BalloonLife,July 1999

34

There’snothingquitelikebeingableto
packup your hot air bal-loon and carry it
on board an airline withyou, it opensup
thewholeworld.OnceBenBurbridge
had gotten over the mental block of flying
ina carriage of steel tubes,plywood and
canvas,he acknowledge that SteveBond’s
BrianBoland“experimental”wasjust
aboutthemostfunhehadhadonthe
Trans-Portuguese crossing.
Ontheground,Stevewasn’tsure
whichwasgivinghimmorepain,are-
centlylancedabscessinhisshoulder or
watchingsomeone else pilot his balloon.
The Third Trans-Crossing of Por-
tugal from north to south had just
passedthe halfwaystage and al-
thoughSteve had beena partici-
panton all three trans crossings,
he wasstill disappointedtomiss
evenone flight.
Thefiestahasgrownfrom
just 7 balloons in 1997 to 27 drawn
fromalloverEurope,SouthAf-
ricaandAmerica. Organizedby
PauloPereiraofthePortuguese
Ballooning Club and Manuel Vaz
of Realizar, it’sanheroic gallop
from one end of the country to the
other. This year it took place over
an eight day period in the middle
of March.
Theadventure began in Porto
onMarch20wherethepartici-
pants gathered before driving 150
milesupcountrytothehighland
town of Braganca, dominated by
its medieval castle set high above
thetown.Aftertheregistration,
whereeveryonereceivedboxes
full of BP jackets, sweatshirts and
othergoodiesfromthefiesta’s
mainspon sors,themayoro f
Bragancaofficiallyopenedthe
third Trans-Crossing of Portugal
by Balloons with the historic news
that“PiccardandJoneshadjust
flownround the world.”

Beyondthetroopofmaskedfolk
dancersandtotheskirlofPortuguese
bagpipes, Benoit Simeons laid out his old
Thunder Sky Chariot whichhe had used
toflyintotherecordbooksacrossthe
Great Wall ofChina.According to Benoit,
theChinesepropanehadbeensofilthy
that it had formeda solidcarbon coating
rendering the envelope almost indestruc-
tible. The chariot rose up past the cheering
dancers as Benoit balanced onthe battle-
ments ofthe castle before floating off over
the town.
Ben Burbridge and Bill Whidden to-

gether with Britishpilot, Jon Nunns, had
beenofferedthe useof a Landrover bal-
loon, trailer and vehicle by the organizers.
It saved considerably on the cost of ship-
ping over balloons, although Ben figured
that next time he would prefer being able
toflyallofthetimeandwishedhe’d
brought along his balloon.
Asitwas,thefirstflightoutof
Braganca’sfootballstadiumfelltoJon
and Bill who dawdled just above the roof-
topsin the company of PedroCotovio, a
Portuguese pilot, who had also decided to
fly low and loiteraround thetown. Every-
oneelsehadgoneup,upand
awayoverthegranitehillsfor
flights of uptotwo hours.
Laterthatdaythenorthern
hills werereplacedbythesteep,
vine covered valleys of the Douro
river. Our second town, Lamego,
layintheheartofPortcountry
where vinesmarch in rows upto
the pine and boulder covered hill-
tops.Therewasagreatdealof
hesitation, as pilots stoodaround
inLamego’smainsquareand
watched met paddles for inspiration.
The Swiss, possibly because
they are used to hills, had decided
to go for it. Steve Bond was a man
intwominds.Althoughthere-
centoperationtoremovea bone
spur from his shoulder had healed
it was beginningto feel sore and
thentherewasthequestionof
duration as he had decidednot to
sticktothe valleysbut flyonto
open countrybeyond.Muttering
somethingabout“thelemming
effect”hegotreadytoflyto-
gether with aroundhalf the other
balloonpilots.
MeanwhileBen,flyingthe
Landroverballoon,washaving
fun.Invirtuallystillairhewas
driftingupthe800stepsofthe
local church which dominates the

BalloonsAcrossPortugal

by Carolle Doyle

The German team elected to fly from the Castle precinct in
Braganca .

35

BalloonLife,July1999

square before rising to find some wind at
around 1,000 feet.
Within an hour the wind speed over
the tops of the hills had grown increas-
ingly turbulent. So, all those who stayed
in the valleys, including Ben, had good
flightswithuneventfullandings.The
Swiss, however, got caught out in turbu-
lence and made a hard landing in trees
which neatly shredded the envelope.
We drove thoughtfullyto Viseu. The
river valley and vineyards were replaced
by more open, rolling countryside cov-
ered in olive groves and pine forests. We
woke to windwhippingthe palms around
and at the launch site Steve flew his kite
until the string snapped. But we had all
day to explore the Estrela national park,
Portugal’sroofwhichclimbsuptoasnow-
toppedplateau where peoplewere skiing.
The BritishBristolMall team improvised
a toboggan with a piece of plastic sheet.
We stopped on a high plateau look-
ing over the far distant hills. In this deso-
latescene Ihadone ofthose“smallworld”
experiences. A car pulled beside us and a
Portuguesegirlgotoutaskingfor “Carolle
Doyle.” It turned out that she was from
Portugalia Airlines and, having made up
my ticketsin England, hadspenther holi-
daywonderingwhere theballoonistswere
and whethershewould havethegood
fortune to bump into us.
Meanwhile,Steve’sshoulderwas
givinghim enough trouble to take him to
thehospital where the abscesswaslanced
which is why, the following morning, he
reluctantly handed over his balloon to Ben.
Ben hadfigured onmaking a short
flight being unfamiliar with, and some-
what wary of, collapsible chariots but he
found himself enjoying the flight so much
that he couldn’t bring himselfto land. Ben
flew on over cherry orchards, olive groves
and meadows until, with a maze of hills
before him, he reluctantly figured that he
might just have crossed the last road. On
landing,his“road”turnedouttobea
cattle track so he hiked to a bigger track
wherehe was picked up by a friendly local
in an old and rusting Peugeot and taken to
the village of Freiziao.
Steve, meanwhile, was in the chase
vehicle which was something he had no
experience of at all and didn’t much like.
Following the balloon he had come to a
creekand decidedto ford it only to get
stuck in the middle. Fortunately, theScot-

tish team turned upandhelpedtow the
veh icleout,b ywhichtimeBenwas
through on the mobile and from then on it
was easy.
On the followingdayin Estremoz,
we woke to mist and low cloud which the
Slovakianteamdisappearedintolike a
conjuroringtrick. It quickly cleared, al-
thoughwespentthedaydodgingrain
showers. But Estremoz is a city of marble
and well worth exploring even in the rain.
We discovered marble quarries all around
the old, walled town. I waswith Dutch
journalist and balloon pilot, Joop deWilde
andphotographer,TimMotionandto-
gether we climbed towers and peered into
quarries.
We drove on to Serpa through a gen-
tlyrollingcountrysideof young, green
wheat andcork trees and arrived in the
old, walled town at dusk. We wandered
round and round Serpa eventually finding
theCasadeMurhalaembeddedinthe
town wall itself.
Not that we had much leisureto enjoy
the Casa because it was time for dinner at
the “workers’hall” where we weretreated
tosingingthatrivaledthemalevoice
choirs of Wales.They sang old ballads
which were taken up by all the boys and
girls of Realizar andeveryone from the
Portuguese Balloon Club who joined in,
linking arms and swaying to slow, dreamy
rhythms.
When the flight from Serpa the fol-
lowing morning began in fast conditions
it came as no surprise to find that several

balloons ended up overtheborderin Spain.
Chase crews bounced and rattled over the
shallow river bed which separates Portu-
gal from Spain to find their errant pilots.
British pilot, John Hole, landed on a farm
that specialized in breeding bulls for the
Portuguese bull fights and was presented
with a hugeset of horns which was proudly
strapped to the front of the Landrover.
It was all a great adventure but there
wasstillthe laststretchtogoover the
umbrellapine covered hills of theAlgarve
to the sea. Here, at Castro Marim, we set
up the balloons for the last time the fol-
lowing morning. Most pilots simply took
theopportunitytoventoffgas—none
more spectacularly so that the Swiss team
whoseenvelope had been torn into shreds.
Portuguesepilot,GorgeSantosflewa
short hop with Paulo to finish the fiesta in
style.
That evening, we celebrated with a
final dinner wherePaulo and Manuel gave
out trophies amidst cheers and laughter.
AsAlgarviandancerswhizzedpastI
thought of Braganca, eight days and half
a lifetime away. We had begun anepic
journey in the company of strangers and
had ended it in a roomful of friends and
that was the very best part.
For information on the Fourth Trans-
Crossing of Portugal by Balloons, Mid-
March next year, contact: Paulo Pereira
or Manuel Vaz at Realizar in Portugal.
Tel: 00351 2507 4530 or Fax: 00351
2507 4539

End of journey, Castro Marim, with Steve Bond venting gas next to Swiss balloon, badly
shredded in the Douro valley.