Saturday 3rd June to Monday 5th June the town of Chalon-sur-Saone (71 Saone et Loire, Burgundy) welcomes nearly 100 hot air balloons and their teams. Each team is based in a nearby winegrowers house (tough job but someone has to do it!) and there are a total of five flights (weather permitting) over the three days.
The schedule is :-
Saturday 3rd June 0630 from the Prairie Saint Nicolas just outside Chalon-sur-Saone.
Saturday evening has flights from the villages hosting the balloon teams. This will mean that the whole area around the Cote Challonaise will be studded with colour.
Sunday 4th June 0630 from the Prairie Saint Nicolas. This is the flight that will feature the main prizes, see below.
Sunday 4th June 1830 - 1900. Mass take off from the Prairie Saint Nicolas
Monday 5th June (Bank Holiday here) 0630 from the Prairie Saint Nicolas.
The programme is listing 98 balloons of all shapes and sizes. As always there will be a large British contingent with Cameron balloons well represented. Don Cameron is piloting City of Bristol (very apt) with colleague David Littlewood piloting City of Bath. Annonay 1783 recalls the first balloon flight ever made by the Montgolfier brothers and is piloted by Roland de Montgolfier (could there be a link there??). On the fun front the shapes include a cockerel, bagpipes (piloted by Muir Moffat so there could be a Scottish link there), a lorry (?) Lion head and something entitled "Tomorrow Morning". Whether the Jaguar piloted by Jim Howard is a car or a big cat is not stated and as for the intriguingly named "Special shape" from Spirit Balloons of Rutland - well, only time will tell.
On the Sunday the prairie is given over to a fairground atmosphere with all sorts of activities. There's live music, food stalls, things for the kids, exhibitions of balloon manufacturers Chaize & Camerons and how to tell the weather from Meteo France! The fun starts at 1400 well prior to the evening flight.
To make the best of the trip we'd suggest a leisurely breakfast at a good local B&B (see the website www.bandb-burgundy.com), a drive into Chalon to visit the Sunday morning market and stock up with a picnic, or alternatively, stop for lunch at one of the many restaurants on rue Strasbourg, on the Isle St Laurent. Stroll gently down to the Prairie and claim your place! Let those who wish to, be keen and active and work off all their excess energy and those who don't, just relax!
If you want to get up for the early flights, they can send you on your way with copious amounts of coffee (or tea!) and then go back for breakfast later. Or, with a little notice, they can organise a breakfast picnic for you to take with you, if you'd prefer!
Other attraction around that time include an open doors day in one of the winemakers in the nearby village of Buxy on Saturday 3rd June (see http://www.bourgogne.cybercommunes.com).
For further info please don't hesitate to contact John & Carolyn Scallan at bookings@bandb-burgundy.com or see their website at www.bandb-burgundy.com
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