by Take The Family
Exploring the treetopsI always knew that my brother was a monkey at heart but I didn't know that he could climb like one. Mind you, I didn’t know my dad Andy could either. When we arrived at the Go Ape site in Bedgebury, Kent, there was a life-sized wooden chimp there to greet us, as well as some safety ropes – of course! Then we got onto the actual course, which consists of 4 action-packed stages and obstacles suspended 10m above my mum’s panic zone (which is about 2m…).
Each stage consists of many crossings, between trees. At Bedgebury there’s a total of 41 crossings, the longest one being 20m, then a huge zipwire to finish off. At 146m, the latter is the perfect finishing touch to a thrill-seekers' best day out. My favourite crossing was a massive, Tarzan-inspired swinging rope – you jump off a very high platform into nothing, then drop for what seems like hours, before being swept into a vast net.
I'd been to Go Ape before, a few years ago for a friend's party, but I was too scared to do the last section then. Now I’ve conquered the whole course I feel so annoyed with myself for not doing it then.
Mum followed us round and was scared stiff by the end (despite not actually going on the course), but I bet deep down she would love to be able to fly, swing, climb, walk and run – all at up to 13m above people’s heads.
