Dear Adventure Balloons Team,

I talked to you (I'm sorry, you sounded like a very nice lady, but I didn't catch your name) on the phone a little earlier and you suggested that I email the photos I took this morning of your balloon from Central London to Fairlop.

I was sitting in my living room in Crown Road, Barkingside, at about 6:30, when I happened to look up and see a shadow pass over the back garden. What on Earth could that be? I wondered. A cloud, perhaps? Surely not at that speed. I hadn't a clue. So I dashed outside to see what it might be. Looking back over the house I saw the balloon, very low, large and half hidden behind the house. I was amazed at the sight. I grabbed my camera and took some shots, the first from the front garden and the two that follow from the upstairs bedroom.

I guessed the pilot was probably looking for a place to land and that it would be somewhere over Fairlop Plain, just to the north east, so I got on my bike and headed in that direction. The next two shots where taken from just past the end of Station Road, looking over Fairlop golf course towards where the balloon was coming down beyond. At least, I thought it was coming down, until I noticed it gaining height again, but only for a short while before descending again (I learned later that the first attempt was too close to a fence, so the pilot had gained height in order to land well away from it).

I cycled round the golf course and out onto Forest Road onto which the field in which the balloon had landed bordered. The next photo is taken from the road through a hole in the hedge. After taking it I went through the hole and cycled towards the "landing party". I introduced myself and gave them a hand packing the balloon back into its bag. They'd obviously had a fantastic experience, flying from Central London, down the Thames to where I live. I was enthralled with the little bit I'd experienced of it from the ground.

It occurred to me that some of the participants might be interested hearing about my experience of their flight and seeing the photos I took,  from a different perspective to their own.

For my part, I would be interested in seeing any photos (although perhaps not all, since I imagine a huge number were taken) of their departure from Central London and the flight. Click here to see London pictures from this flight.

With best wishes from

Roger Hicks

www.spaceship-earth.org