I joined a group of 19 others who were issued with red suits, white helmet and all the cold weather gear you'd ever need. It was a glorious sunny day so we kitted up outside which allowed plenty of elbow room as we all stood like flamingoes trying to don the trouser half of the all-in-one and to pull the harness over our upper body. We were helped by dressers who strapped us down tightly into our harnesses and then checked the fit of the helmet. I hired one of their cameras as I didn't want to drop my phone in the quarry or lake if the going got rough. Their camera was clicked into my helmet and off we went to the launch pad. All the paths and roads are surfaced in scree, that mass of small loose stones that are common in quarries and on mountainside. We toddled off. Twenty of us, or nineteen of them and me trying to catch up as they quick-marched as though to war. We soon reached the launch pad for the nursery zip. This is exactly like the big zip thing except that it is shorter and less steep. There are four parallel pairs of wires so we grouped ourselves in fours; I joined a family of three. We started by lying on a bed while the staff attached our harness to a suspension cradle on the wire. When we were securely hooked up and has been checked by a different member of the team, our beds were lowered leaving us suspended horizontally. We were 'good to go'. With a loud and clear countdown we were launched into space. I was mildly surprised to feel my toes scuffing along the gravel until the ground fell away. The cold wind of the mountainside could be felt as we rushed forward on this, the nursery slope. I'm told this trip took 35 seconds and we reached speeds of about 45 mph. My toes again felt the upper canopy of young tree as we approached the landing area and within seconds we were brought to a rude stop by the overhead braking system that ensured we did not overshoot and hit the quarry face.

 

We stopped, suspended in a horizontal position. Four staff had to turn the four of us upright. This was easy enough for most people, but as a craggy faced octogenarian I was inclined to stumble and wallow like a sapling tree so I needed to grab something. I nearly pulled over the weedy teenager who was assigned to my line but with my two hands on the overhead wire he manage to upright me and I staggered away. That was the easy slope.

 

We now had to board the ancient army lorry used by the quarry workers to trundle up to the high wire. It is about a 15 minute bumpy and rough drive to the summit where we were given a second safety briefing. We were now 1435 ft above sea level and the winds of Snowdonia were chilling the warm sunshine as the wind whisked about our faces. People who wore them, drew their anorak hoods closer as we listened to the briefing.

 

The safety marshal explained that this time we'd zip down at about 100 mph so we had to keep our head and hands in a streamlined form. It seems that if you look to the right and left you can induce a fish-tale movement in your form which slows your progress significantly, so the message was keep your head still, looking straight ahead.

 

We were told there would be a tail wind today so we'd be faster than ever, which I thought was a wind-up, but they attached small triangular sails to our harness which would have the effect of slowing us down. It seems they cannot have us arriving at more that 35 mph lest we break their brakes.

 

They selected four of us and lay us on the four beds, going through the same routine with clipping our harnesses to the trolleys on the wire, having everything double checked by a second person before our bed was lowered leaving us hanging over the precipice. After a countdown we were released simultaneously and zipped down 1½ kilometres of wire, over a bigger lake and across quarried terrain in no time at all. I touched about 85 mph but the fastest (heaviest) of our four just exceeded 100mph before being caught by the braking system.

 

This time we arrived 12 feet above our minders, each of whom had a pole for us to grab as they tried to upright us. For me this was quite the most difficult moment of the day because of my age. I have trouble enough to keep upright when walking Penarth pavements, so to be unceremoniously turned to a standing position left me grabbing at my helper, mouth open and grasping for breath. I steadied myself on the overhead wire until I felt more secure on my feet. It took a long time and the other three had made off to the beer tent before I'd reached the scree path leading homeward. That was a very long walk, downhill, steep and slippery. I took my time and followed signs to 'de-kit'. Crew members help you out of your harness which has several buckles at the hips and shoulder blades. I then removed the red suit and white helmet and went to meet Bron who had been sitting in the car for about two hours, which must have been boring. That completed the afternoon's excitement so next we went off to meet my cousins for a Chinese in Llandudno.