Our adventure started at 1105 (City of Winchester) Squadron HQ at Hillier Road ,Winchester, at 5 o’clock in the morning of Monday 11th April 2022 when 12 cadets and 2 adults departed for The Ullswater Trust Outward Bound centre in the Lake District in the trusty Squadron minibus.
Our journey took 7 hours in total, encompassing 2 comfort and coffee breaks en-route.
On arrival and once accommodated, our instructor for the week, Bruce, gave the Cadets a choice of activities to commence the week. The Cadets bravely chose to go Cliff Jumping into the Lake!
I think that Bruce was suitably surprised at the pure enthusiasm of everyone of the Cadets and it was how our adventure was to continue.
We had full evening programmes of classroom interaction and exercises which taught the Cadets communication, leadership and empathy as well as the importance of team work.
The second day saw us learning how to climb vertical walled obstacles before setting off for a full day of Gully and waterfall climbing with ropes! It was a really rainy day but that failed to dampen the enthusiasm at all.
The evening of the second day saw us all in the “POD” a circular room used for teaching at the Centre ,where we decided on the expedition route for the next day encompassing distance and height gain amongst other things.
Day 3 saw us all with our overnight packs containing our sleeping bags, change of clothes, ,food, firewood etc., duly weighed ,setting off on our trek. Some of the packs weighed upto 17.5 kgs and most were over 14kgs.
Our overnight journey took us 17km and a total height traverse of 4500’.
ALL of the Cadets performed admirably and remained positive and enthusiastic throughout the long trek and their team work and camaraderie were exemplary. They are to be commended and each and every one of them really impressed Bruce with their positive attitude.
The 4th day saw us walking from our overnight accommodation at the 5 star “Ruthwaite Lodge “ down into Glenridding where we encompassed canoe building and abseiling and then a race in the canoes along the whole length of Ullswater back to the Centre in time for tea and tiffin!
Our final day saw us experiencing The Tunnel maze which was enjoyed with much hilarity before being presented with our certificates and heading off back home to Winchester.
The opportunity for the Cadets to experience this fantastic experience cannot be understated .An enormous thank you to the Ulysses trust goes without saying from all of us at 1105 (City of Winchester ) Squadron ,both Staff and definitely the participants parents.
The Ulysses Trust also wish to thank the generosity of the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust for supporting this expedition. www.rafct.com
