Be Excellent To Each Other

Has anyone ever been to Go Ape? They have sites around the UK, it's based in forests and is basically a sort of assault course travelling from platform to platform up in the trees. You get a safety harness which you use to attach yourself to the safety lines as you travel from one obstacle to the next and the obstacles vary in difficulty, from a tightrope with a line to hold onto, to what are basically floating horse stirrups as in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf2DgD5CDQ0

I went on Monday, with my little sister and my nephew, whom some of you know from XBL. It was a great experience, it starts with a zip line over to the course, and ends with what used to be the UKs longest zipline, it's something crazy like 500m long and travels 150ft above the ground passing over the treetops and a waterfall. There are some sections where you get an option of doing a moderately difficult crossing or black extreme difficulty ones. My nephew wanted to do the black routes so I dutifully accompanied him across, including the stirrup crossing in that video. They are really scary, you forget you are attached to a safety line and instead put all your concentration into trying to balance and pull yourself across. It was such a great sense of achievement once I was across although after a couple of particularly nerve jangling ones the amount of adrenaline in my body had me shaking a bit!

After one of the more difficult ones, I watched someone coming along behind us who crossed it by letting their harness take their weight then just pulling themselves along the line...that thought hadn't even crossed my mind and I'm glad of that because I think if i had considered it then that would have been the approach I used and instead I actually managed something that previously had looked impossible.
The one I went to was in Aberfoyle, near Stirling. A new one has opened recently near the borders at Glentress so I am planning a trip there, probably around the October holidays so as my nephew can came along again (I probably need him there to talk me into the more scary bits!).
If any of you have one of these places within travelling distance, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Such a buzz, something totally different to how days off are usually spent and a real sense of pride in yourself once it's done. It's really sparked something in me and i think I might look at paying a couple of visits to climbing walls now.
Also, if anyone wants to visit Scotland in October, they're welcome to join us!

Has anyone here been to any of the others?

I went to the one at Dalby Forest with Mrs Bulge a couple of years ago. Was excellent!

The most difficult "black" obstacle I found was a rope swing where you had to swing across and jump off the rope to grab a rope "wall". Pretty cool though. Definitely want to go again!

I've been to the Delamere Forest Chester one, and it was a load of fun for not much money. Just a shame most of it was spent stuck behind slower people as they negotiated the various obstacles, but it was still a good day out.

There's a similar thing in Snowdonia that I'd like to try. Miss Malabar has been, and says she was practically shitting herself the whole time. That sounds good enough for me. But she's a pussy, so it's probably tame. http://www.ttadventure.co.uk/

MrsA has been and loved it. She really wants to go again, but I won't go with her as I don't really do heights*. Which is a shame as you've made it sound really good fun.

*the bit in Dark Knight Rises where he looks down from the ledge made my palms begin to sweat and my heart rate rise. Just thinking about it now has had the same effect.

Oh, and the mega zip lines are a great way of getting wood chips/bark literally up your arse. Just in case anyone as always wanted tree bark up their arse but is too scared to shove it up there by hand.

There's one in Sherwood Forest, but I've never been. I'm not overly fond of heights, to be honest.

Yeah, they are. And every single one I went on, I ended up facing backwards. I shouldn't have worn a white teeshirt that day.

Also: I hate heights, but that's why I love things like this. There's a sense of peril, but I know I'm actually going to be fine. Just like rollercoasters. Same reason I loved paragliding, and really want to do a skydive. It'd shit me up so hard. Want.

That looks pretty great as well, a very similar type course but with lots of other outdoor activities as well like gorge walking and white water rafting. I should try and visit that area next time I go to Wales, if you hear me mentioning a trip to Cardiff try and remind me!

When we were at Go Ape we were behind a father and his two boys. The dad was terrified of heights, I have no idea how he managed to be persuaded to visit and take part, he even struggled climbing the rope ladders. That slowed us down a bit but I think that it made the experience even better because we got to see him push himself to do things he was really struggling with and we couldn't help but hold our breath for him at some of the crossings.

My most difficult obstacle was similar, it was a tarzan style swing which ended when you crashed into a cargo net, which you then climbed up. The swing itself though involved jumping off a platform and dropping until the rope had reached it's full length. I actually got too freaked out by the drop (I'd guess about 20ft high, with at least a five foot plummet before the rope caught you) and unattached myself from the tarzan swing until my nephew talked me into it and finally I just jumped off. I don't remember the actual jump I was so scared, but my sister and nephew told me that when I stepped off the platform the people on obstacles round about all cheered me because they had seen how much it took for me to work up the courage. Then my 14 year old nephew totally showed me up by clipping on his safety line and throwing himself off it within 10 seconds, where I'd taken 10 minutes!

Yeah that's the one! I think you could either drop onto the net below or if you got a good swing, you could grab the vertical net and just start climbing. And yeah, the initial "free fall" drop and the perception that it was going to hurt scared me, but it turned out to be a piece of cake!

Will do! It's miles away from Cardiff, mind. We go up that way every so often, as that's a good day out in itself. But we never remember about that place until we pass the signs, then always promise to remember for next time.

I really want to go rafting again. We had a whole day of it in Turkey, and it was a fucking incredible day out. Bit colder over here though, I imagine.

Jen is really bad with heights as well so she didn't come with us, I think she'd have been nearly passing out just watching what were doing from the ground. She's the same as you MaliA, even just seeing heights on tv is enough to freak her out. I think if you can face the first zip line in then you should manage the course although some bits would take some determination. The reason that last tarzan swing scared me so much is that you couldn't feel the safety line take your weight before you went for it. Every other obstacle has that peace of mind, that if you get stuck or too scared you can out your weight on the line and just pull yourself across like another zipline.

I loved that bit, it was ace.

The most difficult thing for me was the bit where there were ropes dangling with rings on the bottoms for your feet. That was so awkward. Fun, though! Even with my legs going everywhere and a definite pain in my crotch after it.

I've never done rafting, my sister was talking about doing it for her birthday but too many of her friends can't swim. Is that normal? I thought most people could swim but I guess not.
If we visited Cardiff again we'd probably drive so a visit to that place would be doable...the temperature is a fair point though, maybe best waiting 'til next spring before making any grand plans!

I'm not a strong swimmer at all. But you have a life jacket, and you're surrounded by people who're trained to keep you alive.

I plan to go over to the US and do a massive rafting trip at some point. I'm not sure where. But I want to do it before I die.

To do: become a stronger swimmer.

Have you seen the ones where it is a 100ft drop, with some sort of fan contraption that slows you to a gentle landing? Looks scary as hell. after doing that tarzan swing I considered it but I genuinely don't think I could convince myself to walk off the edge of a 100ft drop!
That sound a lot like the stirrups one. Really awkward and so hard to get your foot through the next one while basically hugging a rope and hoping you keep your balance. Finally made it across, slightly shaky and totally relieved, only to realise that the platform I had made it to was only a midway point between that and another extreme difficulty crossing and there was no going back!

I think the requirement of this rafting was that you had a certain degree of swimming competency, and weirdly her friends class themselves as not being able to swim at all.
An adventure holiday sounds amazing...I was talking to my friend in Oz last night and she was tempting me with the idea of a trip out to see her, talking about diving on the reef and stuff. I need to find an adventure holiday that doesn't make my girlfriend convinced she's going to die though, so anything involving heights or water* is out

*She's a good swimmer but is convinced that sharks, jellyfish, or stingrays are waiting just below the surface of almost any body of water, to try and kill her.

Fan contraption?! Where's that at?

What the hell? That sounds awesome!



Ah, then that might be a problem. I don't know many people who can't swim at all. Weird. Unless they're exaggerating.

Bless her. It's worth convincing her over, though. You'd both have such an incredible time. I'd hate to look back and not have done stuff like this when I had chance.

I can't find it on the go ape site, but my cousin went to a go ape that had it there. Here it is on that site Malabar linked to though! http://www.ttadventure.co.uk/ropes-courses

Yeah, maybe knowing one person who would class themselves as a total non swimmer but for her to have a few friends like that seems a bit weird. Maybe they're just too scared of rafting and didn't want to let on

I am totally trying to make sure I make the most of time off and holidays, I think that when you don't do things with your time off then your days and weeks and months all just blend together. When you make an effort to go places and do things then you have distinct points and events to separate time. Looking back through this years photos makes me smile because we have had such a great year, I'm going to make sure I keep it up.

Awesome. Miss Malabar told me about that, but she didn't mention giant fans. I figured you were slowed by the rope you were attached to or something. Totally going there now.

Could be! The sods.

That's exactly how I see it (and then waste my time anyway). Experiences stay with you a lot longer than material possessions. I have so many memories of awesome moments, and there's still plenty of time for more, and a hell of a lot of stuff I need to experience.

Looking into that rafting, it's a 20-minute stretch that you repeat four times. Rubbish. This is why I want to go abroad to do it again. The one in Turkey was a four-hour raft down the river, with loads of rapids all along the way. And it was cheaper, with transport from the hotel, lunch and dinner thrown in. Much poorer country, of course, but definitely worth travelling for.

Much poorer country = less safety stuff to worry about = more fun.

Fewer safety stuff.

Sort of. I've walked over a 400m high rope bridge in Borneo, and it left me with a dislike of heights and a deep suspicion that the locals didn't have much in the way of formal engineering qualifications.

I really fancy this and was looking forward to the one that was planned in Pollock Park which eventually got canned. I've had a look around and none of the other ones are reasonable to get to by public transport.

but if someone's done something all their lives, but doesn't have a certificate, it makes them more aware of the possible problems than your average man on the Clapham omnibus, though, doesn't it?

For cheapest thrills, give your left over holiday cash to a local cab driver with the instruction “Airport. Hurry”.

You could've got bollock bark in Pollock Park!

They took their safety pretty fucking seriously. But they didn't let it get in the way of the fun. No needless bureaucracy bollocks with it all.

The paragliding was a bit sketchier. Especially when the transport to the place was a guy in a car outside my hotel, leaning out the window and flapping his wings*, because he didn't speak English. We totally got into that car, then laughed as we figured we were going to be murdered. And then the guy I was strapped to for the glide itself didn't speak English either, bar the word “Run”. Fun!


*erm. Totally leaving that there.

Yeah the ride up the mountain gravel tracks scared me a lot more than the paragliding down did, especially when one of the leaf springs on the bus snapped. In fact it was cloudy when we set off and it looked like we might just end up going back down in the minibus. I was properly relieved to jump off the mountain.

I thought it was arse bark? Exactly how violated by wood shavings did you get?

Like yew wouldn't believe.

Fuck, yeah. The sketchy car was just to the base in Olu, and absolutely not a touch on how scary that truck ride to the top of the mountain was. And just as you think you're on the narrowest point, you have to pass another truck coming the opposite way. Thank fuck we were on the inside of that.

One for Mali:

I can see where I stayed there. We went diving. this was 9 years ago. Was quite a nice holiday.

What's the thing called when you go up on a parachute getting pulled behind a boat? We were going to do that in Turkey, but then one of the people on holiday with us told how they had been at the same resort last year and someone had fallen out of a dodgy harness doing exactly that and got splatted on the beach. So we decided against it.

Parasailing.

People die doing all sorts. As long as it's a rarity, I refuse to let it put me off.

Ah yes, parasailing. To be honest, I think we were quite happy to have found an excuse to put us off.

Swimming. That's a weird one. I'm a terrible swimmer but when in Mexico I developed a real taste for snorkelling (with a life jacket). MrsPaz is an excellent swimmer, just like her whole family, but she has the same fear of fishes and sharks that Gilly mentioned earlier. At one point, I was happily floating away checking out the fishes, when a stingray glided past. Suitably awed, I surfaced and told MrsPaz to have a look. She did, she panicked and nearly drowned me trying to get away. That was fun

Thanks for constantly referring to me as 'My Nephew' also, you unclipped your self about 4 times because you finally jumped.
It's really not THAT bad. All you have to do is not think about the drop, and your fine. The hardest part for me was climbing up the net.

Easier to not think about the drop when you're 14, bud

I have no issues whatsoever with swimming or the creatures swimming around me. I do, however, have a deep-rooted fear of stonefish, urchins, and similar, and am hence utterly paranoid about ever stepping on rocks or the sand underwater. Especially after a colleague managed to get an urchin spine right through his foot in Sumatra a few years back.

Can urchins penetrate those neoprene surf shoes?

They can totally be used to sharpen razor blades too, y'know.

There was an urchin on the seabed when I went diving. My instructor smashed the shit out of it with a rock.

Actually, I only properly unclipped myself once, the other times I just thought about it then changed my mind. I did however swear there was no way I was doing it about four times before I finally jumped. Wish someone had been there to film it.

Rage issues?

Dunno, but he looked like a Lionel Richie made entirely out of abs, so I wasn't messing with him.

did he approach you naked and ask "are you for scuba"