King of the Swingers
Holdin' in the sheer excitement for our Go Ape! adventure day out was an itchin’ bloody ache, but I tell you what, it was definitely worth the wait.
Our day started with a lovely bike ride through the paths of the Sherwood Pines scenic route, and luckily it happened to be a gorgeous, sunny day. The bike hire prices were reasonable, costing us about fifteen quid for two bikes for an hour. Not bad at all. The trail could have gone horribly wrong if left without some guidance by the store manager, but sure enough, he knew the routes like the back of his hand… a good job if you’re a clumsy sod or ‘likely to be stubborn and not follow a map’ individuals like ourselves. The trails were signposted and although he let us loose on our own, we we did manage to find our way back, unharmed. All this before we’d even started the tree climbing.
Before we knew it, we were kitted up, harnessed and ready to take on the official tree training. I was quite glad our group was a small ‘en for a bit of one on one prep, duck. We had a thorough run through our harness-clip usage for each of us and the course in general. All that health and safety stuff was reiterated enough to bloody remember, and trust me, when you’re up in those trees you don’t need to be reminded to ‘Always Stay Attached!’ Now I’m not usually a fear of heights type of lass but when you’re high up with seemingly nothing keeping you up there and a rather small ledge… it’s quite the adrenaline rush. With enough training and prep, the professionals do leave you to tend to yourself. Something I liked to be fair ‘cause we all know that there’s nothing worse than being either rushed or waiting for the next course behind snails.
Monkey Business
The course itself consisted of six ‘mini’ courses which each had around two to three crossings and a zip wire to take you back to the ground, which became steeper the closer to the finish point you were. The challenges varied from bone-chillingly wobbly stepping stones to more relaxed, and at times therapeutic, logs to shuffle along. The best bit, by far, was the Tarzan Swing. The name alone made me laugh. You’re literally - and I mean literally - attached to a swinging wire and left to fly through the air into a catch net the other side of town. Well, not that far but you catch my drift. Without a doubt, I definitely bellowed the Tarzan noise. Pure laughs and one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I've had.
Starting off was nerve racking, but by the time we got to the end of the course, we were happy to call ourselves pros. I had such fun, smiled all day and I can’t wait to go back and get clipped and zipped up again. I'd definitely have a blast on the segways they had sitting outside too, there's a vast amount of stuff to have fun with, and it's the type of thing you could easily do once or twice a year. I can imagine in a bigger group, it would have been hilarious to watch people in the distance struggling… Haha!
To end our day we were awarded a certificate which we’ve both proudly got stuck to our office wall. A proper nice way to end the day’s swinging fun.
Go Ape! website
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