Two weeks ago we went for a hotair balloon ride. What a magnificent experience that was ! I collected Elena my friend and her daughters Loriana and Barbara and drove to Trim, a place near Dublin. It turned out to be a perfect day with cristal clear skies and gentle breeze - ideal for a balloon flight.
We all met our hotair balloon pilot, the congenial and friendly Victor from Argentina and his team in the Trim castle, near Dublin. He collected all of us in his van and took us to the launching field, a large green field with no power lines around.
There we all pitched in to assemble the balloon. First we had to drag the large cane basket from its trailer. Victor removed the balloon from its bag - a crumpled lump of nylon cloth rather irreverant way of packing for such a magnificent balloon. When the balloon takes shape then it really reveals its true colors and shape which is a sight to behold. Ours was bright yellow and red at the top. A delightful sight against the sky blue with numerous chunks of cloulds.
First Victor pushed up some air by a large fan into the balloon. When it started to take shape he started the gas burner to release propane gas. The burner is very impressive in its burst of flashing flames rather like an angry Chineese dragon, throughing flames into the balloon reaching high into the dome. It took about few flashes and the balloon was up and errect - reaching upto 6 stories height !
Vicotor asked us to hop into the basket - about 12 of us were there for the flight. The basket has about 5 partitions where 3 can stand in each partition and two were dedicated for the rather large gas Taking shape Full Image cylinders. When the balloon took off - it was so quiet, not a noise nor a vibration to rattle the basket. It was as if the stable ground just lifted itself up ever so gently. The huge impressive balloon is a gentle giant at its best indeed.
We rose up few feets at a time and reached the desired 1000 feet - the perfect height for a gentle flight. From there you could still see the humans, cows and horses on the ground. We waved cheerfuly to the people good bye, spooked the hourses to run around in confussion and when we flew low, we exasperated a bull holding his harem of cows to come to chanllange us in defence of his realm.
We spied on the secluded villas on the banks of river Boyne shielded from outsiders by the trees but hopelessly exposed to the sky above. We followed the snaking and meandering river Boyne along the lush green Boyne valley which is dotted with neolithic world heritage circular-mound graves. We spotted two other balloons taking off at a distance and we flew over golden hay fields full of rolled hay balles ready for transport.
We could see for miles on end and at about 60 KM away was the sprawling Dublin city and its unique two harbour chimneies billowing smoke into the sky. Still further away, out in the horrizon we could see the rolling wicklow mountains and its sugar-loaf hill at the top.
We were up there for about 45 minutes and Victor chose a landing field. He let the gas excape by pulling various ropes to open the window at the top. We came down very gently and landed on the grass field. The balloon draged its feet for few feet and landed. A perfect landing after a Barbara and Elena Full Image Thats my friend Eelna and her little daughter Barbara clicking. perfect flight. Everyone of us were truely thrilled to the hilt by that marvelous experience. As per age old ballooning tradition we ended our flight with a glass of Champagne.
Wonderful and delightful journey which will be a great way to travel if you want to go - Around the world in 8000 days !
PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT MY OTHER IMAGES TO GET THE FULL PICTURE OF THE FLIGHT.
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{K:30599} 9/6/2005