Longview

Shortly after this photo was taken, I descended to the bottom the quick way - by the world’s fastest zip line. Travelling at over 100mph, the one mile line is covered in around 50 seconds, considerably quicker than the twenty minutes it took to get up there in a 4x4 truck.
This experience was a present for my 59th birthday - over 2 years ago! I didn’t get a chance to use it in 2019 and we all know what happened in 2020. This year I wanted to wait until restrictions were relaxed and the schools had gone back, in order to avoid crowding. And as it turned out, I picked a very good day. A fuss free run down the M6 and A55 meant we got there in very good time. As the weather had brightened up considerably by then, we were able to enjoy an excellent cooked lunch sat outside in the warm sunshine - with the added bonus of watching people speed past on the zip lines every five minutes or so. Couldn’t wait to get started and was first in the queue when my time slot was finally called forward.
A good safety briefing and then we were helped into our harnesses. Strong emphasis on safety with the instructors checking each other’s work. We then queued up for a ride on the low level line - quite short, and only reaches speeds of about 30mph. Ostensibly to get us used to the experience, I suspect it was also so that those who didn’t like it could bow out gracefully before committing to the big one!
Again, a very slick and safe process to get us hitched up and the only real shock was the braking at the end - a lot more sudden than I expected as there is no real impression of speed when you’re whizzing across the water.
After that little run, it was time to board the 4x4s for the three mile drive to the top of the hill. Which is where we came in…..