss with you, if you let him. I have let him on several occasions. What he didn’t tell me, however, is that it has an amazing capacity for model aeroplanes (NOT TOYS) in the wardrobe.

Those of you of a nervous disposition should stop reading now and take a barbiturate. Into this tiny wardrobe he secreted “the Hotshot, Magnus, Pace VXH and Watz@ XL” That is the advantage of having either a wardrobe like Narnia, or tiny weeny aeroplanes (NOT TOYS). Sorry I must stop shouting.

Imagine the coincidence of not only organising a holiday with trips up the Orme, but also arranging to meet friends up there as well, namely Kevin Rush, Robert, and Michael. Mark did not reveal the latter two’s surnames, no doubt for reasons connected with National Security.

The Flying

I will now let Mark take up the story “..1st up was the Hotshot and Kev kindly snapped away taking some great images.. it has 2/3 ballast so he did well to capture it as it was zipping around at high speed.. in fact all the models were shifting in the super smooth lift. After an hour or so we were joined by to fellow LMMGA members Robert And Michael they also had good flying sessions through our the day… Michael did remark to me at one time “you do like to fly fast models” all in all there was plenty of flying and banter.. Roberts Needle was very striking and aloo performed well.. I must thank Kev for taking the Photos”.

So there we are then. If you liked this story, then message Mark via Facebook, and he will tell you more about how fast his models fly, and how much you are missing out on life by not having a Campervan. I am one of those poor unfortunate Campervanless people in the world.

Another fun fact is that Mark is actually a test pilot for Colin Waite, who has produced several of the models in these fabulous photos, some of which were taken by Mark, whose photos can be seen on our home page in the banner header. If you want to view the whole album of photographs click here