Day Five (Part One): A Zip Wire Extravaganza 5th

After an action packed two days it was nice to have a slow start to our ‘rest day’ today.  Our family, however, don’t know the meaning of the word ‘rest’ so by 1000 we were off on yet another adventure.  Today we would be travelling into France to the spectacular valley of Porté-Puymorens to take part in a little zip wiring.  As the rest of our group had the same idea, we had to be taken in three cars with Nick and his wife, Neuria, and the hotel cook, Laura, all driving.  Abbey, Kerry and I travelled with Laura who was only just learning English so was happy just to listen to our conversation.  Abbey, assisted by Laura’s neck pillow (which happened to also vibrate), was out like a light before we had even left Soldeau.

Instead of taking the tunnel into France we drove over the pass then down through Pass de la Casa.  The day was clear and bright and there was plenty of magnificent scenery to make the drive pass quickly.  On arrival we were met by our young French instructor, Adrian, who incidentally was everything a young French instructor should be!  He talked us through the procedure and in no time at all we were all harnessed up and being walked through the process of hooking and unhooking our carabineers along the safety lines and onto the zip wires themselves.  With a minimum weight requirement of around 40kg, Abbey, after completing the first two runs alone, was then teamed with Harriet so they would make it easily from one end to the other.

 Arriving at Porté-Puymorens

 The entire course was set out in numerical order and colour coded, increasing in difficulty as you progressed.  We began with the green “Découverte” runs (numbers one and two) designed just to get the feel of things.  They were no scarier than your average playground flying fox and everyone flew through without a thought –all except Andy who would not admit any fear but felt zip wiring ‘wasn’t his thing’.  Hats off though to Paul who is afraid of heights but was determined to give it a go.

Trying our hands at Runs One and Two:

 It was then straight onto the next level (blue runs) of three and four entitled “Sensation” where Abbey and Harriet joined forces and were unstoppable.

 Without blinking the kids moved on to the more challenging Red runs “Frisson” (which translates as Shiver).  The next four runs, numbers six through eight, crisscrossed the dam and canyon and it really was a case of scaling new heights!  At this point Sarah dropped out but amazingly Paul kept on coming (though may have had his eyes closed at time and a rather tight grip on the rope!)

 The Dynamic Duo fly through the air with the greatest of ease!

 Zac awaits his turn with Adrian looking on then performs his own aerial acrobatics

 Not to be outdone!

There was simply no stopping the kids who, on completing all the red runs, moved straight on to the black “Emotion” runs numbered nine through twelve.  Once again we crisscrossed the dam and canyon but this time at great heights and with greater drops – and tons more fun!  The majority of the platforms were suspended high in the tree branches.  At one point, the platform was accessed by climbing up a long cargo net, which was not an easy task whilst still having your carbineer attached to the safety line.  Amusingly, the only person who had to be ‘rescued’ by Adrian was single mum Kerry who, on reaching the platform over the lake, failed to grab the safety line and slid back along the wire.  Adrian nimbly hooked on his own carabineer and in no time was using his rather pleasant biceps to drag her back to safety.  Needless to say, she did not live this one down!!

 Abbey impatient for her turn then the kids show off their skills

 I don’t think the girls ever considered that they should be afraid!

 There were smiles all round!

 Whilst Nathan was on camera duty, I did snap him in action on one of the runs

 Scared…who me?

 At some points we had to scale the cliffs to reach the next run

The final few black runs were like scenes from a James Bond movie as we literally flew above the water.  At one point Abbey and Harriet got their feet wet, as did Zac.  What I failed to get on camera was Nathan gliding towards the dam wall trailing his hand in the water behind him – very cool indeed!

 Abbey and Harriet, fearless to the end

 Zac and I follow suit

 Nathan manages to capture the girls as they flew across the dam

 Making a splash crossing the dam wall

 What you can’t hear is Zac screaming with joy!!

 Ok, that’s me showing off flying over backwards

 Abbey waits her final turn from the tree top platform, whilst Zac flies forth one final time

Well, we had all successfully completed all the runs and there were smiles aplenty all round.  There was just one final challenge awaiting us and, to complete this, you had to be at least 12 years old.  Adrian relented with Zac, given he is the same height as me, so Zac, Michael and I led the way towards the final hurdle, the “Extréme Super Saut”.  The rest of the group followed to act as spectators and to throw in the odd supportive comment.

The “Super Saut” required you to make your way out into the centre of the canyon (some 30 meters high) via suspended cables.  At some points you had to unclip and refasten the carabineers until, finally, you were standing on the central, tiny, platform.  It was then a case of leaning out (and it was a long way out) to grab hold of the swing to which you then had to clip on your carabineers.  Once secure it was simply a matter of jumping.  After somewhat of a free fall you then swung widely within the canyon being sprayed by the waterfall cascading over the dam wall.  Once the swinging ceased you then had to grab a safety line and haul yourself to the lower platform and attempt to disengage your carabineers before scrambling up the cliff to safety – sound fun?

As the only adult taking part it was left to me to lead the way.  The only tricky bit prior to my jump was the actual pulling in of the swing, which took all my strength.  I had to lean out with one arm whilst hanging onto the safety cable with the other and really haul the thing in.  It was then a case of taking a deep breath and letting go of the rail, having complete faith in the harness and carabineers that were still attached to the safety rail, as I needed both hands to transfer my carabineers to the swing.

Once secure I could see that Adrian was not pleased with something but he was too far away, and too French, for me to understand what he was saying.  Eventually I worked out that he was afraid I was leaning too far back so I simply straightened, took one more deep breath and jumped.  What followed was the most exhilarating free fall then I was flying through the air towards the waterfall.  I could feel the spray in my face as I swooped through a small rainbow before swinging out and starting all over again.  It was an incredible feeling and was over way too soon.

If getting onto the swing was hard, getting off was harder.  Once again I had to use all my strength to pull myself onto the platform then found I was a tad too short to unhook my carabineers.  I literally had to climb a near by tree to gain enough height to complete the task.  That done, the cliff was the easy part and I emerged back at the top triumphant.

 Getting out to the middle was the easy bit

 Once hooked up, it was simply a matter of jumping!

 Given how difficult I had found it to man handle various stages of the jump, Zac and Charlie, who had also been keen to have a go, sensibly opted out.  Michael wanted to give it a go but only made it as far as the central platform before he found he just didn’t have the reach to capture the swing.  There was only one thing for it; I would just have to have another go!!  Nathan captured most of my second jump on video and, I will admit, it looked a bit scarier from the top!!  I happily accepted the coolest mum accolade from the kids that day.

 Coolest Mum in the World!!