Alba Ballooning

I’ve always wanted to go in a hot air balloon and my husband bought me a voucher for my 30^th birthday for Alba Ballooning. The voucher is valid for 12 months and if you wish to extend it beyond that time you can pay a small fee (£30). The way it works is that you check out their website for availability (they update the list at least daily) and choose a flight you wish to go on. Alba flies most days between March and October, morning and evening, from Edinburgh (flying over the Borders) on most days and Kinross on Wednesdays and Sundays. On the day of your flight (or the day before if it’s a morning flight) you call up to see if the balloon will fly — weather conditions have to be perfect for flying. If you book and are cancelled 8 times or more in a year your voucher is automatically valid for another year. I’m pleased to say that we flew on our 8^th booking! It was most definitely worth the wait — a wonderful experience and the pilot was very helpful and experienced. At take off the ground simply falls away as you drift gracefully on the wind above the trees. The balloon is brought on a trailer pulled by a landrover, which then follows its progress (& can be accompanied by friends and relatives of its passengers). This is essential as the driver negotiates a landing site in advance of the balloon’s arrival, and you may find yourself almost landing a few times. We eventually ended up on the side of a hill, before packing away the balloon (everyone helps with this and the setting up) and heading off for a well-​earned glass of champagne!