It was a pleasantly warm evening we met our ballooning passengers at Werrington sports centre Peterborough at 6.15 p.m. being a Sunday many members of family and friends were in attendance to watch and assist the balloon launch. We were aloft at 7.30 p.m. Up to 1,000 feet there was a gentle breeze that would take us in the direction of Helpston and Barnack. To get a better view of the city we climbed up to 5,000 feet. At altitude the wind direction had changed and the balloon was now heading towards Wisbech. The advantage of flying at that height, visually there is a lot to see.
Viewing from the hot air balloon, out to the south west we could just make out the outline of Grafham water near Huntingdon. Rutland water and Stamford to the North West. The wash was in clear view with both the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coastlines well defined. Looking down at ground level bonfire smoke indicated that the surface layer of wind was still travelling 180 degrees opposite to the direction we were travelling at height. It was an ‘onshore breeze’ coming in from the coast. Over Postland we started our descent. At 900 feet we felt the wind change and we were now flying back towards Spalding. We eventually landed in a fallow field in Cowbit after 1 hour and twenty minutes in the air. The field was owned by a Mr Roland Biggs, it was lovely to meet him again as he had flown with us in 2006. We toasted the flight with a glass of chilled champagne to savour a beautiful Lincolnshire sunset.
Mrs Ruby Ladd whose family purchased the flight as a 76th birthday present commented:
‘The whole thing was simply wonderful’.