A walk in the woods

You look up and it's still a way to go. The tree creaks alarmingly as it sways in the wind. You look down and it's a long way back to earth. You try to look out but all you get is driving rain in your face. Concentrate and hold on to the cold metal. Take a deep breath and start climbing again.

I'm at the Gloucester Tree in Pemberton, part of the giant forests of the South West. A dead straight and frankly huge tree only 3km from the town, this is the main attraction in the area. The tree is special for being one of four climbing trees. A series of metal spikes have been driven into the tree trunk at 1 foot intervals, all the way up to it's 50 meter top. They were first used by the forest rangers to act as a fire lookout. Now with only a flimsy looking side net you can climb all the way to the top too...

Probably best not done in the middle of a gale though. In the middle of winter. On your own.

Once at the top the wind pins you back against the fence. The lookout sways about 1 meter. In the lashing rain I was pretty sure there's no fires to be concerned with. The view is remarkable even against the heavy leaden sky. In summer this would be wonderful. I'm just concentrating on not getting blown over the side.

The only problem now is getting down again..