challenge – 40 things…

26th “thing” achieved: 26. Zip Wire in Snowdon

Dangling from a wire over a 1200ft drop

In 2013 I saw a video online of a new zip wire in Snowdonia. I’d not long climbed up the mountain and was excited to see a new way to experience the amazing scenery. I watched the video, filmed on a go pro, and my stomach plummeted as the person went over a ridge and the ground dropped away!

I decided then and there that I wanted to do this, despite my terrible fear of heights I could see instantly that this would be a brilliant experience. I told my friends, and one by one they all had a go, but I never got round to it. When writing my list of 40 things, this was one of the first to be added – it was time to stop putting it off.

I had initially booked to go on my own, but then when chatting with my friend Sandy, she told me that she also wanted to have a go so we decided to go together. Weekends book out really quickly so I took a day off work and we headed up on a weekday. We drove up the night before – I’d booked accommodation at Bangor University in their halls of residence (all the students were away for the summer hols) because it was cheap and cheerful.

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, selfie, child and close-up — On our way!

We had a brilliant road trip with lots of fun – you won’t be surprised to know it involved a lot of singing along to the radio! The drive took about 5 hours but it went so quickly with good company. When we arrived, the accommodation was surprisingly good, and for £30 it was a bargain.

The next day, we headed up to Penrhyn Quarry, the site of the zip wire. We arrived over an hour early so went for a little drive around to admire the Welsh countryside – it was so beautiful!

We went back to the quarry to await our allotted time slot, feeling slightly nervous. The time came and we donned our sexy overalls and got into our harnesses. Safety briefing done, we then went to do a little zip wire – 500m – which gave us a little taste of what was to come. The most terrifying part was when you have to do a kind of press-up over a gap in the platform whilst they are strapping you in!

Little zip wire done, we got in a truck to go to the top of the mountain for the big zip wire. The longest in Europe, the zip wire is almost 1600m long and can reach speeds of 118mph – the fastest in the world. At the top, it hit us just how high up were were! On the way up we got chatting to a lad who was absolutely terrified – weirdly by calming him down it really helped us keep our nerves in check!

Sandy and I decided to go first so that we didn’t have the excruciating wait where the terror built; so we immediately nipped to the front and got ourselves strapped in. A quick count down and we are off! It was a weird sensation, you are strapped in so that you are looking down the whole time. The ground dropped away and we zoomed to the finish line. Despite the immense speeds, the scenery is so vast that it doesn’t look like you are going that fast. You can feel it though because the wind is buffeting your face so hard – I almost couldn’t catch my breath!

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You can also watch the whole thing on Video here!

A couple of minutes later and it was all over. The experience was exhilarating, definitely worth going! The only thing I regret is that I didn’t spend more time in Wales to enjoy the surroundings. It’s a long way to go for such a short experience but if it were part of a holiday in the area it would have been perfect.

For more information:

Bonus: Why did the chicken cross the road? We saw one on the way home but he didn’t stop to tell us 😀

23rd “thing” achieved: 18. Do an Escape Rooms event

We are crack bank robbers now. Think Ocean’s 11 but in Guildford. And only 6 of us. And no Hollywood heartthrobs.

Originally invented in Japan, “Escape the room” style challenges were launched in Europe in 2011. Since then, they have increased in popularity and nowadays you can find them anywhere in the UK. They usually have a theme such as zombie attack, prison escape, bank heist, bomb to diffuse, or pirates. There is even now a Harry Potter themed room!

The premise is fairly simple: You are placed in a locked room and given a mission to complete. By solving clues you progress through the room and when solved, this provides you with a key to exit the room. You have a limited time to complete the mission (usually an hour).

Ever since these became popular a couple of years ago, I have been dying to have a go. It reminds me a bit of old TV shows like the Krypton Factor or Crystal Maze – the idea of solving clues and using brain rather than braun really appeals to me!

I looked into different escape rooms, there are so many nowadays – originally I was drawn to a Harry Potter themed one by Enigma Quests – but they were booked out until November so that would not have worked with my October deadline! Further research unearthed a local one called Containment – in Guildford (Merrist Wood).

I pulled together my team – Natalie, Chris, Sharon, Paul, Karen and myself. We all have different skills (logical, abstract, practical, pattern-spotters, wordy, numerical) so I thought it would be a great combo. Paul, Karen and Sharon had done an Escape Room before so knew the format which helped! We could have a team of 4-6 people, but the cost was the same (£120) regardless of team size – so by having more people it kept costs down!

20170815_193204 — Lynn’s Bankers are ready to go!

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Toby who gave us our briefing. We’d be locked in but he’d be monitoring us on camera so we would never be in danger. We could ask for 5 clues as we got stuck. If we got the general gist of a clue but made a silly mistake he could point us back to the clue rather than us missing it out.

All prepped, we got locked in our room and our hour’s countdown began! We all immediately started poking around to solve our clue, which involved breaking into a bank vault. I won’t give any of the clues away in case you try it yourself, but there was a lot riffling around and poking at stuff. We spotted some key locks and some combination locks, so we figured we’d have to find the codes and keys to progress. We spent ages trying to solve a clue that was not a clue; fortunately the experienced members of the team asked for help before we wasted all of our time on the first stage!

20170815_200226 — We’re stuck on this clue

The funniest part was when we had two people manhandle a heavy bit of furniture, to which a key was attached, towards a tiny keyhole – for Toby to flash up a message advising us the key detached from its anchor! We felt very silly!

After a while, we got into the swing of it. 20 minutes had passed when we got through the first bit, and we really thought we’d never crack it. But we gathered momentum on the second section and soon we had cracked the vault! We found a safe, opened it to get the key to the door as well as some “treasure”… some gold coins (sadly chocolate… not real).

We finished with over 5 minutes still on the clock, which we were super proud of!

All of the team contributed, although I think that I mostly faffed and got in the way of the others! I did spot a couple of things however so I wasn’t completely useless. The team worked best when we paired off and worked on a different section, allowing us to be more efficient. We used all 5 of our clues, strategically asking for help whenever we spent too long on one element, and it was this that gave us the time to complete the challenge.

I really enjoyed myself and I would definitely do it again. The Escape Room was really well organised, and I definitely want to try the other scenario that Containment in Guildford have. Also on the hit list is the Harry Potter one in London, but the waiting list is massive!

You can google local Escape Room style organisations and I would say it’s definitely worth a go, you’ll have fun and it’s great exercise for your brain and problem-solving ability!

For more information:

Containment Guildford
Enigma – Harry Potter themed escape room

14th “thing” achieved: 31. Do a Sky Dive

I jumped out of a perfectly good plane!

I’m terrified of heights. As in, I feel a bit wobbly at the top of steps, I had a mini meltdown climbing Snowdon because the ground was a bit slopey, and ladders etc are a nightmare for me.

One of the purposes of my 40 things was to push the boundaries, and get out of my comfort zone. On my USA trip I went on the Skywalk even though I was pretty scared, and I did have a little “moment”. But I wanted to carry on facing my fears so the idea to do a skydive was born.

I asked around and was recommended Hinton Airfield. So I booked it, along with the video package. The day came and I was surprised I wasn’t feeling anxious yet. Over the last few years I have learned the art of living in the moment, trying not to re-hash the past or worry about the future. It’s not always easy, but the principle is, if you can’t do anything about it, there is no point in dwelling on it.

Anyway, I was feeling quite chipper as I headed to Northamptonshire for my day. I couldn’t have asked for better weather – clear skies with just a slight breeze – and I arrived in good time for my 12:30 scheduled jump. After registering and signing the waiver, I waited for the briefing. It took a couple of hours, but eventually one of the instructors gathered the newbies together and gave us a run down.

20170624_121049 — Perfect day for falling to the ground

20170624_125303 — Briefing – how to avoid dying or breaking a limb

He talked us through the process and had us practice the freefall position and the landing position. When landing, he emphasised, you need to keep your legs really high off the ground to ensure you don’t break a leg. Lifting your legs requires some sort of core strength, so I was pretty rubbish at it, but I managed to pass scrutiny (just).

You’re not allowed to jump on your own until you’ve done at least 6 in tandem, not that I would have wanted to go on my own anyway. I was introduced to Steve, my instructor, and we went to get suited up. The suit was pretty cool and I felt a bit like I was in Top Gun, although the hat was way too big for my tiny head so we just pulled the strap tight and hoped for the best.

Meet Steve

Suited up, feel like Top Gun

The Pen of Fear

Waiting for the plane, Steve and I had a chat. It was his 5th jump of the day, and he was telling me all about the band he is in, and we even had a little sing-song: “I’ve got you Babe” was our song of choice! The videographer was a chap called Ya (pretty sure that’s a nickname), who had a tiny camera about 2″ which he was recording me with.

I warned Steve that whilst I was feeling quite positive, I would probably freak out when it was time to jump (based on past experience) so we got in the plane first, meaning we were the last to jump so if I did lose it, I wouldn’t spoil it for anyone else. We flew to 13,000 feet then it was time to go. Ya got out first, and hung off the side of the plane whilst we shuffled to the door. All was fine until my feet were dangling out, and it was too late by then, so I “assumed the position” (head and legs back) so I couldn’t see anyway. Steve rocked back and forth a couple of times, then we were off!

Ready to jump

Assume the position

Is it too late to back out?

Bye bye, plane!

Upon exiting the plane, we did a somersault, then went into freefall. It was an exhilarating experience, no more scary than being on a rollercoaster, but lots more fun. The only downside was the air pressure on my ears which absolutely killed!

We deployed a small drag ‘chute, to slow the freefall and prolong the experience. Ya continued to drop full speed as he dropped below for some more shots, which was massively disconcerting! After a long-ish freefall, we pulled the real parachute. It was amazing drifting through the air (ear pain notwithstanding) and we steered the parachute, even spinning ourselves round like a fairground ride, which was fun – although a bit nauseating!

Hat and goggles trying to come off

Finally it was time to land. Steve again told me to lift my legs, with many dire warnings of broken limbs, but I was absolutely rubbish! Tight flight suit, restrictive harness and zero core strength all combined to mean I simply could not lift my legs. In the end poor Steve had to put his feet under my legs and help to push them up! I landed in an inelegant plop onto my bum, but at least I didn’t break anything.

All in all, it was an amazing experience and I would strongly recommend that you try it, at least once. I am tempted to do it again, although I’ll need to do something about the ear thing next time!

To book a skydive, click here

To see the video, click here

For the full photo album, click here

BONUS “thing” achieved: Do a Life Drawing class

I’m an artist now!

Drawing has never been a strong suit of mine; at school I opted for Pottery rather than drawing or painting. I’ve ever quite got the hang of translating what my eye sees, and my brain wants to convey, onto paper.

Last week I met a girl at a Flashmob, Helen, who was doing 30 things for her 30th, and completing a Life Drawing class was one of her goals. When her friend dropped out at the last minute, I jumped at the chance to try something new and expand my artistic horizons!

We turned up at a funky pub in Balham where they run Life Drawing classes each month. Dan, the chap who ran the sessions, is an accomplished artist with bags of enthusiasm and a great sense of fun. We were greeted by a table of different materials – felt tips, charcoal, crayons, chalk etc; I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I grabbed a handful of everything “just in case”!

I didn’t have any expectations but was still surprised and slightly relieved at the format. Rather than lots of arty types staring seriously at a model for hours, it was a light, fun atmosphere with many of the other attendees swigging their wine and excitedly wielding their materials ready to start.

We began with a 7 minute pose, where the beautiful model arranged herself aesthetically and we all attempted to draw what we saw. Dan explained that they usually alternate between male and female models and they play with different styles and concepts – next time they will have a dancer to explore movement, other times light and shadow, other times look at cubist art etc.

Dan then tried to get us to throw away our previous learned behaviours. We did another pose, 5 minutes this time, trying different materials. I used a really light pastel which you can’t really see in the photo so I’ve not posted them. We then had another pose where we were challenged to use our non-dominant hand! That was a bit harder but I had a good go at it!

Next we were challenged to focus on what we saw – so we had 3 minutes to draw without looking at the paper at all. I was pleasantly surprised that my picture came out looking even vaguely like a person! Then we experimented with trying to express the stress and strain of an uncomfortable looking pose.

20170601_105625 — Left: Drawn without looking at paper. Right: Stress and strain

Next we had a quick-fire session where we had 3 poses, a minute each, and we had to draw each on top of the other in one continuous line (without lifting the pencil from the paper). We then worked on how to accept mistakes and refine, by drawing and correcting over the top. I chose to do each layer of correction in a different colour so I could see how the picture evolved.

20170601_105649 — Left: 3 quick fire poses, one continuous line. Right: Refining mistakes

We also looked at how to simplify images, so tried drawing using only geometric shapes; and finally tried experimenting with light and shadow.

20170601_105724 — Left: Geometry. Right: Light and shadow.

We then did something completely different – with a blank sheet of paper and no materials, we were challenged to create something that represented the next pose. I was pretty proud of my little paper lady!

Phew! After all that, and a short break, we finished the evening by playing with different media (this month was Collage!) so I had great fun cutting, ripping and sticking. Funnily enough I was looking at everyone else’s efforts and admiring their results whilst being disappointed in my own, only to have a couple of people look at mine and say “oh that’s really good, wish I could do that!” so I guess we are truly our own worst critics!

I already had 40 things on my list but one of them is proving to be difficult to arrange (who knew stalking a celeb would be so hard?!) so I am pleased to add this achievement to the list as a late addition, and hopefully keep my total achievements at the magic number of 40.

If you want to give this a go, I would strongly recommend it. I’ll probably even go with you!

Contact details below.

The Exhibit: http://theexhibit.co.uk/life-drawing/
Dan: http://www.danwhiteson.com/life-drawing/