Llandovery College CCF traditionally embarks on a biennial overseas expedition giving cadets the opportunity to experience new and challenging adventures! This year, Slovenia was our chosen destination, as it had everything we wanted and looked very exciting. We were based on Lake Bohinj in the Julian Alps.
We departed Llandovery early on the 20th August, and finally arrived in Bohinj just in time for supper - well organised Maj Drinkall! We spent the first evening settling in whilst the staff completed recces. We were all immediately amazed by the beautiful valley, the azure blue lake, the dramatic mountains and the verdant forests.
The next day we went straight into action climbing at the near-by crag Bellevue. For a number of cadets it was the first time they had climbed outside in the dry - after all, we are from Wales! After lunch we completed a short trek, climbing Rudnica, Cadet Matthew Jennings said:"I think today was great because we faced challenges; both climbing and walking. I found some of the climbs extremely hard, but I thought the first day went really well - it was so worth it!"
On day 3 we enjoyed a superb morning climbing at Bellevue, with the afternoon “visiting” a famous waterfall, Slap Savica. It turned out that “visiting” is a special staff code for trekking! It was a great afternoon.
On day 4 we used a cable car and ski lift to help us reach the start of a great ridge! We then trekked to Rodica, Mrs Williams becoming more and more excited seeing all the edelweiss! After a quick lunch, Mrs Williams took the slightly larger group down the mountain whilst the smaller group carried on to Crna Prsta, walking an extra 5km. It proved to be quite a long day, but gave Maj Drinkall the chance to assess our fitness.
The next morning was wet, so we travelled to Lake Bled where we spent some time enjoying the sites whilst waiting for the rock to dry. On arrival at Nominjwe found the character of the climbs to be quite different, although only short pitches they were really challenging!
Day 6 was our R & R day. We spent a few hours in Ljubljana, checking out / enduring the old town and castle (fairly boring) before going to a nearby water park. All the cadets (and the adults?) much preferred the swimming pools and saunas!
The next day saw us return to a rainy Bellevue. We were surprised to enjoy a long day of climbing and abseiling, even if we ended up pretty wet! The late afternoon and early evening was spent preparing for our three day mountain expedition.
An early start on Day 8 saw us set off on our expedition. After almost 5 hours of climbing we reached a high mountain hut, next to one of the beautiful Triglav Valley Lakes. The team then split into two groups, the larger group staying at the hut whilst the smaller group carried on for about an extra 9 km to Dom Domice.
The next morning the smaller group climbed Triglav (2,864m) following a short ‘via ferrata’ or protected path. This was new to all us cadets and was certainly quite exciting. Meanwhile the other group trekked up the stunning valley we had followed the previous afternoon, before heading SE to the next evening's hut. After climbing Triglav, and enjoying a short lunch, we headed generally south and descended through beautiful alpine pastures, wooded hillsides, past small lakes and extremely cute high alpine summer farms to re-join our fellow cadets at the last night’s hut.
The last full day in Slovenia started with the trek out of the mountains, descending about 1000m! When we reached the valley, we washed off in the lake before commencing our journey home. After a wonderfully uneventful journey, we arrived back at Llandovery very early on the 30th August, tired but with plenty of tales to tell!
During the course of the trip we saw lots of new sights, many unique to the Slovenian Alps. We all had an amazing time and we all gained valuable qualities; determination, confidence, persistence, courage and organisation.
We really were ‘rocking in Bohinj’ (pronounced Bocking)!
Our sincere thanks go to the Ulysses Trust, CCFA, HQ Comd Sp, HQ 160 (W) Bde and our staff for their generous support of this expedition, without such funding and assistance the expedition would not have been possible.
Cadet Alex Pilkington
