TRAVEL TEST

WHAT: Skywire, England’s longest and fastest zip wire. Part of Hangloose Adventure at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, it’s suitable for over-8s who weigh between 40kg and 120kg.

The experience costs £50 per person or £65 with video/photos included. hangloosebluewater.com WHERE: If shopping itself isn’t thrilling enough, you can now combine some serious storewandering with an adrenaline experience at this retail park near Dartford. Its location just off the A2 and minutes from the M25 ensures Hangloose Adventure has well-trodden transport links and there’s ample parking. Greenhithe is the nearest train station. EXPERIENCE: From the team behind Skywire at the Eden

Project in Cornwall comes a new record-breaker, with four riders soaring in unison head-first over 2,380ft at speeds of up to 60mph.

After checking in at the Hangloose hut, you have a safety briefing and get fitted with a harness and helmet (goggles are optional). A minibus takes you to the launch tower, where you march up to the take-off zone 50ft above. The view is the first reward for all those stairs – you’ll see over the top of Bluewater, out to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge across the Thames and as far as Canary Wharf in East London.

You’ll be flying facedown horizontally and – depending on your weight – you’ll be instructed to fly with your arms behind your back or outstretched (which slows you down). Once you’re let loose you hurtle over trees before skimming over a lake and past

40ft chalk cliffs.

As four of you can fly at once, one of the best bits is seeing who’s going quickest. My 13-year-old son was closest to the cliffs and said the fear of crashing into them raised the thrill level, while I had the tummy-tingling feeling I was going to tumble head first into the water – at times you’re just 6ft above it. It’s fun and exciting – but sadly all over in less than a minute.

Fortunately Bluewater’s shops, restaurants, cinema and trampoline park are on hand to help make a day of it.

QUIBBLES: At £200 for a family of four it’s rather pricey.

VERDICT: England’s fastest and longest zip line has got to be on the bucket list.