The Aeron Express was the name used for a hand-powered aerial cable ferry that was built to ferry people across the harbour in the West Wales coastal town of Aberaeron . The ferry was first built in 1880 to ferry labourers from the Liverpool quay on Quay Parade, to the Birkenhead quay on Lon Yr Hafen, in the absence of a bridge across the River Aeron .
33-535: The original transport, on the principle of the flying fox , was constructed by Captain John Evans in 1885, after a flood had destroyed the former road bridge. The single-seat carriage was enlarged to carry two people, and later four or more. It operated well into the twentieth century and was eventually replaced with a footbridge . The ferry was re-created by the then-owner of Aberystwyth Cliff Railway Clr Bob Griffin (ex Mayor of Aberystwyth ) in 1987, predominantly as
66-451: A Whit Monday fair: "On the village green an inclined string, down which, clinging the while to a pulley-swung handle, one could be hurled violently against a sack at the other end, came in for considerable favour among the adolescent..." Some sources attribute the development of zip-lines used today as a vacation activity to the Tyrolean traverses developed for mountaineering purposes. In
99-528: A Canadian citizen who moved to Costa Rica in 1992, around the same time that a scene in the film Medicine Man incorporated the treetop rides, with the goal of using canopy tours to help raise awareness for reforestation, education and socio-economic development in the surrounding areas. In October 1998, the Costa Rican Patent Office granted patent No. 2532 for an "Elevated Forest Transport System Propelled by Gravity, Using Harness and Pulley Through
132-472: A Simple Horizontal Line" to Hreniuk. The patent was later annulled, bringing uncertainty to zip-line businesses, before being reinstated after twenty years. A canopy tour (sometimes called a zip-line tour) provides a route through a wooded, and often mountainous, landscape, making primary use of zip-lines and aerial bridges between platforms built in trees. Tourists are harnessed to a cable for safety, and many are restricted to adults. Heights vary from near to
165-436: A larger challenge such as a hike or ropes course . A type of pulley with a grooved wheel known as a sheave is used in zip-lines, and the pulley turns as it travels along, thus reducing friction and enabling greater speed than would otherwise be possible. The zip-line trolley ("zipliner") is the frame or assembly together with the pulley inside that run along the cable. Zip-lines also have some kind of device to allow
198-588: A method of transport in some mountainous countries for more than 2,000 years, possibly starting in China, India and Japan as early as 250 BC, remaining in use in some remote areas in China such as Nujiang (Salween) valley in Yunnan as late as 2015 before being replaced by bridges. Not all of these structures were assisted by gravity , so not all fitted the definition of the zip-line. Various technological advances in Europe in
231-448: A tourist attraction, and ran until 1994. During this period, the ferry ran from the Easter bank holiday weekend until the end of September (the traditionally busy times of year for Aberaeron). On either quay, a hexagonal wooden hut housed sales of tickets and merchandise for the ferry. At the end of the season, the ferry and supporting structures were dismantled and stored for the winter in
264-781: Is always on a Sunday and is therefore usually a non-working day. That said, the Monday after Pentecost is a public holiday in Andorra , Antigua and Barbuda , Anguilla , Austria , the Bahamas , Barbados , Belgium , Benin , The British Virgin Islands , Central African Republic , Republic of Congo , Cyprus , Denmark , Dominica , France , Gabon , Germany , Greece , Grenada , Hungary , Iceland , Ivory Coast , Luxembourg , Madagascar , Monaco , Montserrat , The Netherlands , Norway , Romania , Saint Lucia , Saint Kitts and Nevis , Saint Vincent and
297-477: Is designed to enable cargo or a person propelled by gravity to travel from the top to the bottom of the inclined cable by holding on to, or being attached to, the freely moving pulley. It has been described as essentially a Tyrolean traverse that engages gravity to assist its speed of movement. Its use is not confined to adventure sport, recreation, or tourism, although modern-day usage tends to favor those meanings. Ropeways or aerial cables have been used as
330-573: Is known as "Monday of the Holy Spirit" or "Day of the Holy Spirit" and is the first day of the afterfeast of Pentecost, being dedicated specifically to the honor of God the Holy Spirit and particularly in commemoration of his descent upon the apostles at Pentecost. The day following is known as Third Day of the Trinity. In the services on the Monday of the Holy Spirit many of the same hymns are sung as on
363-694: Is moveable because it is determined by the date of Easter . In the Catholic Church , it is the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church , marking the resumption of Ordinary Time . Whit Monday gets its English name from " Whitsunday ", an English name for Pentecost, one of the three baptismal seasons. The origin of the name "Whit Sunday" is generally attributed to the white garments formerly worn by those newly baptized on this feast. Pentecost
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#1732863179403396-564: Is required on almost all courses of any size. All zip-line cables have some degree of sag, so the proper tensioning of a cable is important and allows tuning the ride of a zip-line. The world's longest zip-line that opened on 28 September 2024 is the K3 of the SA Forest Adventures in Caledon , South Africa . It is a single cable of 3.2 km reaching speeds up to 120km/h. From 31 January 2018 it
429-725: Is the second-longest span, with "El Monstruo" at Orocovis in Puerto Rico coming in third, at 2,530 m (8,300 ft). The Skywire at Bluewater in Kent is the longest in England at 725 metres (2,379 ft). The longest zip-line in Europe, at 2,300 metres (7,500 ft), is the Sternsauser in Hoch-Ybrig , Switzerland. The Zip World Bethesda line in Penrhyn Quarry, Bethesda , Wales holds
462-452: Is usually done by simply pushing or pulling it via a short wire back to the top of the hill on foot. Longer and higher rides are often used as a means of accessing remote areas, such as a rainforest canopy . In the 1970s, wildlife biologists set up zip-lines as a way to study and explore the dense rainforests of Costa Rica without disturbing the environment. The business idea for zip-line canopy tours developed from these. Darren Hreniuk,
495-722: The General Roman Calendar , they were part of the octave of Pentecost, which was added in the 7th century. The Monday after Pentecost is now the first day of the resumption of Ordinary Time . While the details differ from diocese to diocese, the most widespread practice in Germany (where the holiday remains an obligation) was to have a compulsory votive Mass of the Holy Spirit outranking even solemnities (these would be local solemnities in that case). However, in February 2018, Pope Francis declared that henceforth, Whit Monday will be
528-787: The Ladakh region of India. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the use of aerial ropeways for transporting cargo, partly due to their low energy requirements and environmental impact. Gravity-fed types, i.e. zip-lines, have been built in Nepal , Latin America and India. Ziplines have also been used as a means of transporting items in Australian regions in the past. These may include ammunition, weapons, tools, food, and mail. Zip-lines may be designed for children 's play and found on some adventure playgrounds . Inclines are fairly shallow and so
561-473: The Middle Ages improved the power-line's ropeways, some of which were still assisted by gravity. The first recorded use of the zip-line as a form of entertainment was possibly in 1739, when Robert Cadman , a steeplejack and rope slider , died when descending from Shrewsbury's St Mary's Church when his rope snapped. In literature, one appears in H. G. Wells 's 1897 novel The Invisible Man as part of
594-488: The Australian outback , zip-lines were sometimes used for delivering necessities to people working in or on the other side of a valley, and they may have been used in conflicts by Australian troops to deliver food, mail and even ammunition to forward positions. Yungas , Bolivia, features a system of zip-lines used for transporting harvested crops, mainly coca , across a valley 200 m below. They can also be seen in
627-468: The Grenadines , Senegal , Solomon Islands , Switzerland , Togo and Ukraine . In many of these countries, Whit Monday is known as "the second day of Pentecost" or "the second Whitsun". In France, it became a work day for many workers from 2005 to 2007. This was to raise extra funds following the government's lack of preparation for a summertime heat wave, which led to a shortage of proper health care for
660-566: The Liverpool quay, and directly opposite on the Birkenhead quay. The possibility of resurrecting the Aeron Express as a tourist attraction is a regular topic of conversation in the local community. Flying fox (cablecar) A zip-line , zip line , zip-wire , flying fox , or death slide is a pulley suspended on a cable , usually made of stainless steel , mounted on a slope . It
693-577: The Pacific. It remains a public holiday in some of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean . In Sweden , Whit Monday was a public holiday until 2004; it was replaced by the National Day of Sweden in 2005. Although Whit Monday is a civil holiday in many countries, it was not a Catholic religious holiday any more than the other weekdays that follow Pentecost Sunday. Until the 1969 revision of
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#1732863179403726-438: The cargo or rider to attach to the pulley system. This could include a harness, seat, a cabin or often just a handhold in smaller playground applications, that attaches to the pulley by a pivoting link or carabiner which secures the load, allowing the person or cargo to travel down the line. To be propelled by gravity, the cable needs to be on a fairly steep slope. Even then, the rider or cargo will often not travel completely to
759-522: The elderly. It continues to be a "worked public holiday" in France. In Liechtenstein , Whit Monday is considered to be a "favorite holiday", much like Christmas in many other countries. In Germany, Whit Monday ( German : Pfingstmontag [p͡fɪŋstˈmoːntaːk] ) is a Holy Day of obligation for Roman Catholics . It is celebrated in South Tyrol , and for its capital city Bolzano it replaces
792-408: The end (although this will depend on the load ), and some means of safely stopping the car at the bottom end is usually needed with the larger zip-lines. Users of zip-lines must have some means of stopping themselves. Typical mechanisms include: There are certain precautions that can be taken. Riders are physically attached to the cable by a harness which attaches to a removable trolley. A helmet
825-744: The fixed date for the celebration of a new feast, officially known as the "Memorial of Mary , Mother of the Church " to be celebrated throughout the Western Catholic Church , with the exception of the Ordinariates , where the octave of Whitsun Week has been restored and the new Memorial is observed on the Saturday after Ascension Day. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches Whit Monday
858-510: The ground to near the treetops. Canopy tours are largely marketed under the banner of ecotourism , although the environmental impact of any type of zip-line is a disputed topic. The terminology varies (canopy tour, zip-lining, flying fox), and the distinction between using zip-lines for ecotourism and zip-lining as an adventure sport is often not clear. Zip-line tours are now popular vacation activities, found both at upscale resorts and at outdoor adventure camps, where they may be an element on
891-599: The holiday of the local patron saint celebrated elsewhere in Italy. Until 1973, Whit Monday was a public holiday in Ireland (also called a bank holiday). It was a bank holiday in the United Kingdom until 1967. There it was formally replaced by the fixed Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May in 1971. It was also a public holiday in various former British colonies, especially in
924-458: The inner harbour. The ferry was featured in an HTV program in 1993, presented by Siân Lloyd . This footage was used again in an HTV program 'Stories from the street' in approximately 2003. At the 2007 Aberaeron Carnival, the 1990s carriage body was paraded as a float attraction, but it has not been seen in public since. Although the ferry remained disused as of January 2013, the substantial reinforced concrete footings were still in place on
957-403: The nearby village of Llanon . The ferry utilised a single supporting steel cable that bore the weight of the carriage, with a looped drive cable that was driven by two hand-powered wheels, one at each side of the harbour. At peak times, operators were placed at both sides to wind the carriage, but it was attended by a single operator during quieter parts of the summer tourist season. Limited by
990-452: The speeds kept relatively low, negating the need for a means of stopping. The term "flying fox" is commonly used in reference to such a small-scale zip-line in Australia, New Zealand, and Scotland. With playground equipment, the pulleys are fixed to the cable, the user typically hanging onto a handgrip underneath, but occasionally including a seat or a safety strap. Return of the grip or seat
1023-406: The strength of the operator, the modern-day version could carry up to four men at a time. Tourists often believed it was powered by a hidden electric motor, or that it went to destinations other than the other side of the harbour. When the main cable was tensioned, it prevented access to the inner harbour for boats with high masts, and had to be lowered on occasion to allow yachts to enter and leave
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1056-539: The world record for attaining the fastest zip-line travel speed. Zip-lines with the steepest inclines include: The La Tyrolienne in Val Thorens , France is the highest altitude zipline, at 10,600 feet. Whit Monday Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday , also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit , is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost , a moveable feast in the Christian liturgical calendar . It
1089-712: Was the 'Jebel Jais Flight' from one of the peaks of the Jebel Jais mountain in Ras Al Khaimah , United Arab Emirates, with a single unbroken span of 2,831.88 metres (9,290.9 ft). The ride was temporarily closed pending the outcome into an investigation into the crash of an Agusta 139 rescue helicopter on 29 December 2018, killing all on board. It is believed to have clipped one of the cables. The ride has since re-opened. The "Parque de Aventura Barrancas del Cobre" at 2,545 m (8,350 ft) in Copper Canyon , Mexico,
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