Balloon chaos

We got up again at 4.30am with perfect flying conditions.

Jane got a ride with my brother Rob today and flew right over Bristol the opposite way from my flight yesterday. I was with the recovery crew. She thought she was in heaven when she landed in the grounds of the Cadbury factory (sadly now closed). Check out her picture here .

There is also a shot of them shortly after take-off here

It's been a fantastic few days at this balloon festival. It was so colourful and interesting. We were very lucky to have passes to the flight area and also to get flights with my brother (Thanks Rob!)

I have never seen so many balloons in such a close area before. It was amazing seeing them all inflate so close together. This picture summarises the organised chaos.

While in Bristol, we also visited the SS Great Britain and I should give mention to intrepid Jane who went aloft to climb along the yardarm. Pictures here

The nearest I'll ever get to a yardarm is waiting for the sun to come over it - which reminds me - we are now camped in a field by a pub which brews its own ale and the sun is almost over the yardarm :-)

PS thanks for all your comments yesterday. My picture was briefly at No 2 in spotlight. However I decided to modify the thumbnail image slightly and that promptly removed it from spotlight. I didn't realise that would happen!