Up at the 02

Today, my sister, brother-in-law and nephews and I did the climb up and over the 02, which was a fun experience and not too terrifying!  It was drizzling in the morning and quite grey throughout the day, but our climb was booked for 5.30 p.m, and the sky cleared and the sun appeared, just as we arrived.

We were taken into a room, where we watched a safety video, then were suited, booted, harnessed and clipped up.  We were in a group of about 15 people, with a friendly guide, who clipped us on to the rail and warned us not to bounce on the (quite bouncy) track as we were climbing!  We were  at the back of our group on the track and of course, my cheeky, youngest nephew who was right behind me, couldn't resist and naughtily bounced, so he could see his poor old auntie suffer, as I nervously shuffled and chuckled up the track!  It was fairly easy climbing up there though and felt quite safe as the dome was all around us underneath, feeling like a giant safety net.  We were 'un-hooked' when we reached the viewing platform at the top, so you were allowed to take your mobile phones out then to take photos (no cameras allowed).  We stayed up there for a little while, then we made our way down, which was slightly scarier, especially the last bit, which required very small steps down as it was fairly steep...and made a little tricker by naughty nephews having a sneaky, last bounce, hoping to see his auntie land on her large buttocks.  The 02 survived though, without any of us crashing through the canopy and a jolly good time was had by all!