In the past I have had many amazing times at Go Ape!, swinging and climbing through trees, but when I heard that there was another option that didn’t require me to wear a harness and struggle to keep up with my kids, I was even more interested, as I am not getting any younger! This option is a Segway tour which initially didn’t appeal, but after a little thought I was more positive, and how glad was I that I went. My only other exposure to segways was the one that tried to run Usain Bolt over after winning the Olympic 100m Gold, and as they were probably very experienced, my thought was what chance did I have?! Well the simple answer is, quite a lot really, as this isn’t as hard as it may appear.
Once signed up, you are given a helmet and taken to a practice area where you get an initial brief lesson on how to use it, and then it’s all hands on practice. This terrified me, as I really didn’t think that I could do this, but to my amazement it really isn’t that hard, and all you have to remember is to keep your balance and legs straight and only apply pressure forwards when you want to go forward, and lean back when you want to slow down.
In no time my wife, daughter and I, were whizzing around the practice area along with everyone else. Once everyone in the group was proficient, we left the practice area and segged (not sure if it is a word, but it should be) through the forest to a designated area which had 3 different routes. These routes, listed A, B and C, increased in difficulty, ranging from the relatively easy route A to the very challenging route C, and we were left to zoom around any of them practicing our new-found skills. The routes test you to the full, and my main problem was segwaying downhill as the temptation is to lean back which will just slow you down more. After about 30 minutes of zipping up and down and around challenging trails, the group all congregated again and after having our segways supped up (so they would go even faster) we started a cross country trail through the forest. This trail involved long roads (no cars) where you can get up to full speed, and although I have no idea what speed that was, it felt very fast, with the wind whistling through my helmeted hair.
At the end of the hour my daughter (and to be honest I), were gutted that it was over, as we really felt like we had mastered how to use the segways and had had such fun we really wanted more.
This is a great thing to do with your children, who have to be aged 10 and over, and weigh over seven and a half stone, and on our trip there were many families, all showing that children really can learn a new skill faster than their parents, and I for one had a great time.
There are several Go Ape!’s around the country, but not all do the Segway Tours, so for further information please visit www.goape.co.uk
We spent an enjoyable couple of hours at Bracknell’s Go Ape!, and the staff were superb, putting safety first, although there is also a huge emphasis on enjoyment.