Ex Pembroke Craftsman

– Multi Activity Adventurous Training at Castlemartin – 12 Regt RA Wksp

Scribe: LCpl Dave Williams

On Monday 12th July, 15 members of 12 Regt RA Wksp were due to go on a multi activity training package to Castlemartin, Wales. However, the trip did not initially begin well! An hour before we were due to meet, we all received a message to wait out, as one of the members of the trip had tested positive for COVID-19! We were all worried that the trip would be cancelled and sat waiting nervously until a decision was made. Fortunately, only two people that were due to go on the trip had been in contact with the person that had tested positive so we were relieved to find out that the trip could go ahead, albeit now down to 12 people.

We departed Sunday morning (just) from sunny Thorney Island for (hopefully sunny) Wales, luckily due to unavailability of accommodation at Castlemartin we were put up at a place called Llanion Cove where we were given a house to stay in for the week. We were provided Breakfast, Dinner and a packed lunch for whilst conducting the days activities.

On the Sunday evening we settled in and managed to get a projector up in the living room for the England vs Italy Euro final. The result of the game was disappointing for the majority of us, we were still very much looking forward to

The picturesque house we stayed in at Llanion Cove

the activities ahead with it having been a significant amount of time since any of us had done any AT.

Monday morning arrived and we got stuck into our breakfast before travelling down to Castlemartin to get the initial mandatory briefs out the way. Although we were supposed to be Kayaking, there was no instructor available, so we got to go mountain biking twice instead! At the stores we were given all the kit that we needed for the activities, all issued bikes, then we set off with our instructors for a day of mountain biking.

We rode for about three miles out of camp to a nearby trail called Stackpole, here we did an activity which involved going down a set of stairs to build up our confidence and get us out of our comfort zone. We had a very enthusiastic instructor that we referred to as Cash, he absolutely loved all things Mountain

LCpl Keens enjoying some rock climbing Pausing for a quick photo at the top!

biking and his upbeat attitude rubbed off on the rest of us. We then set off to a trail in a nearby forest, there were loads of fast downhill bits, it had been raining quite a lot the week prior which lead to the ground being soft and slippery. I was lucky enough to not fall off myself although the highlight of the day was seeing LCpl Doncaster come off the trail and go flying over his handlebars, fortunately there were no injuries other than a few superficial scratches.

On day three we drove to a location known as Lions Rock, which suggested our day wouldn’t be easy. After arriving and setting out our kit, the instructor gave all of us a thorough walk through the various knots and safety measures we would be using that day. Itching to get climbing, it wasn’t long before we were attempting our first climbs up the face. A few of the group had some hairy moments on the rock face before the inevitable drop off to be slowly lowered to the ground. As the day went on we all grew in confidence and it wasn’t long before we had all scaled Lions Rock and abseiled back down. A great day for building confidence, especially as a number of the group had never previously climbed before.

Wednesday was by far the best day of the week, although we had already done mountain biking on Monday, we were really excited to do it again. We headed to an outdoor mountain biking centre which was about an hour’s drive away. Although cycling to the top of the trails was exhausting, it really paid off coming downhill, we had progressed from earlier in the week and we were much more confident this time around. There were Green, Blue and Black trails, varying in difficulty Green being easy, Blue being medium and Black being hard.

Thursday had hillwalking in store for us at a place called Dale, we were able to practice some navigational skills surrounded by brilliant views of the Welsh coastline. Later that evening we huddled round for a BBQ and a few drinks before prepping to depart back for Thorney Island the following day. All in all, this had rounded off what had been a superb week and I would thoroughly recommend units applying to book a week of multi activity AT in Castlemartin.

Views from the Welsh coastline at Dale.

Chief Aircraft Engineer (Army) – 2021 REME Aviation Retention Survey