So we scaled the hill of the iron age fort behind our house, and the dog disappeared.
It was just seconds later that we heard a frantic delighted barking somewhere way across the great tabletop which crowns the fort.
I broke into a run.
Heathland is not an easy run. Heather roots are always there to trip and the ground is uneven, and I wondered if I was hallucinating as I neared the barking. For what the dog was barking at was not your average heathland sight.
A gaggle of huge white ballons, suspended in the middle of the heathlands. And three young men, clustered intently around something which had once been a bicycle.
The dog had made friends by the time I arrived. He was wagging his tail and looking for any leftover picnic. I apologised for his manners whilst he grinned doggily.
“May I ask what you’re doing? It looks intriguing, ” I said.
Such nice young men. Engaged, they said, in sending a camera up high: eventually almost all the way to near space.
They gave me a tour of the kit: the meteorological balloons, the camera carrying contraption which looked not unlike the Rosetta vehicle currently careering towards the sun on a comet, buckaroo style, 300 million odd miles away.
This project was a little less ambitious than that, though mightily visionary for a small Berkshire town.
The little cart would be hoisted up by balloons, anchored on twine wound round the upturned wheel of a bicycle which would be gradually released to accomodate the cart’s wanderlust. And when ready to come back to earth the little vehicle was kitted out with a tiny rocket on each foot to facilitate its landing.
They were racing against the sunset – which is early in Britain at this time of year. Their aim was to get it to 300 feet.
We walked, we came back, and they were still grounded. We never found out whether they got the little craft airborne.
But what a wonderful to spend your Saturday afternoon.
The dog thought so, too.
Kate Shrewsday 
How very cool, I can just see Master Mac taking a ride as “AstroMac”.
I wonder how he’d take to being 300 feet up? 😀
Max would have gone bonkers at the sight of them.
Luckily they were a dog-friendly bunch and soon had Mac on their side, Silver. He did not pop a single balloon.
Did Mac consider volunteering to ride through space in the bike’s basket? Here’s hoping their ideas eventually took flight.
I think by the time they had charmed him, Mac might have done anything for them, Nancy: especially if they threw in some picnic for an extra incentive.
delightful.. c
They were so engrossed on their task, Celi. It was fab.
Worthy of another post, just to find out. I’m sure Mac would agree…….
I’m not sure I’ll ever find out, Andra: it was a random happening, a bit like that mid-desert buggy in Priscilla Queen of the Desert…hope fervently that MTM is comfortable and healing fast. Love to both of you.
Great picture of the spacemen.
Thank you. I didn’t have my long lens camera, just a poxy phone, so my resources were rather limited. I’d have loved for you to have seen that contraption up close…
Confirms my belief that “for those that can dream, there is no such place as faraway” 😀
How unusual! It makes me think of a kind of a early design drone. There are a lot of interesting people out there!