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We soon learnt that balloon flights are not always guaranteed as our first flight on the Tuesday was cancelled due to a breezy wind conditions.  Luckily, a second flight was arranged for Thursday evening and weather conditions were ideal.  Our hosts, High Adventure, transported us from the meeting place at the car park at Rayrigg just outside Bowness-on-Windermere to the western side of the lake in a field next to Low Parks Wood.

The basket was manoeuvred from the trailer with the burner assembled above on support rods later covered with padding to prevent injury.  The balloon was unfurled using the Land Rover and spread out using volunteers from the 12 about to make the flight. A motorised fan was positioned adjacent to the balloon opening which was held open by 2 volunteers.  As the balloon became inflated the burners were ignited to fill the balloon envelope with hot air.  Soon the balloon was near vertical and all 12 making the flight climbed aboard.  As more hot air was injected into the balloon it gradually lifted skyward to make it's way across Windermere driven by the gentle evening breeze - one of the strangest effects of the flight is that there is no effect of the wind as you travel at the speed of the wind and everything is silent.

Landing is quite a different matter as the direction travelled depends entirely upon the prevailing wind - altitude can be gained (or lowered) to take advantage of different wind directions.  Our landing site turned out to be a somewhat steep site with low growing hawthorn bushes which we bounced over and came to rest against a large rock.  The ground crew caught up with us and took the ropes which with the help of volunteers pulled the balloon over a barbed wire fence into a more suitable field to deflate the balloon.  Using ropes adhered to the top of the balloon, these were pulled to ensure that as the balloon deflated it was kept clear of the barbed wire fence and was laid out on the ground enable the hot air to be pushed out and the balloon rolled back into it's storage sack.

Transport was provided back to Rayrigg where certificates for the flight & a glass of champagne provided before leaving.

A memorable evening providing stunning views across the southern lakes from a vantage point unlike any other - try it, it's fun.