The weather remains good throughout the month of April allowing another balloon ride over Norfolk this evening We launch south of Norwich into clear un broken skies and excellent visibility We cross over the A11 between Hethersett and Wymondham watching the traffic below always looks a little surreal from a hot air balloon at 2,000 feet once over open arable fields we descend and able to skim over the tree tops of a remote wood eventually landing at Mattishall Golf club The owner Basil Todd came out and had a good chat and was pleased to see us So if you a keen golfer the nine hole facility at Mattishall is an excellent course also bearing in mind the main course at Wensum Valley will provide a high quality day with excellent bar and food available at highly competitive prices So we pack up the balloon break out the champagne and look forward to our next ballooning adventure

A balloon trip over Norwich is always an enjoyable experience and provides a unique opportunity to view this historic city. With the castle and cathedral such prominent landmarks it is easy to get your bearings and locate many other sites of interest such as the Forum and city hall. For those of you how enjoy an evening on the town it is said that Norwich has a public house for every day of the year! Once we pass over the city we inform air traffic control from Norwich airport that we are in open country and change frequency to our ground retrieve team and inform them we are heading out over Hainford lots of horses around here so we keep high and run on quite burner so not to disturb any animals on the ground. As we approach Buxton heath we descend and start to look for a suitable landing site We spot our ground team and the mini bus waiting beside a fallow field west of Alysham and it was here our balloon flight over Norfolk finished A truly wonderful end to the day

Our ballooning adventure this afternoon launched from the city of Peterborough With clear skies and a gentle breeze coming from the southwest once aloft the wonderful medieval cathedral dominates the Cambridge shire skyline so if you find your self touring the city this is a must see. Many centuries of history it is also the resting place of Catherine of Aragon one of Henry the eights many wives! As we climb above Peterborough we can see Ely cathedral on the eastern skyline and Rutland water to our northwest. As we leave the city behind the wash and Norfolk coastline are in view with the cliffs of Hunstanton well defined on the horizon. After a good quality hour in the air the wind starts to ease and the balloon lands close the parish of Postland. Our passengers then enjoy toasting the flight with a class of chilled champagne watching a beautiful Lincolnshire sunset

This was an early morning balloon flight from Earlham Park the wind was coming from the southwest making it an ideal for a transit directly over the city the airport was quite busy this morning so air traffic asked that we remain on radio frequency with them for the duration of the flight At 7 am we are aloft and climbing up to 2,500 feet we cross the inner ring road and track south of water works road giving us superb views of the city centre with the Forum and castle bathed in the early morning sunshine The magnificent cathedral passes beneath us making this a wonderful photo opportunity for our hot air balloon passengers We then pass over Mousehold and the prison leaving the city behind south of Thorpe End Once in open countryside we request permission from Norwich ATC to descend which is promptly given Once under 500 feet the wind slows and we start to look for a suitable landing site As we approach the village of Panxworth our retrieve crew are spotted along with the mini bus to collect our passengers we touch down very gently on a fallow headland directly next to them What a perfect start to the day

This afternoon we would launch from The recreation ground in Stowmarket Suffolk The weather has remained very settled and calm throughout March and April does seem to be following along and similar lines thank goodness I am sure we will pay for this at some point during the year However on and upwards The winds are light coming from the southeast Once airborne we climb out to 2,500 feet to savor the view Ipswich and the coast are well defined along with Bury St Edmunds and Diss to our north We leave the town behind us and head out towards Haughley in this area we again have some very valuable horses and livestock below so we climb higher to avoid any issues The higher we go the wind slows and we turn more onto a northerly heading towards the old airfield at Great Ashfield Once in open countryside we descend and under 500 feet the balloon rides another airflow and we turn to the left quite markedly We decide to land the balloon in a grass field close to the village of Norton We toast our flight with a glass of chilled champagne watching a beautiful Suffolk sunset

This morning are balloon ride over Norfolk would start from Wymondam RFC we are aloft just after dawn without a cloud in the sky Our passengers soon agree that an early morning sunrise balloon flight is very special and the effort to arrive early in the day is a real bonus The wind on the surface was very light at 4 mph and aloft 10 mph coming from the NNE at about 020 degrees We headed out over the town and got some lovely pictures of the old Benedictine abbey located on the west of Wymondham We passed over the villages of Morley and Deopham Green To the west of Rocklands there are high densities of outdoor livestock which would not be ideal to land near without enough speed aloft to make the transit we decided to end our ballooning adventure after an hour in the air gently landing close to the village of Great Ellingham