Intrepid reporter Paul Pearson conquers his nerves on a day trip to one of the country's best-known theme parks.

THE sun was shining brightly as we set off one Sunday in April for a family day out at Lightwater Valley theme park, tucked away in the North Yorkshire countryside. It was our first visit, but our seven-year-old daughter Frances had invited her friend Lucy, who had been before and was keen to have another ride on The Ultimate.

I knew this must be one of the bigger and scarier attractions at the park - the name's a bit of a giveaway - and I tried to ignore a vague sense of uneasiness in the pit of my stomach.

We arrived in plenty of time, following a well-signed route from the A1, and joined a queue of cars which had already formed. Having parked, picked up our tickets and armed ourselves with a detailed map of all the park had to offer, we were ready to enjoy our day.

The two girls wasted no time in identifying their first port of call and dashed towards a ride. It looked fairly innocent, but as the seats began to whirl around with ever-increasing speed and at an ever-greater height, I realised this was a little more than I had bargained for. But, when the ride stopped, our beaming and excited daughter informed us "that was wicked" and dashed off with her friend to try something else.

We had learned an important lesson - check the leaflet carefully before leaping into the unknown. A perusal of the park guide revealed we had just been on the Skyrider, one of the ten biggest rides classed as "jaw droppers".

After our baptism of fire, things became a little more sedate as the girls took a spin on some of the rides in the middle range of attractions - Carousel, The Ladybird, Falls of Terror (scary, but not quite as bad as it sounds) and Flying Camels, one of five new rides this year.

We didn't have to wait long to get on any of these, but the queue for the Grand Prix Go Carts was long enough for us to wander off in search of other entertainments.

We took an early lunch sitting outside The Conservatory, one of several places to eat dotted around the park, from where we could see the cars climbing the steep incline to the start of The Ultimate roller-coaster. By this time my sense of uneasiness was mounting towards sheer terror, but I knew I would have to conquer my fear as I could see fearless Lucy was really looking forward to experiencing The Ultimate thrill.

Lucy was just tall enough to meet the 1.3m height requirement for the ride and, when she turned down my final offer to give it a miss, we joined the queue.

The wait was long enough for my nerves to become even more shredded, but I kept telling myself that I would come out the other side alive and none of the people returning from the ride appeared to have suffered any serious harm. Most, incredibly, seemed to be smiling, even laughing.

It turned out to be every bit as terrifying as I had imagined, but Lucy and most of my fellow thrill-seekers clearly thought it was fantastic and I had to admit there was a very small part of me wanted to have another go.

But there was much more still to experience, so we moved on to The Wave, The Grizzly Bear and then The Sewer Rat. We had the longest wait of all for this one, which is an underground ride in total darkness.

There was no chance of running out of things to do and there were plenty of rides and activities for smaller children. Although all the main rides are free once you're in the park, there are some games and activities which involve an extra charge.

All in all, an exciting day out - sometimes a bit too exciting!

Ticket prices: over 1.3m in height £15.95; under 1.3m £14.50; under 1m free; senior citizens/disabled/carers £7.95; family tickets from £58 to £87; single season ticket £48; family season ticket £160.

Opening dates: weekends only May 5-May 27; daily from May 28 to September 4; weekends only September 8-October 21; daily from October 22 to October 28.

For more information visit www.lightwatervalley.co.uk or call 0870 458 0040.