Bristol Balloon Fiesta

I went down to this festival to get pictures of the mass morning take-off. I got plenty of photos, but overall it was a bit disappointing and I don't recommend it. The morning departure starts around 6 a.m. (I got there shortly afterwards) and by 8:15 a.m. it's all over.  There is then not a great deal going on until the evening take-off (which was at 9 p.m.), so in effect this is just a fair in a country park for most of the day. I wouldn't go again.

That said, the balloons themselves are really impressive, and there's something very attractive about a massed take-off (see the extra photos). This picture shows a man firing flaming hot gas into the balloon to inflate it to the point where it takes off. You can see it's well on its way.