Five Go Ape in Thetford

Cambridge is a flat place. A very flat place. Some of my climbing buddies suggested an alternative to the usual climbing gym and said we needed to Go Ape. So last Sunday Edye and I climbed in the car and drove out to Thetford where someone has turned some forests into a giant climbing gym for adults.

First they give us harnesses to put on - as a climber it is very weird wearing a harness that I know I will be trusting with my life and that has been worn by 100s or even 1000s of clueless users. Is it still safe? Should we worry about the rip covered in duct tape?

Then we have a 30 minute safety briefing (where they reassure us that the duct tape covers a cosmetic blemish) and then we are clipping in and trusting our lives to the equipment as we do a variety of high wire tricks 50 feet above the ground.

The first real activity is easy enough. Just climb up a rope ladder, clip yourself securely to the platform, walk round to the other side, reclip the safety lines onto the end of a rope and jump off the platform. This takes a while. Time to rethink the plan. Here I am on a platform some distance up off the ground. Look over the edge of the platform. Yup, still a long way above the ground - in fact, I seem to be higher off the ground than the last time I looked. Well, I've seen other people do it, so it must be ok. Let's just double-check the safety lines. Do they hold my body weight? They seem to. Are the gates of the carabiners on opposite sides? Yes. Ok, all I have to do is step off into the void. Let's have another look at the duct tape. Still looks nice and strong. Ok, here I go. Well, I will in a moment. Ok, one, two, three, .... Does this carabiner look ok to you? Ok, here I go. After a few more minutes of hesitating, I finally jump, swing across to a giant rope-net, bounce, swing back and climb up to the next platform.



Ok, onto the second activity: a rope wire to walk on, two wires as handrails and a safety line to clip to. This is much easier (doesn't require as much trust in the equipment) but after a few steps you look down and get a whole different perspective on the forest. It's really quite nice looking down - if a little unsettling.

I'll spare you a blow by blow account of all the different activities. Lots of fun, a number of hesitations, the odd bruise and 3 hours later we are sliding down the long rope slide back to the start hoping for a smooth landing instead of the shameful drag through the wood chips demonstrated by the people before us.