Up At The o2 with Simplyhealth

I'm not great with heights, so standing 52m above London on a windy day on a walkway that felt a little like a trampoline definitely got my heart racing!

Up At The o2 was a fantastic experience though. From arriving at Base Camp and seeing previous climbers heading up over the dome, through to the safety briefing, guided commentary and selfies at the top, everything was handled with precision and efficiency - and was a hell of a lot of fun!

I love taking part in active adventures and being able to experience one of my favourite cities from a different angle was pretty special. After checking in at reception, we  watched a short introductory video which was actually really interesting. Did you know the O2 has 12 pylons, one for every month of the year, is 365m in diameter, for the number of days in a year, and is 52m high - the same number of weeks in a year?!

We then grabbed our kit - trainers with trail-type soles for gripping the walkway, a vest (full suits are provided in winter) and a climbing harness. Phones and compact cameras could be taken up with us, provided they were placed in the zip pockets on the vest and only used when we got to the top platform.

We were attached to a safety wire the whole way up with a rope to grab on to for added support, and to pull yourself up on the steep parts! The fabric walkway is suspended 2m above the surface of the o2 and reaches a 30 degree incline in places - I definitely felt it in my calves on the way up.

At the summit is an observation platform where you can unclip your latch from the wire and walk about taking in the views - we were really lucky with the weather and although it was windy, there was also blue skies and sunshine.

On a clear day you can spot landmarks up to 15 miles away, and there are plaques all the way round indicating what you can see. I ticked off the Orbit in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Canary Wharf, even the Shard and the Gherkin peeking between the other buildings.

All too soon we were heading down the other side of the dome - no taking the quick route like Pierce Brosnan did in the World is Not Enough, instead we were encouraged to bend our knees and lean back slightly on the steepest parts. The whole experience takes around 90 minutes, and from looking at my Fitbit, was about 2500 steps - not a bad workout and a very cool way to experience London!

Have you tried Up at the O2? How are you with heights? 

Beki x

NB: I was provided with a complimentary Up at the O2 experience and Fitbit as part of a campaign to get active with Simplyhealth, but as always all opinions (and stomach butterflies) are my own.