Balloons over Barlick

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Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick	Balloons over Barlick
Balloons over Barlick

We got up at 5:00am today not much of a change for me but definitely not appreciated by our six year old. We bundled the family into the car and headed for Barnoldswick on the Lancashire / Yorkshire border not far from Skipton. I had set myself a number of photography goals for the year Banded Demoiselles The Red Arrows and Hot Air Balloons the first two were in the bag and we'd seen on the internet that there would be Hot Air Balloons in Barnoldswick. We didn't know what to expect how many what time etc. but had heard that they often start out early and didn't want to miss an opportunity.

We arrived at Victory Park in Barnoldswick at about 6:30am and sure enough there was some activity with baskets and envelopes around small groups of people gathered round each checking that burners were working etc. There was a temporary fence around the ballons so we stayed outside expecting to be kept at arms length we'd only been there a few minutes when a friendly gentleman advised us about a few safety essentials and then said we could come in. This was great as it gave us all a real chance to see what was going on and discuss what was happening with some of the crews far better than I'd expected the kids were really interested.

There were six balloons in all five of which were set up and aloft in fairly quick succession.  The final one was apparently very wet from a recent outing and they struggled for some time to get it airborne. The highlight of the day was to be a Night Glow at about 9:00pm. I'd have loved to have seen the balloons lit up in the dark I imagine it would be quite a sight unfortunately there's no way our children would be able to stay up so late so it wasn't possible but I'd definitely go back to see it another year.