Hot Air Ballooning

I bought hot air ballooning vouchers almost a year ago another activity on my list of things to do before 30 and have been meaning to book a slot ever since, but somehow only got around to doing it when the vouchers were on the verge of expiring (technically speaking, I never did get around to it – it got delegated to Mr Beet).

It was in Kent and couldn’t have picked a better, clearer day for it.  It was very hands on – everyone has to pitch in to get the balloon up and to put it away at the end.

A little bit of uncertainty as to whether the wind was going to drop enough to let us take off, but when we did we could see Canary Wharf to the North, the South Downs to the South and Tunbridge Wells and the Kent countryside underneath us.

The pilot has described the landing as a bump possibly followed by a second bump.  In fact, the landing involved a very heavy bump, followed by the basket tipping completely on its side and being dragged along for a bit.  Several people came running over and we had to shout out not to worry, we were in fact landing and not crashing.  It was absolutely fine and not really scary, but just not what we had been led to expect.

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