We had a great morning taking in the scenery from a hot air balloon, a great way to see the lakes.
We met the rest of the group at 6am near Ings to take the minibus up to the head of the Kentmere Valley. It was March and a beautiful spring morning - although the weather was due to close in later that morning, so we had only a short window of time for our flight.
It's a group effort - so you get involved in unpacking the balloon. It didn't take long to get the balloon filled with air, we all jumped in and were off!!
It was my first balloon trip and it was so smooth and quiet, really peaceful floating across the countryside - the only sound was the burners as we climbed and to keep us on track. We seen deer running in the fields below and the view out to Windermere was stunning. I could have stayed up there all day.
The descent and landing were fab, it wasn't too bumpy but we landed in a field without a gate so all the men had to climb out and over the hedge, whilst the women stayed in the balloon and the pilot took us up over the hedge and let the balloon float about 2 feet from the floor across a couple of fields to near the road - to be honest this bit was great fun!!
It's a great way to spend a morning and get a birds eye view of the lakes.
