Migrating terns: A flight of a different nature

Quelle anticipation. This is what Belves looks like at 5:30 am.

We were excited. Today is ballooning day, and if you are reading this, you can assume that at least I survived.

Sunrise glow on Castelnaud

Actually, we all survived. I got to an altitude of 115 metres above sea level, which, if you know your geography, is ground level in this region. This grounding occurred because we hadn't confirmed my decision to join the party and the balloon was fully booked.. 12 persons.

So I became ground crew and relished my new responsibilities .. Official photographer, chase vehicle, retrieval, first aid and air traffic controller which involved shouting orders to the balloon pilot from the ground, using a megaphone I had fortuitously purchased for the event. Ok, so I exaggerate slightly .. I was relegated to following the ground crew. It was great fun.

The launch was a fascinating event. Firstly the basket is slid off the trailer, and then the 280 kg balloon is slowly extracted from its bag by anchoring the balloon tip and driving the trailer forward which results in a long serpent along the field, awaiting inflation. The gondola is attached and the inflation startsl Originally a petrol driven fan blows air into the bag. Presumably this is held there only by the physics governing air flow through an orifice..

The burners

Eventually the air would be expelled, but resistance slows this process so the air blown into the balloon under pressure is captured there for a while. Once the balloon is fairly full, the heat begins and the balloon expands slowly, and like an awakening giant, gets up to its knees and then stands erect. It's a fine balancing act, having enough hot air to keep the balloon up, but not so much that it overcomes the weight of the alighting passengers and the extra ballast of the clinging crew, who keep it ground fast.

So this is a bit of a series

During this process I became aware of some of the safety concerns that I hadn't previously considered. First there's gravity.. That concern is taken for granted. 12 people are heavy and would plummet quickly. What I wasn't aware of was the size of the and the danger that would be posed by even a gentle breeze at this fragile stage. I started getting an appreciation of the skills of the master balloonist, and when I saw the large gas cylinders and the backup staff, what I thought was an exorbitant charge (€180 pp) suddenly seemed reasonable.

Lift off

Yep.. that's a castle behind them.

over the Dordogne

As tracking crew, we tailed the balloons the old fashioned way (using eyes, rough guesstimating and local knowledge) covering about 10km until we could see and hear the balloon not far away.

There seemed to be no flat land nearby, nor many fields. This was lightly forested country. My thoughts were that after 26 years, this was to be the balloon trip that made headlines "balloon torn to shreds, gondola plummets in forest. No survivors"

I marvelled at how, without any capacity to steer, Msr Patrick performed a perfect landing in a narrow valley, just missing trees, power lines etc. Now on the payroll we all helped control the deflation of the balloon, gathering it as it descended to lie on the field and to package it in its bag.

A rival company landed nearby

After a small photo session, a croissant and a coffee, we were on our way back to
Belves.

Vivienne was very keen on a market visit, but we had no car, so we made a hasty decision t visit La Bugue with my parents who were just heading out. This turned out to be not such a good idea as the market wasn't actually on. Viv was disappointed as the market trip had become a visit to the tip (not comparable with even the most basic of markets) and the hardware store.

As small compensation we found the tiny market at Siorac, where we bought some strawberries and some bread. Back at Belves

I collapsed into a deep sleep for 5 minutes only to be awoken for the next activity..

A tour of the local Chateau at Belves which is privately owned, but now open to the public.
Photos weren't allowed inside, so you can't see what we saw... the most gruesome sight were the multiple stamp marks on the wall in the judgement room, high in the chateau. Each stamp was made when a tax defaulting peasant was condemned. There were lots of them, on all the walls and even on the rafters in the ceiling. The other fascinating sights were the exposed frescoes of ancient kings and warriors (including Julius Caesar) on the walls in the upper chambers.