It is very exciting when we start a hot air balloon flight season with spring arriving. Over the winter the one thing that can prevent us from flying is if the ground conditions become too saturated with ground water. This can make handling the equipment on the ground difficult. However after a week of dry weather conditions are now perfect. We gently launched from our base near Dereham, the
surface layer of wind was very gentle at 3 M.P.H.
We decided to climb up to 4,500 feet and at that altitude the wind was flowing at 17 M.P.H. With an overall track towards Wymondham. The visibility was generally very good, about 30 miles. We were soon overhead the busy town of Dereham, with Attleborough and Norwich in view. The north Norfolk coastline was well defined with Blakney Point and Cromer in view. The balloon passed over Shipdham, Reymerstone and eventually landed close to the village of Hingham. As the sun was setting it was a wonderful opportunity to toast the flight with a glass of chilled champagne with pilot crew and passengers. And look forward to our next ballooning adventure.