Forest Segway Experience with Go Ape!

How do you fancy getting off the beaten track for an hour of fun with a Forest Segway Experience from Go Ape?
Kian finally finished his GCSE’s this week which means he no longer has to go to school and we were keen to give him an experience he would enjoy after all his hard work in the past few weeks.
Back in March we visited Go Ape at Moors Valley to take part in their Tree Top Adventure. Whilst we were walking through the trees and hurtling down the ziplines we saw a group out on Segways and all remarked that it looked fun and that we would love to try it.
On Wednesday we got to explore the forest on the latest in green technology – a self-balancing, all-terrain, electric Segway but not without a safety briefing and training session first.

Hubby and Kian took to it likes ducks to water as they both snowboard and the leg action is very similar. I was a little more tentative and went round the training course more slowly then they did but it was actually easier than I had imagined. To make them move you relax your knees and push your feet downwards. Turning is easy, simply move the stick in the direction you want to go, which comes naturally if you look at the corner you are about to take.

A few laps later and it was time to begin our forest adventure. For the first part of the trip our Segway’s were limited to 6mph whilst we got used to riding them, but after 5 minutes we stopped and our instructors Rich and Fletcher took the limiters off, giving us a top speed of 12mph.

Of course the boys sped off into the distance with Fletcher whilst built up my confidence and speed more slowly, with Rich following behind to make sure I didn’t get into any trouble.

As you can see from the pictures, the trails we followed were nice and wide and fairly flat so we could used to controlling the machine. The next challenge was negotiating hills which meant the Segway adjusted its position but we had to remain upright.
Once Rich and Fletcher were confident we had mastered the Segway it was time to explore the deep dark depths of the forest and do some more challenging courses.

We followed narrow, bumpy trails which were a little more challenging, but great fun until we hit a particularly boggy part. The trick for getting through was to crawl slowly and keep your balance. Let’s just say I lost my balance, almost fell off and apparently did an impressive one hand, one leg manoeuvre, but, I rescued myself and managed to get out in one piece – those ballet lessons as a child obviously helped my balance!

We spent an hour exploring areas of Moors Valley we hadn’t seen before, finding new play equipment to show the kids and annoying some dogs as we hurtled past.
Sadly it was raining for this experience but that just added to the fun although we would like to come back and do it when its dry as apparently there are a lot more trails that can be done but it was just too wet on our trip.

To ride a Forest Segway you need to be over 7 stone and 10 years old to make sure the Segway gyroscopes keep their balance. Sensible clothing is also recommended and NO open toe shoes!
We had a totally unforgettable forest trail experience and even given a certificate afterwards to prove it!

Disclaimer: We were guests of Go Ape for their Forest Segway Experience, all opinions are our own.
 

• Dorset
• family fun
• Forest Segway Experience
• Go Ape!
• hampshire
• moors valley