Flying fox spans quarry turned adventure park

In Penryhn Quarry, North Wales, Europe’s longest zip wire – stretching 1650 metres – spans the length of a former slate quarry turned adventure park.

Zip wires have become increasingly ambitious, although they are restricted by the laws of physics ? there is only so far you can stretch any cable between two points before it snaps beneath its own weight. The two longest zip wires in the world at around the 1800 metre mark are in Peru and South Africa.

Excited patrons in the northern hemisphere now have their own flying fox – known as the Big Zipper – and can pretend to be Superman and fly at a height of around 213 metres. It?s not a slow trip either; you travel at speeds of nearly 130 kilometres per hour over one and half kilometres.

On a clear day you can wave at friends on the nearby Isle of Man but the English weather has already played havoc. No sooner did it start operating just before Easter than it closed again due to freak easterly winds.

If you need to build up to the experience or your courage, a smaller 500 metre flying fox – called the Little Zipper – is also available at the same quarry for practice runs.

Penryhn Quarry was the largest slate quarry in the world until 1950 and the adventure park also includes a guided tour of the quarry in ex-military vehicles. The whole thing is really not surprising when you realise the proprietor Sean Taylor is an ex-marine commando owns it.

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?The zip line will be spectacular,? he said. ?Riders will be in a horizontal position on a hang gliding harness, travelling around 80 miles per hour. The last quarter of a mile is uphill, that?s how long it will take to slow down.?

?It?s a really exhilarating experience that you don’t get anywhere else,? said Seb Thompson, marketing manager for Zip World Snowdonia. ?We’re hoping it’s going to be really popular and put North Wales on the map as the UK’s number one adventure location.”