Longhill School CCF Summer Adventurous Training Camp
During the last week of June Longhill CCF cadets enjoyed a week of challenge and excitement while attending an AT (Adventure Training) Camp up at Halton Training Camp in Lancashire which is the headquarters of the Joint Service Mountain Training Wing.
The camp was run and organised by Brighton College CCF who kindly invited us to join them. We thank them for their hospitality and the opportunity for our cadets to experience the wonderful if not, at times, slightly terrifying activities!
After a long but uneventful coach journey up to Lancashire we settled into the camp on Sunday evening.
On our first day we were greeted with some warm and clear weather for climbing. This gave us the opportunity to climb the Twisledon Scar limestone cliffs near Ingleton in the North Yorkshire Dales. The Cadets all managed to climb and abseil a good number of runs that presented them with a good variety of difficulty. A select few even managed to reach the top of each climb.
Day two was just as beautiful and warm weather wise so the cadets were delighted that they were going to spend the day in the refreshing waters of the Ingleton Gorge waterfalls.
Canyoning was our treat for the day. This involved climbing the falls with the added bonus of being able to jump from a number of high points into the pools and slide down the natural flumes created by the flowing river.
The highest jump measured a terrifying 10m and all jumped it at least once!
Day three, and probably the most daunting for all, was caving. The area is famous for its cave systems.
We managed to explore different caves that presented different challenges whether it was the length of the system or how tight they were and how much water was flowing through them.
This was certainly a unique experience and one that would not be forgotten by any of us.
Great Douk Cave was without a doubt the longest, tightest and most impressive of all of them.
Our cadets were fantastic throughout and I was extremely proud of them for giving everything a go no matter how worried they were. The resilience and the personal courage they displayed was impressive. Their conduct was exemplary for the entire trip.
Our senior cadets were praised as a fantastic example to the college cadets in their conduct, punctuality, organisation and management of the accommodation by maintaining their bunk spaces and Billet (Dormitory) in immaculate condition. The College staff and cadets were extremely welcoming and I once again thank them for their hospitality.
Major Ali Pringle.
Contingent Commander.
Longhill School CCF.
Read more stories from Longhill High School: https://longhill.org.uk/news/
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