Last weekend 19 cadets from 8F squadron travelled down to Broadway House Camping and Caravan Park in Cheddar, for a weekend of adventure training.

After a long journey and in the pouring rain, a lot of Friday evening was spent erecting the 9 tents for the weekend. For the remaining time, the cadets explored the site and prepared their kit for Saturday.

Broadway House is a 4 star campsite with excellent facilities, including an outdoor pool, small games arcade, café, playground, bike track, gravel football pitch and crazy golf. There is also an on-site activity hut which is the base of Aardvark Endeavours, an outdoor adventure Company with whom the cadets were about to become familiar.

On Saturday morning the cadets met the Aardvark staff at 1000 for a few hours of climbing and abseiling. The weather was now a bit brighter and everyone was beginning to dry out from the night before. After being issued with their helmets and harnesses, the cadets were shipped off to nearby Wells for their activity. The instructors set up several climbs and abseils along a rock face with varying degrees of difficulty to cater for all abilities and levels of confidence. The cadets soon learned the techniques of climbing by working in teams of 3 whilst many headed straight for the top of the abseil. The cadets worked hard, many overcoming their fears to complete various stages and congratulations to Cpl Foster, the only cadet to reach the top of the most difficult climb.

That afternoon after a well earned shower and packed lunch, the cadets headed for the swimming pool. The sun was now well and truly shining as they relaxed in and around the pool. After a couple of hours of swimming followed by some 5 a side football and a test of the adventure playground, the cadets were treated to a BBQ by the staff before preparing for Sunday.

We all awoke on Sunday morning to the sound of heavy rain on the tents and the surrounding area had become a mud bath. Most of the cadets were still in good spirits though. They were split into 2 groups for the day with each group either kayaking or caving in the morning and swapping after lunch. The kayakers were kitted out with their wetsuits, spray decks and helmets before heading down to a local river and the cavers were given rather attractive coveralls and wellies before heading to the caves in the north area of Cheddar Gorge itself.

This is 8F's 6 th trip down to Cheddar and was another excellent visit. Many of the cadets were experiencing some of these activities for the first time and equally many had been on previous camps to Cheddar and come back each year. Aardvark Endeavours are a great company with very patient and enthusiastic staff who enjoy supporting the cadets and aim to ensure they enjoy all of the activities. They are very complementary of our cadets and the ACO. The weather was not kind to us this year but we've had a great time and will be back again in 2008!