What is it about sitting down, dangling and swinging your legs underneath you, which instantly infuses you with a feeling of carefree, childlike contentment?

Perhaps it’s a wee nudge of nostalgia from being pushed on a swing as a child, or sitting at the kitchen table with legs too short to touch the floor beneath you.

As an adult, the opportunity to find one’s feet so far from the ground only arises when some sort of elevation or height is involved; a wall, a viewpoint, a roller coaster or…

…when you’re suspended in the sky with no more than a harness, a giant nylon wing and some clever aerodynamics to hold you up.

Something a bit like paragliding in Olu Deniz

As an adventure sports enthusiast, I have always wanted to go paragliding and I needed no more encouragement than a few words from my Busabout tour guide.  

All I heard was “beautiful Blue Lagoon” and “the best place to paraglide in Europe“.

Less than 24 hours later, myself and five girls from my tour were looking out ahead at the cloudless sky from our mountaintop position.

A swarm of trivial-pursuit-token shapes were drifting, swooping and spinning downwards in the ultimate high altitude playground, and we were just about to join them!

There was little or no time to feel nervous; we were swiftly allocated our guides on exiting the bus and I had on my harness before I knew what was happening.

I helped my guide Mehmet to open out our trusty parachute and looking around I realised we would be the first pair in our group to take flight…

*GULP*

 “When I say run, you must run and don’t stop until I tell you”

My ‘chaotic’ brain was immediately convinced that I would not be able to follow this simple instruction. I could clearly envisage myself tripping over my own feet, causing my guide to trip over his, and us both being pulled down the slope – toes dragging along the concrete – and off the edge in the most awkward take-off ever witnessed by man!

Surprisingly, I executed the perfect run and lifted my legs in one swift, fluid movement as we soared from the edge and into the air.

 Just how high was I exactly?

?

?

?

6500 feet!!!

Lets put that into perspective. 6500 feet, or 1969 meters is…

• 6 x The Eiffel Tower
• over 4 x The Empire State Building
• 35 x the Leaning Tower of Pisa (if it was straight)
• HIGH

Flying is exactly as you’d imagine; I felt untouchable… euphoric… peaceful.

We were in the air for around 20 minutes, most of which of was spent absorbing the unbelievable views. I would say that my jaw hit the ground when the Blue Lagoon came into clear view, but it would’ve had a long way to fall!

While paragliding is insanely tranquil and relaxing, thrill seekers like myself will certainly appreciate the opportunity to steer the parachute or to be spun in the sky at an insane speed, the world below morphing into a tie-dye swirl of bright blue, green and white.

My guide commended my ability to steer and swing us from side to side. I chose not to mention that I’ve skydived twice so have it done it before… Sssshhhhh!

The descent was a total treat for the eyes – it’s no wonder Turkey’s turquoise coast at Olu Deniz is considered one of the top 5 beaches IN THE WORLD.

The popular tourist resort got closer and closer as we approached our grassy landing strip, right in the middle of the busy promenade!

I was so busy worrying that I would kick someone in the head, I only realised just as we were about to touch down that I didn’t know how to land!

Without a second to spare Mehmet calmly instructed – “Okay, put your feet down” – and just like that I was on the back on the ground feeling tip top tremendous.

 Who wants to that give that a try?

 I travelled to Turkey with Busabout on a 9 day Turkey Adventure bus tour followed by a 7 day Turkey Sail trip

The paragliding excursion was booked through my guide and costs around £48, you can read more about it here

All of my opinions and random ramblings, as always, are completely my own.