Scary

[[Not Responding]]

If anyone else knows the cliffs at Southerndown in South Wales, they
are likely to share my horror at this story:

<URL:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/3802477.stm>

"Relatives have paid tribute to a cyclist who fell to this death at a
south Wales beauty spot.
Mike Ford, 27, had been trying out a new mountain bike along a cliff
path in Southerndown in the Vale of Glamorgan, when he plunged 100ft.
...."

I know this spot because I lived nearby for a short time as a boy and
later was at school just down the coast.

Next to the road there is what looks to be a rolling, steep grassy
hill. You simply cannot see the 200 ft cliff that follows. The idea of
brakelessly rolling over the edge used scare me witless when I was
younger and even typing this has given me sweaty fingers.

[Graeme]

"[Not Responding]" > wrote in
:

> Next to the road there is what looks to be a rolling, steep grassy
> hill. You simply cannot see the 200 ft cliff that follows.

Nasty. I can understand how things like that happen. I once almost jumped
off a 100ft plus cliff on the Isle of Lewis (almost exactly here -
http://tinyurl.com/2mm8h). I was new to the area and I'd been walking along
the beach with a girlfriend in the half light of a Lewis night. I didn't
notice the gradual climb once we were off the beach and when we came to the
next bay I was just about to jump down on to the sand (I had taken the
short run up to clear what looked like a small rock at the edge of the
grass) when I noticed two rather large stacks, the tops of which were level
with me and the bases were way below on the beach.

I have never stopped so quickly in my life.


Graeme

[Keith Willoughby]

[Not Responding] wrote:

> If anyone else knows the cliffs at Southerndown in South Wales, they
> are likely to share my horror at this story:
>
> <URL:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/3802477.stm>

[...]

> Next to the road there is what looks to be a rolling, steep grassy
> hill. You simply cannot see the 200 ft cliff that follows. The idea of
> brakelessly rolling over the edge used scare me witless when I was
> younger and even typing this has given me sweaty fingers.

Aye. It used to scare me witless, too, when we used to go there when I
was a kid. It's also a popular suicide spot, for obvious reasons.

That was the day I was cycling to Barry. My mate phoned me when he saw
it on the news, to make sure I hadn't gone on beyond Barry.

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
"It's being so cheerful as keeps me going"

[iarocu]

Graeme > wrote in message >...
> "[Not Responding]" > wrote in
> :
>
> > Next to the road there is what looks to be a rolling, steep grassy
> > hill. You simply cannot see the 200 ft cliff that follows.
>
> Nasty. I can understand how things like that happen. I once almost jumped
> off a 100ft plus cliff on the Isle of Lewis

When I was about 12 or 13 and on holiday in Ness at the north of Lewis
I almost fell off a seacliff. I'd been scrambling down a ledge from
the top and my handhold broke off. I was falling backwards but managed
to grab something. Just one of those teenage incidents parents never
know about unless it goes seriously wrong.
Iain

[Simonb]

That really is scary. It's the sort of thing that happens in those
nightmares you have what wake you up.

[anonymous coward]

On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 02:49:37 -0700, iarocu wrote:

> Graeme > wrote in message >...
>> "[Not Responding]" > wrote in
>> :
>>
>> > Next to the road there is what looks to be a rolling, steep grassy
>> > hill. You simply cannot see the 200 ft cliff that follows.
>>
>> Nasty. I can understand how things like that happen. I once almost jumped
>> off a 100ft plus cliff on the Isle of Lewis
>
> When I was about 12 or 13 and on holiday in Ness at the north of Lewis
> I almost fell off a seacliff. I'd been scrambling down a ledge from
> the top and my handhold broke off. I was falling backwards but managed
> to grab something. Just one of those teenage incidents parents never
> know about unless it goes seriously wrong.

It always amazes me that anyone lives through childhood. I'm sure I'd
never get away with half the daft things I can remember doing if I were to
try them now.

I also (sexistly) assumed that my sisters and their friends were picking
flowers and playing tennis whilst my friends and I were attempting
explosions and testing homebuilt parachutes.

Now we're older and have talked about it, I know they had no more sense
than I did.

AC

[Graeme]

anonymous coward > wrote in
:

> It always amazes me that anyone lives through childhood.

I'm still living mine at age 34. Childhood is wasted on kids. :-)


Graeme

[Mike Farnes]

Graeme wrote
> "[Not Responding]" wrote
>
> > Next to the road there is what looks to be a rolling, steep grassy
> > hill. You simply cannot see the 200 ft cliff that follows.
>
> Nasty. I can understand how things like that happen. I once almost jumped
> off a 100ft plus cliff on the Isle of Lewis..

A couple of years ago my son very nearly tried to 'grab some air' over
Beachy Head in Sussex. I just realized in time how close we were to
the edge and managed to warn him. Makes me go wobbly thinking about
it. Moral: don't go cycling near cliffs in thick fog.

Mike

[NJF]

Mike Farnes wrote:
A couple of years ago my son very nearly tried to 'grab some air' over
Beachy Head in Sussex. I just realized in time how close we were to
the edge and managed to warn him. Makes me go wobbly thinking about
it. Moral: don't go cycling near cliffs in thick fog.

IIRC some scouts did it off the side of ben-nevis, one of thereasons the
SA has tightened its rules....