The effect is dramatic. Even before we are up and over the mountain, my fear of flying is gone. Everything up here makes me happy. The morning sun. The incredible silence. The peace. It's amazing how quietly we're flying - sorry - drifting. And how beautiful the Swabian Alb is on a morning like this. At seven o'clock, the fog still hangs over the meadows, the dark forests and the small villages.
"What I like about ballooning is that it is so slow and deliberate," says Rudi Fuchs. "It is a real art to work out where you want to go and where you can land safely when you get there. But I only fly when the weather is absolutely perfect. Apart from the silence, the great thing about ballooning is that you are usually between 500 and 1,000 metres / 1,600 and 3,350 ft above the ground, so you can see a lot of things going on below. A herd of cows galloping. Deer in a field. A cyclist racing downhill on the road below us. We are flying over the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve around Münsingen, south-east of Stuttgart; its unspoilt landscape makes it a great holiday destination. But the world below is still asleep and silent.
