Sphereing, Zorbing or Hill Rolling is the art of strapping yourself inside a large inflatable ball and being rolled head over heels down a big hill!
Skills - Strength: 1, Balance: 1, Flexibility: 1, Agility: 1, Coordination: 1
Time needed: travelling time + 1 hour, Cost to try: £25
What is Zorbing?
Zorbing® is the experience of rolling down a hill in a large inflatable globe at a dedicated ZORB® site. The Zorb is a gigantic inflatable pvc ball standing about three metres in height, which contains another smaller ball that is suspended into position by thousand nylon strands of varying colours. You go inside a ZORB® globe and roll you down a hill, wet or dry (which ever tickles your fancy!). There are two types of ZORB® globes available - the harness, or ZORBIT (dry) variety; and the non-harness, or ZYDRO (wet) variety. What's more, you can choose to roll down one of the track varitations for a completely unique experience.
Video of Boyfriend vs Girlfriend Zorbing
What is Sphering?
SphereMania® was established in 1998 by Robert Price. It started as hobby for Robert, but quickly grew into a commercial venture. SphereMania® was the first company in the UK to offer ‘Hill-Rolling’ to customers, and today offers Sphereing® across the UK through 14 franchisees.
SphereMania® offers 3 different activities: Harness Sphereing®; Aqua Sphereing® and Eclipse Sphereing®. Harness Sphereing® was the original, and remains the main activity offered. Two riders are harnessed into the Sphere and roll down the hill at speeds of up to 30mph.
Aqua Sphereing® was developed next, which is a completely different beast. In the Aqua Sphere, customers are free inside the ball with one or two (very) close friends and 30-40 litres of water. The ball rolls down the hill, and customers are entirely at it’s mercy as they slip and slide around inside in the craziest water slide ever. Or to put it another way, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like inside a washing machine… you get the idea…
Eclipse Sphereing® is the newest and most extreme ride to emerge from SphereMania®. It is derived from the Harness Sphere, but the inside of the ball can be closed off; so customers hurtle down the hill in total pitch black darkness.
Go Zorbing, Sphering or Hill Rolling
If you want to have a go at Zorbing, Sphereing or Hill Rolling, there are numerous places to go. Official Zorb and Sphereing have strict safety regimes to ensure your safety whilst you are zorbing or sphereing.
Spheremania have Sphereing sites in the UK at:
Birmingham North
Chepstow
Leeds
London - North, South and West
Manchester
Newcastle
Newquay
Chester, North Wales
Nottingham
Oxford
Perth
Llanelli, South Wales
There are other places to go if you want to go hill rolling, such as the Devil's Dyke near Brighton in Sussex.