We’d been given precise directions about getting there, but it was still quite tricky. Goodness knows how we'd have managed without the Sat Nav system on David‘s car, as it was right out in the sticks. I was talking to a young woman who didn't have such a system and she said that she and her boy friend got completely lost and only found the place by luck!  A fly in the ointment was that we'd been told to park in the car park by the village hall and that the latter had a bar and toilets which we could use. In fact, the place was closed and locked. I was desperate and luckily so was this young woman I was speaking to. Eventually we found a loo which was definitely not very salubrious, to put it mildly. The gents was out of action, so David nipped into the ladies' after I came out (and I guarded the door)!!

There was a lot of palaver while they inflated the balloon, which had been brought to the site all folded up into quite a small container and this took about an hour. The balloon stretched out about 75ft along the football field. The basket was about 6ft by 9ft and we were surprised to find that, apart from the pilot’s section which also contained the gas cylinders, there were 4 compartments and we were put 3 to a compartment, there being 12 people on the trip. There was very little room to move, and that disappointed us.

 

However, once we were up, it was wonderful. The ascent was very smooth and we hardly seemed to be moving, as we glided silently along. Everybody was quiet, just taking in the wonderful views. Sometimes the pilot brought the balloon down low and we skimmed across the tree tops and could hear dogs barking and lambs bleating, then he went up higher and we saw a large portion of South Wales spread out before us. We flew up to 2,300ft. We saw a great stretch of the river Usk and it went along in loops and I hadn't realised just how long it is. At one point the pilot took us over a part of the river and told us that if we looked down we could see the reflection of the balloon in the water. That was a very pretty sight and everyone took pictures.

 

The whole flight was so interesting and I wouldn't hesitate to take another one (I have already entered several comps to win one). David and I agreed that it was a fantastic experience. The downside was that we landed in a field of thick grass (and only a couple of big bumps, which we'd been warned about) and the basket remained upright. Then we had to wait while the pilot went off to check that the farmer, in whose field he'd landed, didn't mind, (they give them tickets for free flights) and to locate the other members of his crew who had been trying to follow us in their vehicle. We had taken off from a football field at just after 7pm and we landed just after 8pm. The rescue team had a job finding us, as the farm was one of 5 along a narrow lane and they didn't know which farmer owned that particular field. They needed permission to drive through 3 fields, two of which contained a herd of cows, in order to reach the field where we were waiting.

 

We were all left standing by the deflated balloon for an hour and a half, by which time it had got really dark and we were cold and wondering whether we would ever be found again!!! Slight exaggeration, but my feet were hurting and my sciatica was starting to trouble me, and it was such a relief when the pilot and the farmer arrived and the rescue vehicle got there a bit later. We had to walk across the field (through thick grass which was by that time wet with dew and that wasn’t very comfortable.) I was so relieved when I saw the minibus and we could get in and sit down. They drove us to the lane outside this field and produced champagne (which was a nice one), and we were each given a Flight Certificate. Then we were driven back to the launch site to collect our cars. As the crow flies (or the balloon in our case) it was 16 miles away, but by road it was nearly 30. 

 

By then, it was around 11pm and I was dying to visit the loo - but everything was closed. We tried to get into a hotel for the night, but they all said they were full. I'm not sure if this was the truth - perhaps they don't like accepting visitors so late at night. We stopped at a pub in Monmouth for me to go to the loo, but they were not serving food so late and I felt really hungry, having had nothing to eat since we’d had lunch at 1.30pm!

 

Anyhow David said he would rather drive home (131 miles), since we couldn’t find a hotel. We did that and arrived here at 3.45am. This was really an anti-climax, though not the fault of the balloon operators.