Up, up and away*

We finally made it into the skies with Virgin Balloons! Rachel had originally bought this as a present for Valentine's Day in 2008, and this was our fifth attempt. We were to due to take off yesterday evening but, despite it being a glorious afternoon, the winds were still a little on the strong side and so the decision was made to reschedule for early this morning. The weather held and we met at 7am to unpack the balloon.

Of course, a beautiful clear morning at this time of year is likely to be preceded by a very cold night. Something we discovered during our overnight stay in the tent we had brought with us! But it was worth it to finally experience drifitng above the treetops at sunrise. It was an amazing experience.

Thank you for a wonderful present Rachie! Happy Valentine's Day! x

*Oh come on, it's a blog post about a balloon ride. What else was I going to call it?

Fifth time lucky?

The last time we tried for a trip in a hot air balloon, it didn't happen. That was our fourth attempt. It didn't matter too much as we had a great weekend anyway, but it would be nice to finally see what it feels like to drift over the countryside in a big red balloon.

Today will be our fifth attempt. At least the weather's looking good.

Fourth time lucky?

For Valentine's Day Rachel booked a balloon flight for us (aaahhh...).

That was Valentine's Day 2008 and we still haven't yet been up in a balloon! Not for want of trying... so far we have booked three times but the weather has stopped us from taking off. In fact, we have not even got so far as even seeing a balloon, as the procedure involves you calling a number two hours before going to the launch site to make sure the launch is going ahead. Each time we have been told by the recorded message that it is too windy and that we should re-book. Personally, I'm not convinced Mr Branson even owns any balloons! (What about the balloon in the picture on the right I hear you ask... two words: "photo" and "shop".)

Today will be our fourth attempt. I'm a little more hopeful as the weather over the past few days has been glorious (although today is a little cloudy), and now that we are 'dahn saaf' we are due to launch from near Glastonbury. Our previous attempts were up in the Lake District (beautiful scenery but balloon-unfriendly weather).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've heard that works.