We greeted our balloon flight passengers at Werrington sports centre, Peterborough at 6.15 p.m. It was a lovely evening with unbroken skies and a gentle breeze coming from the northwest. Quite a number of friends and family arrived to watch and help prepare the balloon and were very keen to join in on the ground retrieve. We were airborne at 7.20 p.m. climbing out to 2,000 feet. The visibility was good at about 30 miles. The city of Peterborough panned out in front of us with Hampton Hargate, Baxley and Stan ground to the south. The showground, Ferry meadows and Milton Park clearly defined the western boundary of the city.
The grand medieval cathedral dominates the Peterborough sky line and is always such a pleasure to see from the air. The hot air balloon left the city and drifted over Eye and to the south of Thorney. An hour had passed and the surface layer of wind was almost calm. We could see our retrieve crew and quite a convoy of cars following to our front. With children waving and camera flashing we came to a very gentle landing south of Thorney Toll.