I took a balloon flight this morning
Discussion
Best experience ever !
I live in the Chew Valley (SW of Bristol) and have been itching to do a flight from here. Would have loved to have gone over our house, but the wind direction meant it was not to be. We took off from the farm just down the road and ultimately ended up in some woman's field next to Worthy Farm in Pilton who was worried we'd set light to the field !
These are a few pics I took of the Chew Valley, Wells, Glastonbury and the Mendip Mast.
Am knackered now though as we had to be on-site for 5:45am.
Going up !
Chew Lake - Am getting this printed to go on the wall.
Blagdon Lake in the distance and Chew Lake in the foreground. I never quite realised how close to each other they are
Mendip Mast, we had to give this a wide berth - either go round, or go over !
Wells
Glastonbury Tor
I've done 2 flights now (First was over Bath) and each one has been absolutely brilliant. I thoroughly recommend doing a Balloon flight if you never have
I live in the Chew Valley (SW of Bristol) and have been itching to do a flight from here. Would have loved to have gone over our house, but the wind direction meant it was not to be. We took off from the farm just down the road and ultimately ended up in some woman's field next to Worthy Farm in Pilton who was worried we'd set light to the field !
These are a few pics I took of the Chew Valley, Wells, Glastonbury and the Mendip Mast.
Am knackered now though as we had to be on-site for 5:45am.
Going up !
Chew Lake - Am getting this printed to go on the wall.
Blagdon Lake in the distance and Chew Lake in the foreground. I never quite realised how close to each other they are
Mendip Mast, we had to give this a wide berth - either go round, or go over !
Wells
Glastonbury Tor
I've done 2 flights now (First was over Bath) and each one has been absolutely brilliant. I thoroughly recommend doing a Balloon flight if you never have
Zetec-S said:
That looks like a great experience, and not too far from us. May I ask who you booked it through?
These guys https://hotair-balloonrides.co.uk/Nick was our pilot and was a properly nice bloke. We even had champagne at the end after packing the balloon away before being driven home. Top notch service all round.
juice said:
These guys https://hotair-balloonrides.co.uk/
Nick was our pilot and was a properly nice bloke. We even had champagne at the end after packing the balloon away before being driven home. Top notch service all round.
Nick was our pilot and was a properly nice bloke. We even had champagne at the end after packing the balloon away before being driven home. Top notch service all round.
I was speaking to Nick (our pilot) and under NO circumstances do a Flight in either Egypt or Turkey. The stories he told me made me 
(esp the one in Turkey at Cappadocia when it was snowing and his pilot mate refused to take off due to it being pretty much zero visibility. Only to be taken round the back of the shed and had a gun held up against his head)
He did the flight and left the next day
He also told me his fave place to fly is Switzerland, when sometimes they go up to 15,000 ft ! (Oxygen req'd)
(esp the one in Turkey at Cappadocia when it was snowing and his pilot mate refused to take off due to it being pretty much zero visibility. Only to be taken round the back of the shed and had a gun held up against his head) He did the flight and left the next day
He also told me his fave place to fly is Switzerland, when sometimes they go up to 15,000 ft ! (Oxygen req'd)
Edited by juice on Thursday 21st July 19:47
juice said:
I was speaking to Nick (our pilot) and under NO circumstances do a Flight in either Egypt or Turkey. The stories he told me made me (esp the one in Turkey at Cappadocia when it was snowing and his pilot mate refused to take off due to it being pretty much zero visibility. Only to be taken round the back of the shed and had a gun held up against his head)
He did the flight and left the next day
He also told me his fave place to fly is Switzerland, when sometimes they go up to 15,000 ft ! (Oxygen req'd)
Maybe i should knock that of my 'bucket list' then or it may be the last thing on it (esp the one in Turkey at Cappadocia when it was snowing and his pilot mate refused to take off due to it being pretty much zero visibility. Only to be taken round the back of the shed and had a gun held up against his head) He did the flight and left the next day
He also told me his fave place to fly is Switzerland, when sometimes they go up to 15,000 ft ! (Oxygen req'd)
Reminds me of my 1st trip to Tunisia years ago as i watched parascenders detach from the boat and drift over the beach with everyone trying to geab the rope before they drifted into a hotel wall and straight down it.
juice said:
Best experience ever !
I live in the Chew Valley (SW of Bristol) and have been itching to do a flight from here. Would have loved to have gone over our house, but the wind direction meant it was not to be. We took off from the farm just down the road and ultimately ended up in some woman's field next to Worthy Farm in Pilton who was worried we'd set light to the field !
I took a flight many years ago, and still remember the fantastic experience.I live in the Chew Valley (SW of Bristol) and have been itching to do a flight from here. Would have loved to have gone over our house, but the wind direction meant it was not to be. We took off from the farm just down the road and ultimately ended up in some woman's field next to Worthy Farm in Pilton who was worried we'd set light to the field !
My surname is quite unusual, and by strange coincidence we landed in a farm bearing my name!
Obligatory Champagne was opened in said farmer's field.
Isn't it strange how people view things differently? I did one a few years ago and didn't like it at all!
Quiet and peaceful - nope. All I got was burners blasting every two minutes and being barked at by just about every dog in Surrey.
That's before realising that the only way out of the flipping thing was to crash it - then walk, clamber through thistles, branches etc for half hour before finding a ride to the pub.
Not for me - thank you.
Quiet and peaceful - nope. All I got was burners blasting every two minutes and being barked at by just about every dog in Surrey.
That's before realising that the only way out of the flipping thing was to crash it - then walk, clamber through thistles, branches etc for half hour before finding a ride to the pub.
Not for me - thank you.
boyse7en said:
Its great isn't it!
I'm not great with heights, but once I'd got around the mental issue of standing in a wicker basket several thousand feet up i really enjoyed my trip in one.
The landing was a bit eventful though. They are all pretty much a lightly-controlled crash.
This pretty much sums up my balloon experience in Florida - we landed in a huge empty parking lot at the back of a car dealership, then you wait for the ground crew to show up with the truck and trailer once they've been radio'd in.I'm not great with heights, but once I'd got around the mental issue of standing in a wicker basket several thousand feet up i really enjoyed my trip in one.
The landing was a bit eventful though. They are all pretty much a lightly-controlled crash.
Our pilot was South African and used to do balloon safaris back home, recommended them over the jeep safaris as of course you can see far and wide from above, and the relative silence of the balloon means you don't scare wildlife away.
juice said:
I was speaking to Nick (our pilot) and under NO circumstances do a Flight in either Egypt or Turkey. The stories he told me made me (esp the one in Turkey at Cappadocia when it was snowing and his pilot mate refused to take off due to it being pretty much zero visibility. Only to be taken round the back of the shed and had a gun held up against his head)
He did the flight and left the next day
He also told me his fave place to fly is Switzerland, when sometimes they go up to 15,000 ft ! (Oxygen req'd)
I did the Cappadocia once a few weeks back. The day before the weather had been bad so they'd cancelled all flights. (esp the one in Turkey at Cappadocia when it was snowing and his pilot mate refused to take off due to it being pretty much zero visibility. Only to be taken round the back of the shed and had a gun held up against his head) He did the flight and left the next day
He also told me his fave place to fly is Switzerland, when sometimes they go up to 15,000 ft ! (Oxygen req'd)
Edited by juice on Thursday 21st July 19:47
We had an excellent ride along with the 163 other balloons. We did also get picked up at 3.30!
Mastiff said:
Quiet and peaceful - nope. All I got was burners blasting every two minutes and being barked at by just about every dog in Surrey.
Nick told me that the reason the dogs bark is that after the burners a lit, then shut off - the tinkling sound is like tinitus for dogs hence why they bark at it.Maybe complete BS but it sounds plausible.
Last Visit said:
Given that these are, as I understand it, relatively uncontrollable and at the mercy of the wind direction, is just an accepted thing that they land unannounced on farmers fields and so on? And said farmers just put up with it...?
I was surprised at how controllable it seemed. They constantly rotated the basket so we all got a good view in every direction but flew it up a valley and on AC shaped flight path.Last Visit said:
Given that these are, as I understand it, relatively uncontrollable and at the mercy of the wind direction, is just an accepted thing that they land unannounced on farmers fields and so on? And said farmers just put up with it...?
They have a vent on the side that allows for hot air to escape out the side. That way they rotate and catch the wind so in that respect they are steerable in the extent that presenting the basket at a different angle to the wind will affect where the balloon goes.They have maps of fields where they aren't allowed to land due to farmers not wanting them there. So there are always options to land earlier or continue on. The balloon company I went with is sponsored by Thatchers. In doing so they had to do an induction day at Thatchers to learn the company. As such - they have crates/cases of Thatchers & gift boxes that they give to the farmer who's field they land in, in order to smooth things over and create a positive experience for everyone concerned.
Down here, everyone loves a bit of Thatchers !!
juice said:
Last Visit said:
Given that these are, as I understand it, relatively uncontrollable and at the mercy of the wind direction, is just an accepted thing that they land unannounced on farmers fields and so on? And said farmers just put up with it...?
They have a vent on the side that allows for hot air to escape out the side. That way they rotate and catch the wind so in that respect they are steerable in the extent that presenting the basket at a different angle to the wind will affect where the balloon goes.They have maps of fields where they aren't allowed to land due to farmers not wanting them there. So there are always options to land earlier or continue on. The balloon company I went with is sponsored by Thatchers. In doing so they had to do an induction day at Thatchers to learn the company. As such - they have crates/cases of Thatchers & gift boxes that they give to the farmer who's field they land in, in order to smooth things over and create a positive experience for everyone concerned.
Down here, everyone loves a bit of Thatchers !!
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff