What goes up must come down and you’ll learn about that when you go abseiling in Aberfeldy! This outdoor adventure centre in Scotland is situated half way between Loch Lomond and Cairngorms national parks nestled alongside the River Tay. It’s a great place to abseil with an abundance of crags and rock faces to tackle.
You’ll be spending two to three hours as part of a small group being taught the skill of abseiling. It’s an essential part of being able to rock climb (which is a much-loved pastime in Scotland) and teaches you how to come down a rock face using ropes.
A fair bit of equipment is needed for abseiling but this is all provided for you by this Scottish centre. You’ll be wearing a helmet with a harness around your thighs and waist equipped with what’s called a belay device which will be attached to the rope. This gadget allows you to feed the rope through smoothly as you descend using friction so you don’t just whizz off into the abyss!
And if you don’t know your figure of eight from your prusik knots the highly experienced abseil tutors who work at this centre in the heart of Scotland know all the drills and will make sure you’re correctly attached. One last set of checks to make sure your harness is on correctly and double-backed the rope is through the belay it’s attached to your harness and you’re away to go.
This is the bit that’s the trickiest to get your head round. Facing the rock you have to inch backwards to the edge and once you’ve reached the overhang you have to stick your bum out and lean back moving your feet down until they’re flat on the rock. And we must admit it feels unnatural at first but once the rope touches the rock it’s a lot more instinctive. With one hand above the belay device and one hand below feeding the rope through allows you to descend as you walk your feet down the rock.
Before you know it you’ll be getting into the rhythm and when your feet gently touch the ground to the round of applause from your fellow abseilers and instructors you’ll be begging them to do it all over again. It’s that sort of sport. It takes a bit of bottle to get over your initial fears but once you’ve (literally) gone over the edge once abseiling in Scotland is piece of (rock) cake!
