Ballooning over the Peak District

By Nick

Ballooning Over the Peak District: Soaring over England's landscapes in a hot air balloon.

Lucky enough to go ballooning last week, the weather was amazing and views were awesome. As much as we have got used to being able to see ariel views of pretty much anywhere in the world, real life waves back. We had the Red Arrows doing a display before take off, a little bit of ballon prep along with slightly manic couple of mins as a large bit of fabric fights with the wind. But as soon as your airbourne it’s super serene.

We took of from Bakewell show ground and although an early wind took us in the direction of Calver it soon shifted after i’d taken some pictures looking back over Bakewell. The shift took us towards a great view into monsal head above some farmers making hay bales. Some stunning hazy views above the highest part of the derbyshire dales cressbrook nature reserve and straight landing just before a busy main road, only a couple of ruts in the field made the landing anything other than text book.

As we packed everything away the sun set on a pretty awesome few hours.

Books & Magazines

  • Save 10%

Oat To Joy Oat To Joy

Oat To Joy

Emma Pooleys oat-based recipes
$34.99

  • New

Epic Rides Epic Rides

Epic Rides

Packed full of our favourite stories, photos and articles and every bike in our range.
$0.00

  • Email when available

Coffee First, Then The World Coffee First, Then The World

Coffee First, Then The World

In 2018, over the course of 18,000 miles, Scottish cyclist Jenny Graham smashed the round-the-world...
$24.99

  • Email when available

The Outdoor Swimmers' Handbook The Outdoor Swimmers' Handbook

The Outdoor Swimmers' Handbook

Kate Rew's joyful and comprehensive guide to outdoor swimming
$34.99

  • Email when available

BOMS-WLDSW-01-wild_swim BOMS-WLDSW_wildswim2_1200

Wild Swim

River, lake, lido and sea: the best places to swim outdoors in Britain
$22.49

  • Save 10%

Ask An Adventurer Ask An Adventurer

Ask An Adventurer

Ask an Adventurer answers your questions from behind the scenes
$14.99

  • Email when available

Day Walks in the South Downs Day Walks in the South Downs

Day Walks in the South Downs

Day Walks on the South Downs features 20 circular routes, between 6 and 14 miles...
$22.49

  • Email when available

Book 15 Short Walks Lake District front cover Book 15 Short Walks Lake District back cover

15 Short Walks in the Lake District

Short Walks in the Lake District: Windermere Ambleside and Grasmere
$14.99

  • Email when available

book 15 short walks on hadrians wall front cover book 15 short walks on hadrians wall back cover

15 Short Walks around Hadrians Wall

15 Short Walks Hadrian's Wall
$14.99

  • Email when available

Stand-up Paddleboarding In Great Britain Stand-up Paddleboarding In Great Britain

Stand-up Paddleboarding In Great Britain

Providing details on how to get started in stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) in a safe environment.
$34.99

  • Email when available

BOMS-1001CT-01-1001_climbing_tips BOMS-1001CT-01-1001_climbing_tips

1001 Climbing Tips

An irregular instruction manual for anyone who hangs off stuff or just hangs around in the mountains
$34.99

  • Email when available

Time On Rock Time On Rock

Time On Rock

A climber’s route into the mountains
$24.99

Your next reads

Build your own Go Box

There's an incredible sense of freedom that comes with knowing you have what you need to go pretty much anywhere and do anything at anytime. And th...
March 04, 2024

What’s On in May and June: Discover your next adventure

Warmer days and longer evenings mean one thing – more time outside! Whether you’re looking to try bikepacking for the first time, join a local ride...
May 04, 2025

What's on in April and May: Local Events You Won’t Want to Miss

We love getting people outdoors and bringing our local communities together—and over the next few weeks, we have loads of brilliant events happenin...
April 22, 2025

The 55-Hour Weekend: Turning Downtime into Adventure

How to find your adventure The seed of an adventure often starts with a question: "I wonder what's over there?" or "Could I actually make it that f...
April 23, 2025

How To Leave No Trace When Camping

We’re advocates for leaving a trace. Whether we like it or not, we will all make our mark on the earth - so let's leave a good trace on the planet....
April 14, 2025

Introducing Children to Mountains

I remember the first time I climbed a mountain. I hated every moment of the path to the top. I was very young, but but if memory serves me correctl...
December 23, 2018

Broken Hearted Optimism - 3 dads walking for suicide prevention

Three guys found their lives thrown together when sucked into a vortex whipped up by the aftermath of suicide.It so easy to imagine that when faced...
May 14, 2024

Supporting the Scout Association

The Alpkit Foundation is pleased to support The Scout Association. Scouts take part in activities such as kayaking, abseiling, expeditions overseas...
April 26, 2016

Top Spots: Hathersage Haunts

Our hankering for a base in Hathersage goes back a long way. In fact, way back to the days when we'd zig zag across the country on bus after bus ju...
August 23, 2017

Micro adventures and bivvies

A micro-adventure can be described as. “an overnight outdoor adventure that is small and achievable, for normal people with real lives. After nine ...
June 01, 2018

10 Hours Outside: Finding Motivation and Joy in the Dark, Cold Months

Let's face it: getting outside in winter can sometimes be as appealing as dipping your extremities in an ice bath. When the days are short, dark, a...
November 20, 2024

Al Humphreys - Suilven

This adventure began with a map. Or perhaps it began with a bike ride – I can’t remember any more. It doesn’t really matter, I suppose, but good id...
September 18, 2019

Trailblazers

The great outdoors should be for everyone, yet for far too long, women have faced barriers that have made participation in outdoor adventure harder...
March 06, 2025

When Does A Holiday Become An Adventure?

Like most of us these days, I feel far too busy with all the commitments of real life. So one of my greatest pleasures is to have both a chunk of e...
May 26, 2022

Making new outdoor classroom accessible for all students

Investing in outdoor classrooms certainly aligns with the understanding that exposure to nature can have a significant positive impact on mental we...
July 09, 2024

A Decade Of Daring Deeds With Alpkit

Ten years ago Adrian and I set off on a transcontinental bicycle adventure. Our self-supported charity challenge was designed to raise funds and aw...
February 08, 2022

Bivvy on a work night?

It's all that Al humphreys fault! We love getting out and at Alpkit it is encouraged, some fiddling with bikes over lunch time, coming in without h...
July 25, 2014

Connecting with Nature

Discover powerful ways to leverage nature’s tonic in your day-to-day; slow down your walk to the bus stop, appreciate the changes on your morning r...
May 23, 2023

Helping Kids Complete their Bronze DofE

The Alpkit Foundation is delighted to support St Johns School. They would like 5 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to take part in the Du...
August 11, 2016

Weekend Warrior days are history

I grew up as a weekend warrior; squeezing every minute out of every weekend, in the outdoors. I moved around a lot as a child; some locations were ...
March 24, 2017

Al Humphreys launches the #Local7Summits Challenge

Alpkit Ambassador Al Humphreys Launches the #Local7Summits Challenge: A Community-Inclusive Adventure This initiative invites people of all ages an...
January 18, 2024

An Achievable Adventure

Many of the adventures reported in “Espresso” involve super-fit athletes in their early 20s, doing such exploits as paragliding off the three highe...
February 17, 2022

A Father-Son Winter Scrambling Journey

Since I have been in my teens, I have always spent time in the Lake District in February, trying to find a bit of winter. At first it was with my D...
December 01, 2023

Solace in nature

Recently my life was turned upside down when my wife passed away. emotions have become complex and I sought solace in silence, or at least the soun...
November 11, 2013
Babies – the latest training aid

Babies – the latest training aid

It’s time to reflect on the many ups of the 2009 season. With the main event being a beautiful (well I think so!) little baby girl born in June, my...
November 10, 2009

The Mother of Adventure - Pt 1

In October last year, my head was spinning with loads of questions. Mostly, how do I make the most of the freedom that I have now before an operati...
March 06, 2015

Hike for Health, but Leave No Waste

Damage and littering can be an all too common sight when numbers going into the outdoors increase and one that certainly became very evident after ...
June 21, 2022

Local | An Alpkit Long Read

Longstanding Alpkiteer and friend of Alpkit, Al Humphreys, is releasing his new book soon. Local is about how to find joy in your nearby. Grab a cu...
October 17, 2023

Five routes to finding Nature by Miles Richardson

Nature. It’s Just Outside Miles Richardson, Professor of Human Factors and Nature Connectedness at Derby University, looks at the benefits of conn...
November 10, 2020

Taking Stories and History Outdoors

A Treasured Outdoor Moment - Luke Beckett Ayup! I’m so excited to tell you about my treasured moment, exploring wild, amazing places in winter - a ...
February 05, 2021

Fixing the Fells

With more frequent severe weather and an ever increasing footfall, it is continually putting immense pressure on our fragile mountain environments,...
November 17, 2021

Volunteer training for Love Her Wild

Groups dotted around the country working together with a shared vision can have real impact. With a believe that outdoor adventures boost well-bein...
March 13, 2023

Building Opportunities within DofE

We were delighted to be able offer support to Alan who is employed by DofE Scotland to build the capacity of schools and youth groups within Glasgo...
January 20, 2017

Adventures for Life Skills

Be it cycling and wild camping through Iceland or pedalling and paddling Fisherfield Forest, we all love an adventure. Getting lost somewhere and m...
June 19, 2018
84km Bivvy Challenge

84km Bivvy Challenge

When winter approaches events become few and far between. as a sponsored rider exposure for the companies that give you love should never be restri...
December 08, 2009
Geo-Caching

Geo-Caching

A giant game of puzzles, gps and treasure hunting!! So how easy is it to do and what do you need? Surprisingly little, a smartphone that can go on ...
August 19, 2011

A school tarp lesson

Last month we recieved an email from a primary school teacher. "My class of 8-9 year olds have been doing a topic about adventurers and explorers. ...
July 14, 2014

A Father's Day Adventure

Anyone who is familiar with the Peak District and enjoys mountain biking will know that the routes between Hayfield and Edale offer some great ridi...
June 23, 2017

The Mother of Adventure - Pt 2

Coming inland... we were getting higher and colder, until we were in minus 8 degrees, playing in the snow at the foot of Mount Erciyes. It was here...
March 06, 2015

What a Difference a Day Makes

We like a challenge here at Alpkit; we also like a bit of tradition. The August bank holiday weekend marks one of our favourite traditions – the mu...
August 27, 2017

Nature Connectedness

The challenge – a failing relationship with nature.There’s no wellbeing without nature’s wellbeing. Everyone is at risk from the loss of habitats a...
February 16, 2021

£500,000 to break barriers to the outdoors

When we launched the Alpkit Foundation back in 2015 we knew that a little bit could result in a big bit, when it came to help getting people outdoo...
June 24, 2022

Adult Health and Well-being Walks in the Lake District

We probably all know that spending time in wild and beautiful places is a great way to heal the human spirit. However, a potential barrier for thos...
October 11, 2019

Cameron Grant Memorial Trust Night Walk

There's something special about walking at night; when even the most familiar of paths becomes another world; a dream world, where you can only see...
October 25, 2017

Alpkit Dad Adventure - The Top 3

We gave everyone a mission - get out in the glorious British weather this June with their Dad's - the Alpkit dadventure on Father's day and coincid...
July 03, 2015

The Dog Race

'Emily Chappell has just finished her winter journey by bike fromAnchorage to Seattle. Here are some extracts from a recent blog post from late Feb...
March 27, 2015

Top Spots: Ambleside Activities

When you’re opening your second store, you tend visit it a fair bit to see how things are going, chat to the team, or pick up a paintbrush and get ...
August 22, 2017

Insight: Adventures with Sight Loss - A Peak District Bouldering Short Film

We could all do with a bit of a distraction right now, so here's two and a half minutes of inspiration. With the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival ...
March 20, 2020

Making new plans while stuck at home with a finger board

The world's been turned upside-down and in making new plans we've got an opportunity to make self-improvement in ways that you wouldn't usually hav...
March 25, 2020

Adventures with Dad

“Dad’s gone crazy!”I thought.“Why is he making me pack so many jumpers on this beautiful sunny day?”, wondered 7-year-old me. It was mid summer and...
June 16, 2018

Hiking for mental health

Next Stage are based in Westhoughton and support vulnerable people in supported living projects throughout the North West. These people suffer from...
January 08, 2020

Oddventure

Hang about, what the heck is an Oddventure? Good question. It’s an ideology really. The idea that getting to know the world’s wild places doesn’t h...
June 02, 2017

Woodland Gatherings

It’s so often the drive and passion of individuals that impacts across a wider community. As Ukrainian families began to arrive and find refuge in ...
December 17, 2022
Making the perfect getaway

Making the perfect getaway

Holidays should be fun right? Correct, of course they should and holidays packed full of adventures should be even more fun, for everyone, whethe...
May 20, 2013

So what is adventure?

After qualifying as a doctor and trying to settle into her new career Anna found it a constant battle to settle properly. After a couple of years s...
January 18, 2019

Helping Young Campers

Many of you will remember your first camping experience, and we've found that a great deal of us don't stray far from home when it comes to ourfirs...
June 07, 2019

Running after the Asparagus

The Aspargus Colour Run takes part every year at The Valley in Evesham to celebrate the Asparagus season and to raise money for charity. This year ...
May 22, 2019

Rockpool Rambles and Beach Cleans

A lifelong passion for wildlife and the need to protect it - Cornwall Wildlife Trust Wildlife Watch is the national children’s membership for The W...
October 11, 2019

Welcoming Walkers

Aiming to get more people from surrounding urban areas into the outdoors and exploring some of the Peak District's greatest spots, a group of Hayfi...
July 26, 2019

Pip, Buster and Pips Dad

Pip emailed in a good few months ago now with some pictures of her, her Dad and theirtwo springers walking the Coast to Coast. They were planning o...
November 30, 2017

We like to go nice places and do good things

Dave sent us through some pictures and a few words about his most recent adventures. Hi Thought you might be interested in a couple of pics of ...
January 26, 2018

Meek Dad Adventures

The Meek family have set out to inspire kids and indeed the whole family, to get out and make more time for the outdoors. They showed a passion whe...
June 19, 2015
Sailing on Bassenthwaite…

Sailing on Bassenthwaite…

My 2010 was a year of re-establishment and discovery. After finally escaping institution and moving home in August I was ready for some excitement ...
April 20, 2011

Floor Is Lava - A Homemade Adventure Film

It's been really inspiring to witness all the different ways the outdoor community has responded to life in lockdown. From the gloriously silly to ...
April 09, 2020

Keeping Climbing Fit at Home

The skies are clear, the rock is dry: it's pretty frustrating being a climber at the minute. We'd could just about cope with not getting on the roc...
April 24, 2020

A Single Map is Enough

The winter evening settles down, the burnt-out ends of smoky days at the ebbing end of a bizarre year. Things are not what they were; are unlikely ...
December 02, 2020

Adventure from my Front Door

I spread the map open across my bedroom floor and located my house on the outskirts of town. My eyes began scanning the surrounding areas, seeking ...
March 12, 2021

Top Tips For Exploring Your Local Area During Lockdown

We’ve always thought that adventure is just a matter of perspective. Anyone can have an adventure: young or old, complete novice or experienced pro...
March 28, 2020

Moments of Kindness

We love being outside. We love sharing the joy that the outdoors gives us - it connects us. So we asked you what moments of kindness you've experie...
December 16, 2022

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

=