3, 2, 1… Bungee! You’re dropping like a stone, heart rate increasing in time with your acceleration towards the Earth. But before you hit the ground, the bungee cord springs into action, bouncing you back up into the sky as your adrenaline levels go through the roof. It’s a challenge that everyone said you’d never do, you might even have doubted it yourself, but now it’s a memory that will stay with you for a lifetime. If you’re ready for the most extreme of extreme sports, Greater Manchester is the place for you.

Manchester and its surrounding area is the beating heart of the Northern Powerhouse, an inter urban network that will rival London for national significance. Gone are the days when you had to go to London to prove yourself in this world, because now you can get the recognition you deserve as a top tier daredevil here in the North. There are two activity locations here, one in the nerve centre of the region’s regeneration, and the other in historic country estate. So save your money on the train fair to London Euston, and feel the power of this extreme sport here!

Where can you complete a bungee jump in Greater Manchester?

• Salford Quays Centre was once one of the busiest docklands in the world, where cotton was loaded onto ships and carried around the world to be traded for exotic goods. Since the closure of the docks in the eighties, the area has been reborn as a centre for new industries and the arts. Above the BBC’s Media City campus, across the canal from the Coronation Street Studios and not far from United’s Old Trafford Stadium, you’ll be lifted by a crane to complete an awesome jump.

• If you’re more of a nature lover than an urban adventurer, your destination will be Tatton Park, to the south of the Greater Manchester builtup area. The park boasts a Tudor mansion, a neoclassical manor house, a lake which is home to some of the biggest carp in the country, and 2,000 acres of deerpark. But all of these will shrink into insignificance below you as you prepare for the highest bungee jump in the United Kingdom - from a dizzying 300 feet in the air.

Kinds of jumps on offer

- 160 ft: Imagine an Olympic swimming pool. Now stand it up on its end, wait for the water to drain out, and picture yourself standing on the elevated end. That's what 160 feet, or 50 metres of elevation is like. And you’ll travel that distance in a fraction of the time it takes the fastest swimmers in the world to complete one length of the pool - aided only by the force of gravity, and with the sole protection of a cord. This jump is available in Salford and Tatton Park.

- 160 ft Tandem: Jumping in Tandem means that you choose a special someone and make them do this crazy stunt with you. You’ll be strapped together and attached to a bungee cord that’s calibrated to the weight of two people, before taking a leap of faith. As well as having someone to share the emotions with, jumping in tandem also means that you reach faster speeds and bigger bounces, enough to bond you closer to your jump partner than ever. Like the individual, you can take a tandem jump in Salford and Tatton Park.

- FAB: Although it doesn’t mean fabulous, the Front And Back jump is definitely an experience to remember. This is actually a package that includes a standard 160 ft jump, called a front jump to distinguish it from what comes next. The back jump involves falling blind, backwards into the void - a truly terrifying prospect for everyone except the hardest daredevils. Once again, both locations host this kind.

- 300 ft: As if those gravity defying stunts weren’t enough, there’s an even more extreme bungee experience here. In Tatton Park, the crane will lift you to 160 ft above the ground - and then keep going! 300 ft is equivalent to 90 metres, and it’s the highest in the United Kingdom. You’ll fall longer, further and faster if you choose this challenge, and accompanying thrills and doses or endorphins are magnified too. Can you resist that?

Requirements to do this activity

Alright, you’re probably thinking, it sounds great - but isn’t it dangerous? To answer that question, we can point to the number of people here and around the country, who’ve completed this activity without incident. That success rate is down to a system of rules and regulations, which ensure that all jumps are conducted correctly. Most importantly, only people who are able to give informed consent are allowed to jump. This includes everyone over 16 years of age, or over 14 with their parents’ permission.

Another important consideration is weight. The expert team will calibrate the cord to each jumper, or pair of jumpers, to ensure that it breaks your fall and takes you back to the ground safely, but the equipment does have some limits. The upper weight limit for a single jumper is 18.9 stone, or 120 kilograms, and you need to fit into a harness too, so you need to have a waste size of 15.7 inches (40cm) to 49.2 inches (125cm).

If you’re still nervous, we can tell you that the installations in Salford and Tatton Park only use the highest quality equipment. This is operated and maintained by a trained team of staff, and it functions according to a system of redundancy. This means that, in the unlikely event of a problem with one piece of equipment, the installation as a whole remains safe and viable. So you can relax and focus on the sensation of freefalling through the sky, safe in the knowledge that you’re in safe hands, and secure equipment.

So what are you waiting for? Prove what you’re capable of!