Exercise Alpine Adventure uses coach travel to make the best use of finance and time. A coach and two drivers stay with both parties to provide transport to the ski areas and evening activity venues. Exercise Alpine Adventure will be using Harding’s Coaches from Redditch – a company born out of Harding’s International that the exercise has used every year since 1998.
On Friday evening the Bristol and Gloucestershire Wing coach picks up cadets at Gloucester and at Filton before heading for Dover. The South West Region coach picks up at key locations before meeting up with the Bristol and Gloucestershire Wing coach. After a short ferry crossing to Calais, the route takes in France, Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany.
Coaches are equipped with toilet facilities but stops are normally taken every few hours to allow passengers to stretch their legs. With an on-board drinks machine and DVD entertainment, the 21 hour journey is far from arduous and travelling through the night allows plenty of quiet time to relax.
Passing Stuttgart Airport marks the final stage of the journey and quite often gives the first hint of snow on the ground. A telephone call is made to the lodge to ensure that the resident chef has a welcoming hot meal ready as soon as the coach arrives which is normally around 1830 hours.
The return journey starts early on the Saturday morning. Somehow this seems to be much faster – perhaps because everyone sleeps after an exhausting week’s skiing! The coaches usually cross on an early evening ferry from Dover and are back in the Region and Wing areas a few hours later.
Times/locations of pick ups and drop offs are notified to participants in the immediate run up to the exercise and confirmed with the drivers while we are in Bavaria.