Flying down to Stanley

We assembled for the flight down to the islands on Sunday 10^th June at RAF Brize Norton.  The flight was scheduled to leave at 23:59 but we were told that we had to check in at least 3 hours beforehand.  At least it gave us the chance to introduce ourselves and start to learn each others’ names.  From the start this trip has felt very different to other college trips, the VIP lounge at Brize Norton had 3 clocks on the wall, set for the UK, Kandahar and Kuwait.  Seeing those clocks was a simple reminder of the major areas that our armed forces are committed to and are continuing to work in while we get on with our day to day lives. The plane (a standard Boeing 767, with all mod cons) left on time for the first leg of the journey to Ascension Island (just 9 hours flying time!).  Ascension is just below the equator, some considerable distance off the West African coast.

At Ascension Island we were whisked off the plane and driven for about 20 minutes to the Administrator’s Residence. Apparently Ascension Island is called Cinder Island by those who are posted there.  It’s a volcanic island, red and barren with one Green Mountain where the Victorians managed to get plants and small trees to grow, creating a damper micro climate on that mountain.  It has a population of about 800 people, all living there because of work.  There is no resident population, even if a child is born there they do not have the right of residency.  The population seems to consist of the RAF, the US Air Force, the BBC who have a station that transmits into Africa, and Cable and Wireless who maintain their transatlantic cables.  Actually there is a resident population ­– thousands of green turtles and maybe on the way back we will see some. 

The Residence, a stoutly built Victorian single storey building, is high on Green Mountain with amazing views across the island and a hair raising drive up a single track road with very sharp hairpin bends.  Scraping noises as the back of the minibus ground on the road, only happened on half the bends!  We had time at the Residence to admire the views and have some welcome fresh fruit before we had to come back down to the plane for the second leg of the journey, another 8 hours to Mount Pleasant on the Falklands.