As those who know me would be aware, I’m quite seriously afraid of heights. I believe there is a good reason I don’t reach much over 5’ - any taller and I’d be afraid to stand up. But today, I put on some serious brave pants and managed to keep from soiling them. Today, I went up in a hot air balloon. Yep, I swallowed some serious fear and I spent the morning floating up above the earth something resembling an over-sized knitting basket, held up by a large version of a children’s party decoration, slightly fearful my hair might combust as the naked flame roared above me. It was freaky but what a great way to see the Loire!
Our peak was 1000 metres, which was well above the clouds. While very serene when the hot air wasn’t being pumped, I found the ascent very alarming. Thankfully, as he has on other occasions, Chris de Burgh helped me out by singing Lady in Red in my head. Something about that song is very soothing when I’m high above the ground and feeling a little like I may lose control of my bodily functions. Thankfully, we descended back below the cloud cover before I could do any serious damage to my under things and we were able to observe the valley from a rather special vantage point.
Hot air ballooning is a very tranquil way to travel and gives you lovely bird’s eye views as you waft serenely through the air. As you can imagine, doing so over the very charming Loire valley was another one of those eye-wateringly beautiful moments. My eyes seem to be watering a lot on this trip.
Quite apart from the views and the thrill of wafting, the entire ballooning experience is really very interesting. They pulled the balloon out of a bag that was probably around 1 cubic metre or so in size. Once they began stretching it out, I wondered when it would end. And then when they started blowing it up, two things were surprising - (1) the size (wow, it’s really big) and (2) how quickly it was blown up (I’ve taken longer to blow up decorative ones). After they fired a few rounds of hot air into it and it stood to attention, we all hopped into the basket and before I could steel myself properly, we were up, up and away!
The rise was fast. Quite frighteningly so. But Mr de Burgh chimed in and before long I could pry my fingers away from the handles long enough to take a few snaps. Looking down was not a favourable activity yet, but I could relax long enough to appreciate the stillness of the sky all the way up there and other-worldliness of the experience.
The descent and subsequent wafting were much more to my liking. How funny that going down is better than coming up. Er, perhaps not. Arguably that applies to many other things in life, innuendous or not. But I digress. Just for a bit of fun, our Balloon Captain took us down to the Loire River for a water landing. For several minutes, we floated on the current as he kept us just touching the river’s surface. It’s remarkable how precisely the balloon can be controlled.
After another burst up into the air and some more frightful rising, we eventually had to come down in a field and be collected. But not before we were able to help with the packing up. Packing up takes longer than unpacking (how true that is of traveling too...) but both were done in fairly short order. Once we started squeezing the air out of the balloon and putting it back in its carry bag, I was dubious about whether we’d be successful. It was hard to believe the little bag we were stuffing it in would every close. But after a lot of stuffing and a bit of sitting and jumping up and down on it, we managed to get it all in and shut (definitely reminds me of my suitcase).
So there you go, another activity ticked off the bucket list. I’m very glad I did it, although I must say I would take a lot of convincing to do it again. While the fairly low-level wafting was sheer delight, the ascent was frightening enough that I’m happy to keep it as a memory of fear conquered. Enjoy the photos!
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