Ballooning

These are all pictures from my ballooning trip. Put your mouse over the image to get an explanation of the picture.

We took off at around 6am and flew for roughly 40 minutes. There were five balloons in total that flew - it was a practice day prior to the Leeds castle balloon fiesta which happend on the Saturday and Sunday after we flew. As you can see the weather was perfect as ballooning is a true fair weather activity we were fortunate to be able to fly the first time.

Being in a balloon is a rather odd experience as you have no sensation of movement since the balloon floats at the same speed and direction as the prevailing wind. The balloon I was in held a maximum of 10 people (though there were only 6 in when we went) and we only went up to about 1000 feet but the other balloons went much higher. For the really brave it is possible to have a glass bottomed balloon basket - but I think that would be way too freaky.

I would really recommend going in a balloon if you get the chance though they only fly very early in the morning or evening time as the winds are calmest then.