Without sounding like a stuck record repeating myself, but for those new to reading my blog, a reminder about my bucket list. When I turned 40 I wrote a list of 40 things to do in my 40s. I previously used the platform Blogger, but did not find it easy to use, so recently switched to WordPress to revive my blog. In order for it to make sense, I have decided to label each item in the order I have done them out of 40. Previously I labelled them the number on the list of 40.

It was exactly 3 years ago today (15/10/2019) that I completed 1/40 on my list of 40 things to do in my forties – The Zip Wire in North Wales. Some of you may have read this already when I originally wrote it.

Big thanks to my sister Juliett for giving me the zip wire voucher for my 40th birthday! I was speechless when I opened the present, not what I was expecting!

We (myself and Leanne), went on holiday to North Wales for a week and arranged to do the Zip Wire whilst there. On the morning of the zip wire day I was feeling quite nervous, but I was nervous about being late and not being able to find the place, more than I was about doing the actual zip wire. It was the earliest I had to get up all holiday and I am not very good at getting up early. It wasn’t even that early but we planned on leaving the cottage at 9am. As always we never leave on time and it was almost 9.30 before we left. As we were driving through the country lanes there was a black cat sat in the middle of the road. We had to stop and wait for him to cross the road. Now I am not superstitious but seeing as I was just about to throw myself off the edge of a quarry attached to a thin wire I was really hoping this wasn’t a sign of bad luck!

We arrived at ZipWorld at 10am, quicker than expected and we didn’t have any trouble finding the place. We sat in the car park for a minute, I’m at this point feeling really excited. Leanne decides to check the paperwork before we go inside and she says to me “it is the 14th today isn’t it”. I check my watch and i’m like no its the 15th! We only turned up on the wrong day!!!!! We should have arrived yesterday. Now my nerves are off again, I’m thinking all sorts, OMG what if they don’t let me do it, Juliett won’t be happy. So we went inside the centre and spoke to the guy there on reception. We explained we had got the date wrong and he just said not to worry, we’ll book you on this morning instead. Phew! Panic over. The original flight time was 11am but as we were there early I was able to book onto the 10.40 slot so we didn’t have so long to wait. This was great as the waiting was making me nervous. Whilst sitting in the waiting area there was a video playing of people on the zip wire and I had not realised how big it was. I found out that it is the fastest zip line in the world with speeds of 118mph! It is also the longest in Europe at 1555 metres. Wow. What have I let myself in for. I did not realise it went so fast. Leanne is terrified of heights and she’s making me nervous, haha.

10.40am and my group is called. Here we go!

There were 11 people in my group. Quite a few were on their own like I was, with their family/partners sat in the waiting area. I was quite surprised also at the age of some people, one guy was 60 (he was wearing a birthday badge) and another lady looked even older than that. They were both doing it alone. We get called into the next room and given a safety brief before being be weighed. Our weight was important as this determined where they needed to position the brake at the end of the zip line. Once we had been weighed we got to put on a lovely red jump suit and waited for an instructor to fit a harness to us. We also had to put on a helmet and goggles. The safety was really high here and they double checked everything. One instructor would fit the harness and another would check it, and all through each stage of the zip wire journey someone would keep doing safety checks. It was all very good and well organised. Safety checks over and we are ready to go!

It was a short walk across the car parking area to the zip wire station. When we got there I looked at it and thought this doesn’t look so bad. I watched a group of people go in front of me and it didn’t look very fast. At this point I did not realise there were 2 zips. It wasn’t until the instructions were being given to us and he said that we had a 15 minute truck journey up to the big zip did I realise this wasn’t the main one! I turned around and looked up high into the quarry and I could just about see at the top the start of the zip wire. OMG, it looked so high up.

Nerves started to kick in again at this point. The mini zip was fun, it wasn’t very long but you glided over the blue blue lake below and it was good to know what it was going to feel like when on the main zip. We had to lie down on our bellies on the mat on top of a bench, stretch our legs out straight behind with our feet over the bar hanging from the harness. Our hands had to be tucked into our sides at all times. When in position the bench lowered and we were left hanging in the air. The instructors counted down 3, 2, 1, hwyl and off we went. Four people at a time as there are 4 zip lines in a row. We all went at different speeds depending on our weight. It didn’t feel like I was going fast until the end was approaching and the brake that is positioned on the wire to bring us to a stop was heading very fast towards my head. I didn’t know what was going to happen or how I would stop but when I hit the brake my eyes shut, i felt a little jolt and that was it. Painless and fun. Now onto the main event!

It took 15 minutes in the truck to get to the top of the quarry. The trucks were like army trucks with the canvas covers except they were bright red. The ride up to the top was very bumpy and the road was snakelike as it went up and up and up. We were only about half way up and I looked out the window and we were so high up already. Four people whizzed overhead and they went so fast they were gone in a split second. I was again beginning to wonder what I had let myself in for.
We finally arrived at the top and we had an opportunity to stand near the edge of the cliff (on a fenced platform) so we could admire the view and get a good look at exactly where we would be heading on the zip wire. The view was absolutely spectacular, you could see for miles and miles over the top of lots of different mountains and you could even see the sea and the beaches all around. Looking down at the quarry the lake below looked small compared to how big it looked when doing the mini zip over it. The end of the zip line was only just about visible at the end, it looked a long way off and a long way down. I can’t decide if I am excited or nervous, probably a bit of both. The only thing I was gutted about was that I left my phone with Leanne as I didn’t want to drop it. I really wished I had it with me so I could take photo’s of the views I was looking at. I didn’t realise that the harnesses would have special pouches in the front for mobile phones and it was too late to get my phone once I found this out. So, if you do ever go and do this for yourself, keep your phone with you so you can get fabulous pics at the top.

It was finally our turn, we went into the building and in rows of 4 we queued up. I was with 3 other guys who were all doing it on their own too. The first group we saw go all screamed and I turned to the guy next to me and said “I didn’t feel nervous until they just screamed”. The guy next to me was the one wearing his 60 birthday badge. He was really excited for it. The next 2 groups to go ahead of me didn’t scream at all so I felt a lot better about that. The excitement was now building, I couldn’t wait for my turn.. I positioned myself down on the mat, tucked my arms in, locked my legs out straight, I was clipped on to the wire and ready to go. The bench lowered and it seemed like forever that I was just hanging there waiting. I remember thinking I hope they hurry up, my stomach muscles are starting to hurt, it was like doing a plank without using my arms!

Three, two, one , hwyl!! And we were off. We were flying at over 100mph through the air. All I could see below me was the slate from the quarry and then all of a sudden it was like I popped out over a ledge and the view below was the blue blue lake. It looked amazing. It felt like I wasn’t even moving as I went over the lake, it was just so windy I could hardly catch my breath. I looked to the left and saw the observation area where Leanne was watching and I let out a big whoop whoop in the hope she would hear me (she didn’t). Then, as quickly as it started it was over. The brake on the wire was approaching my head at such a rapid speed I think I may have let out a little scream as I ploughed into it and came to a stop. It took less than 60 seconds to travel 1555 metres. 0-60mph in 10 seconds. It was awesome!!!

I waited for the rest of my group to descend and then we took the short walk together back to the centre. Leanne was there waiting for me and the first thing I said to her was “Can I do it again?” . It was such a brilliant experience and well worth the money. The whole thing took about 1 and a half hours to complete. It was very well organised and lots of staff there making sure the experience was a good one.
The cafe at the centre was really good too and they allowed dogs inside.
Velocity 2 (the big zip) was definitely worth doing and I am so happy to have ticked it off my list of things to do in my 40s. If you get the chance, go and do it!