When you are hurtling towards a tree on the beach it’s hard to remember the instructions you were given just 20 minutes earlier.  I needed to stand straight and the machine would stop.  But instead I wanted to pull on the handlebars, effectively making the thing jump backwards.  (No matter what Marty tells you I did not hit that tree.  I stopped right at the tree, just before I hit it.)

Marty managed to talk me into riding a Segway.  I wasn’t convinced that I wanted to try this, but he was really keen.  Before we were allowed on we had to watch a safety video.  Seeing all the different ways that you could fall off and injure yourself wasn’t exactly inspiring but by that stage I was already committed.

Getting on the Segway wasn’t overly difficult, but once I was on it I could feel it trying to get away from me.  Every time I moved it responded.  Just the other night I saw part of one of the early Harry Potter movies.  Harry was learning how to ride a broomstick, and you could see the sticks hopping about eager to fly.  Well, the Segway felt like it was eager to be off on the island tour.  It’s built to respond to your movements but it still felt strange.  And I wasn’t overly happy when it started to move backwards.

It was fun though, and it responded very much like skis do, well apart from the ability to go backwards.  To stop all you have to do is stand up straight.  Sounds incredibly easy and it works as long as your body is relaxed.  When you are in a flap the Segway tends to get confused.

I like to take new things slowly and was perfectly happy riding the Segway along the roads and paths.  I wasn’t so good at the bumpy surface of the grass and I felt completely out of control when I got to the beach.  Turns out that not only don’t I like the feel of sand under my feet, but I’m not fussed on how bumpy it feels under a Segway.