Days Out!

Go Ape, Buxton

Today I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for a day of swinging through the trees with my sister at Go Ape! in Buxton. Probably not the best idea on a raging hangover, but it had seemed like a fun idea at the time I booked it!

We drove the hour journey, and after getting stuck in traffic had to rearrange our start time for half an hour later than anticipated. We eventually arrived and got kitted up with our harnesses, and were given a quick safety demonstration and taught how to fasten ourselves in for each obstacle. Then we were left to our own devices!

I'd be lying if I said I felt confident, it was so much higher than I had expected (and I am not usually bothered by heights) and I didn't feel like I had absorbed the instructions fully either. But together we started, and once you are up in the trees there's nothing you can do but continue on until the end of the course - daunting but at least you can guarantee you will finish it!

The first few were relatively tame, but one obstacle a few in really got me jittery, which was an aerial runway where it honestly felt like I was throwing myself off a ledge to my death. Luckily my sister had gone first so had to do everything before me (what a gallant older sister I am!) but there were more than a couple of instances where even her encouragement wasn't good enough to persuade me. I hesitated for at least five minutes on one towards the end called the Extreme Tarzan, where you had to fling yourself off a plank to be jolted upwards and thrown into a giant rope net face first, which you then had to haul yourself up to the top of.

There were a few where there was nothing to hold onto at the sides; one in particular was just a moving wooden balance beam no wider than a couple of inches, so you had to rely on your balancing prowess and trust that the harness was strong enough to hold you. I had made an error on the last obstacle and only attached one end (thankfully I realised once it was completed and not mid-way through and panicked) so was very anxious on that one, to the point of near hyperventilation!

It took us just over two and a half hours to complete, which was probably due to the hangover adding to my nervousness, but it felt like such a major achievement at the end that Jasmine and I collapsed onto the floor in a heap, grateful for our lives. Lots of fun but definitely not for the faint hearted!