London - Imagine being suspended from a wire at 548m, looking down at what was until the 1950s the largest man-made hole on the planet.
Welcome to Zip World Velocity, the longest single zip wire in Europe and the fastest in the world – the closest humans can get to flying like Superman, travelling at speeds anywhere between 120km/h and 160km/h.
You begin the journey in the base of Penrhyn slate quarry, near Bangor, North Wales, once the largest slate mine in the world and still employing around 300 people, producing some of the finest slate on earth.
Once you’re properly suspended and the “safety’s off”, you’re ready to go.
It’s the closest you will get to sky-diving without jumping out of a plane and it is incredible. The ground rushes beneath you, at times just metres away and suddenly you’re soaring over the lake back to the quarry’s base.
The lake is astoundingly blue – like a pool of fountain pen ink – and somehow time slows down, giving you the chance to soak up all the unbelievable views of the coastline just ahead, the Isle of Man beyond and the mountains of Snowdonia to the right, before you reach the end.
If that’s not enough, Zip World has two other locations nearby, including Zip World Titan in Blaenau Ffestiniog, near Gwent, which has no less than 8 000m of zip lines (the largest “zip zone” in Europe, it claims) and might be a little easier to stomach: not only is it slower, but you get to ride in groups of four.
Cool Places is a new website from the creators of Rough Guides and Cool Camping, suggesting the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop in Britain (coolplaces.co.uk).
The Independent