Army Training Unit (ATU) North East is a small Army Reserve (AR) training centre within ARTD located at Queen Elizabeth’s Barracks, Strensall. This busy centre works 44 weekends a year to deliver initial basic and specific specialist training students. As part of the staff’s continued personal development and in accordance with the Joint Services aims on promoting Adventurous Training (AT) within the military, the Unit deployed 27 reservists plus 5 regular instructors to the Troodos Training Camp in Cyprus. The Exped took place during the first week of May and undertook a multi activity AT training package, consisting of Mountain Biking, Trekking and Climbing.
The cost of the exercise was kept to a modest level, utilising white fleet vehicle hire from RAF Akrotiri and military transit accommodation at Troodos Camp. The greatest cost was the use of JET2 commercial airlines to fly the troops in and out, rather than risk any uncertainty of seat reallocation using RAF trooper flights, which may have caused problems due to the constraints of the centres busy training schedule and narrow window of downtime.
The advanced party arrived 3 days prior to the main body to conduct detailed recces of the activity areas, take over vehicles, equipment and accommodation. The party flew into Paphos from Manchester. White fleet hire vehicles were waiting at the airport to convey the party 60km up the mountain to the Troodos camp transit accommodation. The Camp staff were very helpful, giving access to their dedicated AT stores. Although limited in stock, there was sufficient equipment to successfully undertake all the activities. The mountain bikes were of excellent quality and had been used only very little.
The main body arrived late afternoon, Saturday 30 April, having also flown into Paphos from Manchester. AT activities started the following day. Participants were broken down into 4 groups. Over the next 4 days each group then undertook 2 days mountain biking, 1 day trekking and 1 day climbing.
One could walk out of the camp gate straight onto the trekking and mountain bike trails; climbing activities had however to be driven to, with the nearest suitable location being at Trooditissa, 12km from camp. This climbing area had pre-prepared bolted routes. Four climbs plus one abseil were available of differing grades. The abseil route, down a man-made 25m abseil tower, provided the access onto the climbing start points.
There were many well signposted trekking routes on Mount Olympus, starting from the village of Troodos, 800m from camp. The selection of routes used for trekking could also be used for the mountain biking. Routes distances were 13–15 km traversing around the Mount Olympus at altitudes ranging 1500–1850m. The paths were in generally good condition, with some areas narrowing, becoming rough under foot or having a steep gradient. Along Throughout the trails, nature boards had been erected to provide details of areas of interest. All the routes offered stunning views of Cyprus through the forest wood lines, down to the coast.
The mountain bike activity consisted of a 2 day package. Day 1 was around the local area of the camp and was geared to bike maintenance and teaching technical handling skills. The instructors provided guidance on navigating over rough, narrow and steep terrain. Day 2 saw the mountain bike group undertake the “Atalanti Trail”. This 14km circular trail, graded medium underfoot when attempted on mountain bikes, proved much more challenging to both novices and intermediate bikers. The route tested individuals in negotiating narrow winding mountain paths with rock outcrops and steep stepped ground. Despite these challenges and a few bumps and bruises, all bikers completed the route. Considerable excited chatter was heard later over dinner on how individuals had been challenged and overcame the “Atalanti Trail”.
The weather was mixed. Up to Tuesday it had been sunny, with light breezes giving a pleasant temperature of 24⁰C. Tuesday onwards saw a weather system descend across the island putting Troodos in the cloud. This caused temperatures to drop and rain to set in with poor visibility across the trails. Dropping to 1500m on the mountain improved the weather considerably, giving sunny intervals and an increase in temperature into the lower 20’s ⁰C.
Thursday had been booked for a water sports day at the Joint Services tunnel beach facility, near Episkopi. Unfortunately due to high winds this was cancelled on the day. As a backup plan the Episkopi garrison outdoor pool was hired allowing troops to enjoy some water polo. The afternoon was spent visiting the ancient city ruins of Kourion dating back to Roman and Byzantine times.
On the final day the the party visited Nicosia Airport in the United Nations buffer zone. Organised through the UN visits and protocol officer, it presented a unique opportunity for the group to visit a contemporary battlefield site, currently restricted to the general public. The visit proved very interesting giving an understanding and insight into the recent conflicts within Cyprus and how the borders are currently policed by the UN.
One of the main challenges for the ATU (NE) running overseas exercises of this kind is the funding aspect. Unlike a larger AR Unit, benefiting from dedicated trust funds, it does not carry the same financial support. As such it relays on a much narrower window of funding opportunities in order to succeed.
The second challenge facing a small Unit like ATU (NE) is access to qualified instructors to undertake the activities. It is hoped that staff posted to the ATU will be inspired by the AT undertaken in Cyprus for them to undertake further development training and progress to become unit AT instructors themselves. This in turn this will lead to promotion of the activities as an aid to individual development, recruiting and retention all in accordance with Joint Service Aims of AT.
Originally the EXPED had hoped to run a 5 day distributed mountain bike foundation course, however days before the start of the exercise, a misunderstanding with the lead instructor and Joint Services Adventure Training had resulted in his legacy qualifications not being acceptable to conduct the foundation course. As a consequence the plan was rearranged for the foundation course students to undertake a multi AT activity programme. Despite this small amendment, the aims of the exercisehad all the “boxes ticked” and staff returned having fully enjoyed the exercise, inspiring them to want to do more AT and continue to develop their own personal skills.
