At long last, I’m joining the jet set

Ben Saunders conquers his fear of heights when he gets the chance to fly on a jetpack

So do you want to be James Bond or Ironman?” asks Catherine Wheeler as she straps me in. She could also have said do I want to pretend I’ve just won a task on The Apprentice, as Wheeler and her partner Malcolm Scott gave the winners of last week’s episode on fashion tech a spin on the ultimate in wearable technology: a jetpack. But you don’t have to subject yourself to reality television to get your turn; all that is required is a trip to Bedfordshire. Wyboston Lakes, near Bedford, to be precise. On the site of a disused quarry, close to a luxury hotel of the same name, a number of lakes are used by watersports enthusiasts Ride. Here I find the Jetlev-Flyer, the only waterpowered jetpack in the UK (“there are a couple where you can just hover on a board, but we are the only ones where you can actually fly,” says Scott proudly). Scott and Wheeler own the British Jetlev Flyer franchise, and (pardon the pun) business is really starting to take off. Besides taking the Apprentice winning team for a spin at their other site in Surrey Quays (they had a tandem flight, where they were attached to Scott), they recently gave