The view from the top was incredible: looking over the tree tops towards the Solent and below me, my friend in a hammock suspended high in the trees. It doesn’t get much better than that.
When Emily Allen had the unenviable job of organising a hen party for her friend Katharine, she wanted to try something a bit different. It was then that she discovered about tree climbing breaks at Goodleaf Tree Climbing Adventures run by Abigail Fox and Paul McCathie on the Isle of White.
“We none of us knew quite what to expect,” she explained. “We booked a whole morning, that is from about 10.30 until 2.00. When we arrived, the ropes were already up the trees. We were given harnesses, gloves and helmets and had a safety briefing. Paul gave us some basic instruction and then left us to have a go. It’s pretty simple really, you just sling a loop around your bottom and jack yourself up.
‘Because we were such a large group, only a few of us could be up the trees at a given time. So the rest sat on the ground to watch with a massive picnic and we took it in turns. Some people were really nervous about the whole idea and had decided in advance that they were not going up, but seeing the rest of us swinging around in the trees obviously having such a good time got them really curious and in the end everyone had a go.”
Abigail who runs Goodleaf Climbing jointly with Paul explained
“A lot of people who come on out tree climbing breaks have never done this kind of thing before. Some come specifically to try and cure themselves of a fear of heights, so how high up you want to go is really up to you. For some, getting to the first branch is the achievement of a life time. For others the top of the tree is where they want to be – that’s pretty high – about 60 ft up.”
And how do you actually climb the tree?
The technique used by Goodleaf Climbing is a simplified version of the tree surgeon’s climbing technique. A tree surgeon needs a lot of upper body strength to get up the tree, which is difficult to master in a morning. Abigail and Paul make it easy by introducing a foot loop – a bit like a pedal on a bicycle – and you use the strength of your legs to push yourself up the tree.
“It’s not a matter of strength,” explains Abigail, “Just really one of co-ordination. You can see people huffing and puffing until they get the hang of just stepping into the rope. You really don’t need to haul yourself up, the rope does that for you.”
So, what sort of people take a tree climbing break?
“There really is no typical climber,” explains Abigail. “We do individual private sessions for people who want to overcomes phobias, we take children out, people with learning difficulties. The youngest we normally take is eight. There’s some knot-tying and below that age, kids don’t really have the co-ordination."
And the oldest?
“The oldest we’ve had so far was 67. So long as we know what people need and expect we can tailor the package to suit.”
“Ours was fantastic,” says Emily. “I really can't recommend it enough - both Paul and Abi were brilliant - encouraging, informative and great fun - and they also went to a massive effort to make it a really personal experience for us. They got large L-plates to fix to the bride’s bum and organised an assault course round the trees for her where she had to collect photos of her husband-to-be.
'None of us were sure what to expect but we all came away having had a wonderful time, scared ourselves a little bit but learnt a lot and laughed an awful lot.”
And the bride? She made it to the church without so much as a leaf in her hair.