With traveling for a year trying to find that just-right combination between culture and adventure can be tricky. While we love touring museums, historical homes, and cultural landmarks – we realize the kids (and us parents, if we’re being honest), are also hoping for something a bit more, well, wild to counter all the culture! After all, we wouldn’t want to get too sophisticated during our year abroad. <wink>

 

It turns out that there are Go Ape Adventures all over the UK and the USA. Each location has different adventures or a combination of adventures. Some have a tree-top junior (for junior adventurers), and others (like the one in Peebles) have the Tree Top Adventure (for ages 10 and up) . That meant that Paysen (poor kid) didn’t actually get to participate because he’s only 8. I felt so bad for him and was fully prepared to sit out and stay with him but he got to come along for the whole journey. The staff and instructors were so amazing, making him an honorary junior instructor and allowing me to participate while they took amazing care of him. He loved it – thank goodness! I also bribed him and told him we would pay him  £5 if he’d be our photographer for the day, so that helped dry those disappointed little tears too.

So, Paysen played photographer/honorary instructor with the Go Ape Adventure staff (big shout out to instructor Kayleigh) and we climbed into the trees. He did get to go across one of the rope crossings though!

I actually thought that my first obstacle was going to be that our girls might get scared up on the platforms and then I’d have to negotiate them back down. Nope! Not even a little. In fact, I kept having to slow them down so I could make sure they were properly secured in before they leaped off the platforms.

It was amazing watching Adi and Ella. They were so confident and excited and it was just this awesome mom moment getting to say, “look how brave you are.” “look what’s possible – you can fly!” And we seriously were flying! The two biggest zip lines are the highest in Scotland, boasting 150 feet off the ground. And the ground happens to be a gorgeous lake below you – It was truly incredible and a perfect day!

Go Ape Adventure has these really cool obstacles in addition to the soaring zip lines. Taylor and I have zip lined in Honduras and Leavenworth, Washington, USA, in both of those instances you only zip lined and went from platform to platform. With Go Ape Adventure you did the awesome soaring zip line thing, but you also experienced a Tarzan swing, a skateboard wire and a bunch more fun obstacles while being harnessed high in the tree tops. We loved the added obstacles!

 

I don’t think I’ve ever seen another zip line park where the age limit is as low as 10 for the full experience. It was amazing getting to have the girls experience the fun of zip lining the way it’s meant to be, high in the sky.  They loved it, and their confidence soared after doing something so challenging!

 In Taylor and my previous experiences, we had an instructor who clipped us in and gave us the green light at each platform. Not this time! We had to make sure the girls were secure every time followed by making sure we were secure.  For a moment this made me nervous, but I ended up really liking it. We were all learning, being aware and trusting ourselves instead of someone else (of course we did get great safety instruction at the beginning, everything was color coded, and there were instruction boards on each platform as well… Oh and an instructor always close by).

 

So, after our first Go Ape Adventure, I want to go find every Go Ape I can – they are so much fun! Our family got to be adventurous, challenge ourselves, and my favorite part – feel like we had wings.

– The age limit is 10 – so awesome! Because you really can make it a family activity!

– You can absolutely get to it by bus and foot (that’s what we did).

– Adults (16 and over) are £33 / kids 10 to 15 cost £25

– Book your reservation before you arrive! You can probably get away with a bit of a  last minute booking but you’ll want to preschedule your time, the bigger the group, the more notice you’ll want to give.

 

Final thoughts from Mom: I was absolutely surprised and excited by how many amazing life lessons were taught during our day at Go Ape Peebles. The girls pushed themselves, they overcame fears, and they realized that they are much braver than they sometimes give themselves credit. I translate this to, ‘You can do hard things’ and ‘you have to leap before you learn you can fly’. They also had to learn to slow down, check that they were clipped-in not once but twice before we checked them over to give them the green light. That is definitely a lesson I want all my kids to know… ‘Slow down and do it right the first time’.

And little Paysen, he probably taught us the best lesson of all. Although, he didn’t get to participate and was of course super disappointed, when we got going, he made the very best of it. He had a great attitude, talking to all the staff, offering to help them and photographing us while cheering us on. He was happy for us, even though it meant his watching from below. We should all take that lesson to heart.

Bottom line: We highly recommend Go Ape Adventure! If you’re ever in the Scottish Borders, make this a priority. We loved it, you’ll love! It’s awesome!! Connect & Follow the Go Ape Peebles Fun: 

Directly Book with Go Ape Peebles HERE

Follow Go Ape Peebles on INSTAGRAM Here
Follow Go Ape Peebles on FACEBOOK Here

Go Ape Adventure USA Site 
Go Ape Adventure UK Site

This is a sponsored post by GoApe Peebles – but rest assured that all thoughts and opinions are entirely our own. We would never recommend any place we didn’t absolutely love and believe in.