Go Ape at Matfen

by Amy Hunt, Evening Chronicle

SINCE I was a child I’ve been fascinated with assault courses.

The physical challenge on the Krypton Factor was my idea of heaven and as a young girl I longed to be allowed on that zip slide at our local park which my dad wouldn’t let me go on.

Now, in the shape of Go Ape, for all frustrated daredevils like me there’s a new kind of day out available here in the North East.

Basically Go Ape is a giant aerial adventure playground for people of all ages, comprising rope ladders, cargo nets, wooden bridges, tunnels and zip slides.

Visitors start the course by climbing up to a platform up to 40ft above the ground, then having to get from one platform to another via a variety of crossings, from fairly stable bridges to a succession of suspended metal rings.

At the end of every gruelling section is the pay-off – a zip slide to take you from the treetops back down to the ground.

The course in Matfen, Northumberland, is the newest of Go Ape’s 22 courses around the UK and the first in the North East.

Set in the grounds of Matfen Hall hotel it is hidden from view in a section of woodland overlooking the hotel’s driving range.

Taking advantage of the course’s late opening on a Wednesday, until 6pm, we arrive at Go Ape straight from work and ready to release some pent-up energy.

Our session starts with a safety talk and harness-fitting by our instructor. When you’re going to be climbing 11m up a tree, then throwing yourself off, it’s important to get the safety element right.

So we’re shown how to put on the harness, which is tightened and checked by the instructor, who then explains how we will clip ourselves onto the safety cords and crossing lines around the course.

There’s a lot of information to take in on how to attach our carabiners and pulley properly. But as soon as we clamber up the first rope ladder to our starting point we realise why we need to concentrate and pay attention.

Simultaneously we look down and realise – this is high! But Matfen’s course is just the tip of the iceberg, as other Go Ape centres, such as the two in the Lake District and one in North Yorkshire, scale heights of up to 40m (130ft).

Even so, our hearts are in our mouths and adrenaline is coursing through our veins as we set off on the first of five sections.

Each of the obstacles is graded easy, moderate, difficult or extreme and is colour-coded. There are signs at the start of each one, explaining what we should do and at certain sections we can choose whether to follow an easier or harder path.

Some bits are downright exhausting, such as the cargo nets and rings suspended on ropes, but some are just great fun, particularly swinging off the platforms and down the zip wires to the ground.

The highlight of the course is the Tarzan swing on section five, a real leap of faith as you launch from the platform, throwing all your weight into your harness and  pray  for a safe landing into the cargo net on the other side. The zip slides are great fun too.

After a couple of hours at the end of the course we hand back our harnesses and leave exhilarated, with the smell of the forest up our noses and woodchips from the zip slide landing strips in our shoes and clothes.

Go Ape is one of those things which you have to experience to understand the sheer enjoyment of it.

For anyone who enjoys a challenge or likes being out of their comfort zone for a few hours, Go Ape really is swinging.