ROCKING backwards and forward on a one-inch thick strap high above a boulder-strewn beach may not be to everyone's taste as an after lunch activity.

But two highline enthusiasts came to Dorset yesterday afternoon to do just that.

Two lines, one measuring around 210 metres, the other nearly 140 metres, were stretched between jagged cliffs on the west coast of Portland.

The longer of the two lines, if crossed without falling, otherwise known as sending, amounts to a UK record.

Jediah Doohan, 24, holds the previous record and had a crack at the longer crossing while Jacob Hirsh-Holland, 28, tried his luck at the shorter one.

Mr Doohan started slacklining just over three years ago and has turned it into his profession.

He said: "Everybody starts walking a short line on the ground, then just adds more height and more distance.

"Conveniently, I met Jacob who was the best in the UK at the time, and some other people and shared advice. Now I'm doing it all the time.

"If you didn't have any fear of the height, why would you do it?

"It is the process of overcoming the fear that's the pleasure of it."

Mr Hirsh-Holland, from Swindon, has worked as a circus performer most of his adult life.

He said: "We highline whenever we can. There aren't really any rules to it.

"It depends on who owns the land really, and we've got a good relationship with most of the landowners on sites we use.

"I've been involved with organising slackline events and at the moment, we're trying to develop the UK Slackline Association."

Both of the lines have one strap, made of polyester or nylon, and a second rope that runs alongside for safety.

Mr Hirsh-Holland said: "The biggest chance of injury is when we are climbing around on the rocks during set up."

The cross in a harness with a strap connecting them to the line, sparing them a fall of anything more than a few feet.

For 15 days last year, Mr Doohan held the world record in longest highline walk on a polyester line at 209 metres, but he was beaten in October.

He did not cross without falling yesterday but will keep attempting the crossing.