The instructor accompanies groups to the first area where a large ladder which takes you to the tree canopy awaits. After you have demonstrated your safety on the system and the marshal believes you are fully prepared, you will be allowed to journey around the course at your own speed, but instructors patrol the course all the time, in case someone is stuck or there are other problems.
My family ventured on - up the first ladder, across the ledge, and then zip wired down to a woodchip-bedded ground. After recovering from the thrill of zooming down a wire at over 20 mph, and finally managing to regain my feet, I continued to the next course where an open-top cabin awaited. We were given a four digit code which allowed us to enter each mini cabin and begin the next stage of our venture. Inside the cabins, we were able to cool down with a drink from the water dispenser and view what challenges were ahead on an illustrated map.
I began the ascent up the wooden ladder for a second time, climbing even higher than the last course. This time I was greeted by numerous wooden planks which rocked when I made contact with them. I crossed cautiously and hooked myself to the platform on the other side. I watched back as my dad was crossing when suddenly he lost his footing and fell off the planks. Being scared of heights, and only tagging along because the children need an adult to take part, the sight was pretty amusing – especially when he started squirming with fright as if there was a swarm of bees surrounding him. After some reassurance, he hauled himself back onto the wooden planks and made his way over to the platform I had been standing on for quite some time now.
Once again, to get to the ground we had to travel down a zip wire. When going down the zip wire, you were told to hold on to your harness straps, not the wire. The wire is made out of thick metal and so to hold onto it at such fast speeds would cause serious harm, such as friction burns.
Each event was colour coded: green was the easiest to complete, followed by blue, then red, and then black. The difficulty level was shown on the map within each cabin, or if up in the trees, on a sign post attached to the tree. After the green levels had finished, and the height of each platform became extremely high, my dad pulled out because of his terror for heights – and he was the one that told us it was all going to be so easy! He continued to follow us throughout the course, but this time on terra firma. This left only three dare devils left – me, my sister and my brother.
We had now reached one of the biggest attractions, but also the most difficult. We lay prone, and shuffled our way through some suspended barrels, which took about ten minutes because of all the swaying. There was also a large gap in between the two barrels which most people found extremely difficult to cross and wasted a lot of time on – including me! Once I had managed to reach the other side, I came to a big tree hut. I climbed up a rope ladder which took me further and further up into the tree’s canopy. Finally, I reached the legendary activity - swinging on a rope vine into a large rope mesh as if I were Tarzan. I couldn’t wait to go; however there was one thing stopping me. A rather large lady had built up the courage to swing, however now on the rope mesh, she couldn’t move herself. She was stuck. We stood for ages, just waiting. I felt so sorry for her! Many adults were trying to assist, however lots of youths were taunting her – “This side of Christmas would be good darling!” one yelled sarcastically. Finally, a marshal saw the frozen woman and tried to instruct her to move up and across to the platform, but to no avail. The instructor then hooked himself on to the structure, and like a true ape, went climbing, swinging and pulling himself up to the distraught woman. He connected his harness to hers and safely lowered her back down to the ground.
So it was my turn to fly through the air like a bird. I hooked myself onto the vine from the top of the tree and counted: one… two… three! I screamed in delight as the air went whooshing passed me and then flew into the mesh. I clawed onto it and started climbing up the mesh onto the platform to continue on with the next activity.
After further red and black courses, it was time to make our way down the longest and highest zip wire of the whole adventure. No one word can describe the exhilaration one feels when descending from such a height.
The whole course took us a shocking four hours to finish and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I know I will definitely be revisiting ‘Go Ape!’ at some point and suggest you make a visit too.
Daniel Lever
Address:
Go Ape!
Sherwood Pines
Sherwood Pines Visitor Centre
Sherwood Pines Forest Park
North Edwinstowe
Nottinghamshire
Website:
www.goape.co.uk
Phone Number:
0870 444 5562
