Flight Report two

Flat calm on inflation, gusts began when the envelope was upright. We climbed to 800ft AGL - the GPS gave 22 - 24kts - The gradient wind was forecast at 12kts. I thought the GPS was wrong - it wasn't - 15 - 20 minutes of turbulence. The balloon handled like the proverbial lead one, before returning to normal. Very pleasant flight over Middle Wallop Army Air Corps airfield, also a good view of the Iron Age hillfort at Danebury Hill - although there was quite a lot of haze around. Wayne flew us down past Mottisfont and Romsey. Couldn't do any approaches due to cattle, wires etc; etc:

We were approaching the edge of the New Forest and needed to land soonest. A large field appeared; down we went and made what seemed to be a good approach. We touched down, rolled over, dragged and took off again, struck once more, dragged and took off again before touching down for the final time. Wayne measured the length of the drag at 100 yards and we had stopped a very short distance from a line of trees. The drag had been very rough, we all felt battered. Couldn't explain it, the ground wasn't hard.

Andrew, the farmer and his 4 year old son Tom came to see us. They had watched us land and Andrew thought we were travelling fast. His mother would like a flight so we left our details, we might have another launch site. Andrew is thinking of going up but said he doesn't want a landing like ours.

Coffee and biscuits whilst lounging in camp chairs before leaving - what a life!!