I've never been called a gorilla before but if you're going to be swinging through the forest, there has to be some sort of name to match my behaviour.

Go Ape high wire forest adventure is one of the latest outdoor activities with an environmental theme which will get your adrenalin pumping as well as your heartbeat.

It is an assault course set up 35ft high off the ground where you trek between tree-to- tree using an assortment of zip slides, Tarzan swings and cleverly designed rope bridges not too dissimilar from the stunts in I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

Boyfriend Neil and I travelled to Wendover Woods, near Aylesbury, to test drive the newest and closet centre to Northamptonshire, which opened in March this year.

When we checked into the Go Ape cabin, our instructor Nick was ready to get us feet first into our climbing harnesses.

After waiting for the rest of the gorillas (adults are called gorillas and children baboons) to make up our group of 14, Nick spent 20 to 30 minutes going through the safety measures.

Every harness has two colour-coded large metal rings which must be clamped onto a thick cord while you move from course to course, so if you trip and fall off, you're still attached.

As soon as the training was over, we were left to our own devices as there are no instructors supervising people from the treetop. They do however carry out 15-minute patrols on the teams.

With this fact in mind, I initially found it quite daunting but at the same time quite thrilling as we made our way up the trees ourselves.

The bridges ranged from crossings made up of flat pieces of woods set up like a train track, a series of swings joined up in a line and a slatted wooden tunnel.

There was also the Tarzan swing where I was literally thrown into a net and then had to scramble onto a platform on a tree (a bit like Spiderman.)

One thing they all had in common was that the bridges all refused to stay still so an element of balance was required.
There are a total of five sites, including one for training all linked by the forest's footpaths, with each becoming progressively harder and higher.

By the last one, I was pretty exhausted and my hands were quite sore from pulling myself up or along the ropes, so having fingerless gloves would have been useful. To do these courses people also need a degree of stamina and strength required.

The engineering used to construct these obstacle courses comes from a specialist French firm and according to Nick none of the trees are damaged in the building process.

The high wire adventure was established by husband and wife team Tristram and Rebecca Mayhew in 2002 following a family holiday in France. They've already got their sights set on opening 40 centres by 2012.

Part of the success to Go Ape are the founder's ability to keep the courses interesting and different which is a challenge in itself.

Because of the huge safety implications, the centres are only restricted to children over 10 and those at least 4ft 7ins, so it's really an outdoor theme park for adults and older teenagers.

If you don't have a head for heights or want to bring young children there is a play area, picnic benches, wildlife hide as well as cycling and walking trails at Wendover Woods. There is also a cafe for refreshments.

I thought this was very good value for money because we easily spent three hours up in treetops.

Go Ape saw us pulling all sort of stunts we'd probably never dreamed of doing under a tree canopy. We're already planning the next one with our primates.

Fact file:

Location: Go Ape is in Wendover Woods, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Follow the A41and take B4009 towards Aston Clinton.

Admission: £25 for adults (gorillas), £20 for children (baboons). Children must be at least 10 and 4ft 7ins tall. Parking is £3. Pre-booking is essential.

Phone: 0845 643 9152.

Website: www.goape.co.uk.