I have to check in at 2.30pm ready to start at 3pm and we make a good start by arriving early, an hour early! So, we take the advice of the guy on the desk who suggests that we go and watch the jumpers for a bit before checking in!
Oh boy! The Abyss is sooooo big! It's high and wide and dark with video screens and music playing and people throwing themselves off a gantry 150 feet in the air!!!!! With shouting from the floor and screams from above it was a hell of an introduction to my afternoons entertainment!
The line of intrepid souls didn't seem to move very quickly and it took 40 minutes to reach the front where I signed away my right to blame them if anything went wrong...
It was about now that I had a moment of crisis... I hadn't brought any spare contact lens - what if they fell out??
I walked back into the darkness and the music looking for the way to the zip wire - the first of my three challenges!
John and the kids were allowed to stay with me and so together we made our way up a flight of stairs and along to where I was taken aside and strapped into a harness ready for the slide of my life!
Once I was suitably strapped up by a suitably strapping young man, then checked over by another... I was led, along with three fellow sliders, along corridors and down stairwells to where we would climb narrow stairs up into the roof the the mighty old steelworks...
I can't remember the name of the guy whose job it was to see us off but he laughingly told us that he had just had two nine year old girls do this and we had better not bottle out!! I remember thinking that it had to be easier to just do it rather than squeeze back along the narrow stairs and find your way back!
The zip wire was 250 feet long and stretched away into the darkness. Below we could see the faces of friends and family waiting and watching... it was soon my turn. The guy in charge was chatty and reassuring as he checked over my harness and hooked me onto the relevant straps and explained what to do, pretty easy really - just hang on, step off and enjoy the ride! So I did!
It was so quick that I blinked and almost missed it! The speed was said to be almost 35 miles per hour and I must admit it did feel fast but it was only moments before I came to a swinging halt at the end of the line... Fab! That was good! Not scarey at all and I even thought it a bit tame! Bring on the abseil...
The abseil was a little different. I needed a new harness, strapped on by yet another suitably strapping young man... and once again checked out by another... this was proving to be a good afternoon ;-)
This time with gloves to protect my hands on the rope, I was pointed in the direction of a staircase, a steel tread staircase made up of many flights of stairs. Each landing had a message - 'you are about to throw yourself 150 feet into the abyss', or something equally daunting! Each flight of stairs was harder on the legs and with muscles aching and getting short of breath I finally made the landing... only to be advised that I was only halfway at 76 feet and had to keep on going!!
Climbing and climbing, onwards and upwards, knowing that the quickest way down was the rope! At the last landing I was faced with a vertical ladder with a curved cage around it - up I went and there I was! 150 feet up on a steel gantry made of gridiron with gaps big enough to lose a 10p piece! Look down and you saw the height, look over and you could see the height - there was no escape!!
But there was Dave - the friendly face on the abseil. Smiling and asking had I done this before? I briefly explained how I had chickened out of a similar challenge in my early teens and felt the need to repent! He laughed and told me not to worry - its easy! In fact don't think about it, it's a no-brainer!
Step by step he hooked me safely onto the platform and let me through the gate. He checked over my harness - they are very thorough! It was all very reassuring - he was attached, I was attached, he hooked me one hook at a time onto the overhead arrangement which I would use to lower myself to the ground, 150 feet below...
Hold on here he said, arm by your side, ease your grip on the rope to slide faster but don't let go...
I leaned out over the side and gingerly let one leg dangle off the platform, that was it, no going back now, 'that's great' he said 'off you go!' and down I went. I had wondered whether I would swing about, having no wall to push again with my legs, this was a free-fall abseil! I was also worried that I wouldn't have enough strength in my arm to support me but it was all fine and I managed what I thought was a very controlled descent - see, I even know the lingo :-)
So, back to the harness area for a re-fit, before the power fan! I got strapped up by a girl this time, with another young man for afters! Once again I headed for the stairs, up and up I climbed, mental preparation made no difference - it was still a long way!
It's a good job the power fan is last! I was the most nervous for this and pretty sure I would have bottled out had it had been first!
Eventually I make it back up to the top, the vertical ladder again, hanging on and hauling myself up! I walk along the gantry to the bench where the bungee jumpers are waiting. They are with a group jumping for children in need and have raised £1k between them!
I wait my turn and a girl is strapped up for bungee and really doesn't want to do it... I feel for her and am glad that it's not me! After cheering from below and encouragement from her friends she allows herself to be gently pushed off! She screams all the way down but she's fine and her friends are really proud!!
My turn to walk past the bungee point to where the power fan is rigged. The bungee guy tries to make me do the bungee but I resist! Along the gantry the power fan kicking in loudly at intervals enough to make you jump (pardon the pun!). I chat with Gary, a fellow jumper, and am surprised to find myself actually rather calm! I'm not afraid to look down and can see John and the kids far below me. I find myself bopping to the music - I can't help it! I'm excited and shout a loud 'woohoo' everytime someone jumps!!
It's Ian next, my power fan guy. He asks how I'm feeling and I tell him I'm feeling pretty relaxed, considering! Like the rest he is chatty and reassuring. He asks me how come I'm doing this and I explain my 40th challenges and tell him briefly about Amsterdam, the Moonwalk and my naked photos! Am I getting brazen or what??
Ian checks my harness and does the hook-on-hook-off thing, making sure I'm safely strapped to the overhead motorised cable which will kick in a few feet from the floor to ease my landing!
I step to the edge... And I'm off! I scream 'WooooooHooooo' and before I've finished shouting the fan kicks in and I'm on my bum on the floor! I've landed already! The catcher guy helps me up off the floor and grins at me as he undoes my harness! I think I butted him with my helmet but he says he's fine!
It's been amazing! Truly uplifting! I feel confident and able to do anything - apart from a bungee - well, not today anyway...
I hope I've inspired my kids to have a go at something like this and Isaac has already said I was awesome :-)
I loved it... But the adrenaline didn't last long! What's next? :-)
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