Finally, after two postponements we actually made our long awaited Balloon Flight yesterday.
Though naturally this wasn't without a few last minute changes to the plan before we got inflated and airborne. Briefly, 11.00pm phone call the night before to check if the flight was going ahead as planned, became, call again in the morning at 9am. The original meeting place was different and now 30 minutes further west of Henley and we had to be there for 11.00. On arrival at the Chiltern Park Aerodrome, it was full of parachutists waiting to chute. Our Virgin balloon team showed and instructed us to drive back towards Wallingford and a disused college playing field, from where we would launch.
Having assisted in laying out and inflating the enormous balloon we were no sooner in the basket as we were in the air. Just amazing.
The winds were very light and with a cloud base of just 1800 feet we drifted slowly above Wallingford and then more slowly eastwards. The first thing that struck me was how incredibly silent it was. Obviously the periodic whoosh of the balloon burner flame interrupted the calm, but in between it was almost surreal in the surrounding quiet, especially on those occasions we rose into the clouds and became enveloped in a white out.
But back to the smooth disquiet of drifting eastwards: down below you could see things moving but couldn't hear them (apart from a few motorcyclists that is). Our progress was leisurely as flat fields slowly became rolling hills as we followed the A4130 towards the Chilterns. Looking straight down, trees and shrubs were almost one dimensional, resembling the shapes of mere garden design plans. A car scrapyard looked just like a pile of kids toys. And to see the Red Kites flying from above, rather than the usual below, was just fantastic.
The distances we could see reduced in the hills and very gently we came back to earth. Our pilot opened the 'parachute valve' at the top of the balloon and down we came. Touching the ground once, for luck, before eventually landing on some common, somewhere just north of Nettlebed.
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| River Thames, running north. |
All hands to help fold up the balloon and squeeze it back into its impossibly small bag. Champagne and certificates and then all aboard a mini bus to take us back to our starting point and our cars. (Only about 7km away).
What a great trip. Very smooth (a car ride is more bumpy) and very safe.
Just loved it !
Selection of aerial pictures follows:
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| Someone's modest back garden |
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| Certificated proof ! |
