When a giant water slide comes to town you have to check it out don’t you! Or is that just me.

The 100 metre Slide the City, apparently the highest and fastest ‘urban’ water slide the UK will see this year, drew the crowds to Heaton Park on Saturday.

Being wimps, we decided that it was too cold to be out in the park all day but many sliders made a day of it, enjoying their picnics in between turns on the slide.

Happily, arriving late meant we escaped the check-in queue altogether and we were soon ready to slide. Triple slider ticket secured us 3 turns in the inflatable ring.

The queue to slide was expected but tedious.

We spent 40 minutes shuffling, ducking to avoid scratches from the rings that were being thrown about, and suffering with / from the Capital Radio presenters, who asked every single slider if they were sliding on their “bum, belly, or back”. I mean – who cares! The slide was going to have to be good to persuade us to endure the queue again, especially as next time we’d be wet.

Eventually we made it. After confirming obligingly that we would be sliding on our bums , we sat down in our rings, pushed off, and were immediately drenched by a shower. (Staying dry wasn’t an option.)

The height of the bank ensured that we could build up a decent speed as we slipped, slopped and slid towards a giant pool of water at the bottom.

It was exhilarating, and I couldn’t wait to go again.

Second time round we got to the front a helluva a lot quicker. We braved the group slide and 3 of us together set off face first; pushing, dragging and crashing into each other to finish with an almighty splash and end up in a tangle of rubber rings. If it was possible, sliding head first made us even wetter, and was way more fun! 

The cold set in quickly though and if I’d had to wait an hour to slide again, I’m not sure I’d have bothered. Luckily, the crowds were dwindling as people dried off and went home so we enjoyed our third slide, and final soaking. 

It wasn’t a cheap day out, and it could have been a lot better organised. But, it’s not every day you get to experience a giant water slide in the park – and for novelty value alone, it was well worth it.

A big thank you to Time Out Manchester for the tickets!