Teeside in all its glory
It was High!
We looked great!!!
On a cold and sunny Sunday morning, some members of unit 48 and unit 50, another jamboree unit, abseiled from the top of the Tees Transporter bridge. The 220 foot tall structure is visible from miles around and was under maintanance, meaning that we could abseil from 160 feet on the South end, the long way down to the tarmac below.
It was a brilliant morning to be up on the bridge, we were incredibly lucky to get a clear morning and having climbed the 200 steps we were rewarded with views as far as the eye can see, it was like being in heaven (well, as close as you can get in Middlesborough!).
We took in the views and then were briefed on what to do; essentially, you chose how fast you wanted to go, and controlled your speed by feeding rope through a bracket. Whilst waiting, our nerves were made worse by the sight of the seemingly small brackets attaching rope to metal, but we were assured they were safe, and after the first abseiler went, we all saw that it was easier than we first thought.
The worst part of my abseil was when you first leave the bridge, I couldn’t feed the rope fast enough and so got caught on the steel girders, soon however, I got into the swing of things, and actually enjoyed a rather pleasant ride down to terra firma.