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After a cycle of excitement followed by let down when it was too windy or too rainy to fly, finally the gods of the weather saw fit to produce an almost perfect day for my 9 June rebooking of my balloon flight. The flight was a present from my parents over a year ago for my birthday and Christmas present and it’s taken until now for me to manage to actually get airborne. I’d booked to fly from Westonbirt Arboretum which is slightly north east from where I live. When I got there at around 0615 the balloon crew were already present and sending up a helium balloon to assess the wind direction and strength as the helium balloon rose up.

The morning was slightly hazy, a situation that continued for the duration of the flight. We all parked up in the adjacent field to the arboretum entrance and a roll call was taken. The balloon crew started the unpacking process while we looked on but pretty soon we were called over to help.

I was keen to get the most out of the experience so when they asked for volunteers I immediately stepped forward. My job was to hold onto the mouth of the balloon and hold it open while a couple of the other guys used big fans to inflate the balloon’s envelope with cold air. Once the balloon was pretty full, the pilot started pulsing the burner on and off. The balloon started to lift and was quickly tipping the basked upright. We then all climbed into the balloon and took up the ‘take-off’ position which consisted on sitting on the seat (it was very crammed) and holding onto the rope handles. When the balloon was off the ground we were allowed to stand up as it gently rose up.

Part way through the flight the pilot sent out point-and-shoot camera to take a group photo of the basket. It was on a pair of outriggers and looked quite incongruous. I had to take a photo of it! Hopefully I should get the eventual picture in a few days time.

I wanted to take a photo of myself while inside the balloon which meant I had to hold the camera at arm’s length outside the basket and shoot upwards. My findings are that it is impossible to take a flattering photo of myself from below! I tried looking into the camera (It makes me look a lot fatter than I am) and looking up (unflattering up the nose shot) but eventually settled on just looking off to the side. I still look fat but at least not as fat as in the shot looking into the camera!

From the air the ground looks very beautiful. The fields are different shapes and sizes. I usually avoid looking out the window on commercial airliners as I easily get motion sickness but the ride is so smooth inside the basket that it hardly matters that you’re not controlling the vehicle so motion sickness wasn’t a problem.

You also get to snoop on people’s properties and see what their gardens look like. We passed over one of the passenger’s son’s land. There was a lot of joking about whether he would be out of bed or not but as the balloon passed over he came out and started waving. The pilot passed round Champagne and soft drinks and we all stopped taking photos to enjoy the moment.

The inside of the basket was very cramped. One of the shots I was hoping to take was one straight up towards the crown of the balloon. It wasn’t really possible without invading the pilots space but this was the best that I could do.

When we had moved away from fields with livestock present the pilot descended down to within a few tens of feet of the ground where we drifted along just above the crop. The shapes inside the crops were also interesting. It’s amazing how precise they are.

We then ascended slightly to look for a place to land. The balloon was travelling quite slowly so it wasn’t hard for the retrieve crew to follow us. We saw them parked up watching us from the road near the entrance to Badminton Park.

The pilot eventually saw a grass field that we could land in and we all took our landing positions. It was a gentle touchdown, the pilot giving the crown rope to one of the guys so he could run out into the field away from the basket to stop the canopy collapsing down onto the burners and basket. There was a slightly dodgy moment in the field as it contained a loose angry barking dog. I don’t know where it went but after a while it just wasn’t in the field any more.

We all pitched in to pack the balloon back into its bag which was a mission in itself. The air gets trapped inside the collapsed canopy and you have to try and push it out while folding the canopy up as you go. It was surprisingly difficult but eventually we got all the air out. We then put it all into a big bag and then the lifted the bag onto the trailer. Then it was just a quick trip back in the landrover back to where the cars were parked and a short journey home.