OK, so to complete the whole picture, here's what was involved in doing the flight. I'm only showing the practicalities of preparing and doing the flight itself. I'm not including the other stuff like preparing and filing an international flight plan and submitting the exit UK/entry France paperwork which are essential however.
First, images of each leg of the flight taken from my flight planning software. Once finalised the track is downloaded from my PC into the same software on my tablet and mobile phone (the latter as a backup) and the flight is flown by GPS by flying the aircraft on the blue line. I also have a hard copy of each leg in the form of a printed off chart so I can monitor times etc which I record on my kneepad so I know that everything is going to plan and can forecast ETAs should they be needed. Times are very important because of fuel burn which I'll come back to later. I also have notes of radio frequencies, approach and landing procedures, altitudes for each leg on my kneepad, stuff like that.
Leg 1, Clipgate Farm to Abbeville. This took the form of two hops totalling 157 kms, but I had to land at Calais to close my international flight plan and clear French customs. Actually due to Covid the airport was technically closed but open as an unlicenced, uncontrolled airfield. So no customs were present and although they'd posted instructions for closing the flight plan these did not work (nobody answered the phone) and I did it by calling NATS (National Air Traffic Service) in the UK before continuing. Time 109 minutes, except real flight times are always slightly longer due to take off and landing procedures.
I was carrying two 20 litre jerricans of fuel with me strapped to the passenger seat just in case I had difficulties buying fuel en route due to the Covid situation. The idea was that I´d hang onto them and buy fuel when I could so if I had to land due to low fuel I could top up using my own supplies and continue on my way.
Leg 2, Abbeville to Dreux 165 kms, 105 minutes.
Leg 3, Dreux to Blois, 115 kms, 71 minutes
Leg 4, Blois to Le Blanc, 118 kms, 73 minutes
Leg 5, Le Blanc to Malbec (home), 190 kms, 121 minutes
What you see on the charts above is only part of the planning process, actually the last part of it. As well as marking the planned track of each leg on the chart (eg to ensure that you remain clear of controlled airspace, prohibited areas, danger areas and areas closed temporarily such as by NOTAMs) you also have to plan the altitude to be flown on each leg and also take into account the wind direction and speed which will almost certainly vary on long flights.
Then you have to take into account fuel burn and where you need to land, therefore, to top up your tanks. This is complicated because not only must fuel be available but the facility must also accept a form of payment that you have available. Many will only accept company fuel cards (eg BP, Total) that I don't have because they demand an annual subscription and would therefore be uneconomic for private pilots like myself. Fuel burn calculations are very important because not only mustn't you run out but you also always need to have an adequate reserve to allow for when things don't work out eg you have to divert.
There is flight planning software out there but I have created my own interactive Excel spreadsheet that does all of my calculations for me and saves loads of time and effort. Here´s the planning sheet for this particular flight.
The variables are indicated airspeed (it´s the same as true airspeed for a low and slow aircraft like this), track, distance, wind velocity (speed and direction) and fuel burn. You also need to take compass variation into account but it happens to be close to zero in Western Europe at the moment. Each leg in the spreadsheet corresponds to a leg on the chart and by clicking on a leg in the planning software it automatically gives you the track direction (degrees) and distance. Once the numbers are input into the spreadsheet it does the work for you. The main thing that you have to play with is where to land en route to refuel for the reason I mentioned previously.
Having done all this all that's left is to do the flight!!