Ultimate French Highropes Adventure
If you’ve got an adventurous family and are visiting France, then don’t miss one of the South of France’s most exciting treetop adventure, ropes and zipwire courses at ‘Le Roc de Massereau‘ in the Languedoc Roussillon. The ultimate place for all ages to flex their adventurous spirit and test themselves mentally and physically with over 200 elevated platforms connecting over 50 zip wires to a huge variety of rope ladders, wobbly bridges, tunnels and cargo-nets.
Le Roc de Massereau
As part of our European Roadschooling Roadtrip, we’ve always tried to ensure we get the widest variety into all aspects of our ‘unique curriculum’…. from writing war poems in the WW1 trenches at Ypres (see here) to exploring geology in the Postojna Caves of Slovenia (see here)….
But when it comes to getting active, we love finding a new challenge….from hurtling down an Olympic Bobsleigh in Norway to Sea Kayaking the Adriatic in Croatia…. so we knew we’d come to the right place when we saw the adventurous array of courses at Roc de Massereau.
For those visiting with similar aged, adventurous children, we’d recommend starting at Course 5 (Tryolienne) and then progress upwards to Course 9 and 10. There’s a superb mix of skills required from cargo net climbing to huge zip wires…. plus you even get to walk on the edge of a disused railway bridge in Course 10 (a first for all of us!!)
Safety is obviously of real importance to everyone at Roc de Massereau, and you’ll certainly be impressed with the state of the art ‘clip’n’lock system’ that ensures you’re never off the safety line. Feeling perfectly safe as you are continuously connected to the safety wire, left us free to enjoy the treetop obstacles safe and unhindered. No tedious unclipping and clipping back on is always a bonus for the kids!!!
You really don’t need any special skills or prior knowledge, just bring along a sense of adventure and they proved the rest… although we’d reccomend bringing shoes with good grips and a simple pair of fingerless gloves to reduce the wear on your hands (for us, mountain bike gloves are the best bet)
Before long you’ll be high up in the tops of the trees enjoying a a series of challenging rope bridges and soaring through the air on exhilarating zip lines, all the while soaking up the beautiful vineyard and river scenery which surrounds you
The whole Adventure Park experience is centred around the beautiful river and wood next to Domaine de Massereau. It’s been so well made that it simply melts into the forest ensuring you can’t see the next obstacle until you arrive at it. Whether that’s 15 metre high wrought iron bridge with zip wire or delving deep into the wooded glades. There’s plenty of levels of excitement. . . some will prefer the toys (surfboards to jump on, bikes to ride in the sky or carts to roll in) whilst others will simply be looking for maximum elevation and thrill factor!!
For those visiting with youngsters, there’s plenty of opportunities to allow the older children to strap themselves in whilst you visit the ‘Les Cabanes du Roc’. Definitely more suited to younger children (under 8), it allows them (and you) to explore a high rope course with no safety harness or strapped into a wire!
How I hear you ask?… well essentially, it is a well constructed series of easily accessible ramps that once traversed, find yourself some 15ft in the air in a series of 100% contained trampoline walkways. There’s literally no chance they could fall so they can have fun just like their elder siblings!!!
Whilst the instructors were great with the kids in the safety briefings, we were more than impressed to see them patrolling the site (by mountain bike) to help anyone who was struggling… A nice example of gentle but useful supervision that leaves you free to explore the tree tops at your leisure or just lounge around in the safe trampoline area!!
But the last mention has to go to the final course on the circuit – Course 10! Not the most technically difficult (perhaps #5 is the most difficult) but certainly the most enjoyable. It doesn’t have the longest 216m zip wires (that’s #9) but it has two whoppers that see you literally hurl yourself off the enormous bridge that it centres on.
Our youngest daughter (Libby,9) was delighted to hear she might just be the youngest to ever have completed this circuit… and in truth, you’ll need to be brave to attempt this one… But with a little support, it’s more than possible and provides an iconic view and leap that you’ll remember for years to come!!!
The whole experience took us nearly 3 hours (3 courses + Les Cabanes) but you could easily spend a day here… For us, the biggest positive was the thrills of Course 10 and the family feel which was only increased by the sight of a young family enjoying a home made picnic birthday party at the central eating area…. It’s a park full of smiling happy faces!
