Wicker Man's wicked, man!

I was lucky enough to become the unofficial 'roller coaster corespondent' for a few months, which meant testing out the newest coasters across the country. First on the list was Alton Tower's Wicker Man. This was one of the most whacky and fun features I've done to date.

This was part of then Travel section on March 14th.

BE FIRST ON ALTON TOWERS' THRILLING NEW COASTER

THE car seems to float over the tracks, climbing slowly to the summit ... then tears around a corkscrew of bends at more than 40mph, streaking through a giant effigy of a ram's head amid jets of fire.

It could only be The Wicker Man — the newest and most thrilling rollercoaster at Alton Towers.

It looks more like a crazy art school project than your usual nerve-jangling ride, with joists and bolts holding the giant £16million wooden structure together.

The theme park's creative director, Bradley Wynne, has invented the "Beornen" people — alias the Alton Towers staff — to add atmosphere to the ride, which shares its name with the 1973 horror film with Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward. In the movie, a giant wicker effigy of a man is set alight containing a human sacrifice.

Eerie muteness Back in the comparative safety of the Staffordshire countryside, I'm strapped in at the front of the 12-car train by safety marshals dressed and acting as Beornen, their eerie muteness adding to my fear and adrenalin rush.

We rocket along the tracks for just over two and a half minutes, twisting and turning through dark chambers, in and out of the open air. While the ride — which opens to the public on Saturday — isn't particularly fast, the rumbling of the carts on the tracks is thrilling.

We hurtle three times through the flaming concrete and steel centrepiece — the only part not made of wood — and the coaster's near-miss feel makes me fear I'll come too close to the ram's head.

Flames spurt from the figure's shoulders before we are plunged into darkness, then find ourselves back where we started. I'm released by the Beornen and a booming voice warns me to flee.

I don't, of course. I go again and again, and every time I notice something different about the movement of this fiery ride that seems to keep on giving.