10. Matsuyama to Takamatsu - 24 May 2004

After studying the map, I decided to do this leg without navaids, flying low through valleys and passes. This worked well leaving Matsuyama, cutting south under Mt. Takanawa and then flying east along the coast.

	Leaving Matsuyama
	Flying east along the coast
	Yoshino river valley
	Takamatsu airport; note small cone volcano in the background

My main error was in flying inland a tiny bit too soon. I ended up in the Yoshino river valley, which looked like a very good place to put an airport. Only there was no airport.

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Had I followed the Yoshino all the way out to the sea, I would have ended up at Tokushima airport. But I was having trouble reading the topography on my ONC map. First I wondered if perhaps I might be too far north. So I clomb and peaked over the mountains on the south side of the valley. No airport there.

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Then I circled back to the valley, thinking perhaps I had passed the airport while peaking over the mountains. No. I began to suspect that Takamatsu was to the north of me, and not in this valley at all. A look at the built-in map (which shows your location) confirmed this. I quickly turned north, making this my base leg and made a fast descent. Bounced on landing a little.