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The training centre at Bath, left, and the finished product, Shelley Rudman in action on yet another foreign track, right

Alright, the barking is from as well. But it's all about evoking an atmosphere, isn't it?

If so, I'm not sure what atmosphere this training centre evokes. It hardly looks like the sort of facility guaranteed to kickstart a conveyor belt of skeleton legends.

Yet British skeleton competitors are among the best in the world, and they expect medals in Canada.

We're just a few months away from and the team are embarking on their winter season, building up to the Games at in February.

It's a good job they're off out of the country as well, because the one problem with being a British skeleton specialist is: we don't have a track.

Not one. This little sled on runners is as close as you get, and all it's good for is fine-tuning your start.

Taking corners at 100mph is not really something you can work on using a Somerset hillock, in a sport where the aim is to .

So your surprise could be excused when I tell you Britain had, at the end of last season, four of the world's top 20 men and two of the top five women.

Not only that, but the team are probably your best bet for British medals at the Winter Olympics.

"We don't have our own track but we've focused on all the other areas," says women's skeleton star (pictured, right), who won silver at this year, as did in the men's event.

"We've given 100% in equipment and coaching, everything that makes us good athletes. We don't miss the little things."

"Because we don't have a track, we need to be good at every track," adds Andy Schmid, performance director for the British team.

"The lesson we have learned is that we need to be consistent.

"Other nations, like Germany, can go onto their track on a regular basis. But our athletes have to be used to different situations."

is a name you may well remember. was Britain's only medal of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

"Skeleton is such an exhilarating experience," enthuses the 28-year-old.

"You go into bends and the G-force pulls your head down onto the ice at times. It takes your breath away, you can't stop. It's such an addictive sport."

She is now second in the world, behind Germany's Marion Trott, with Williams fifth.

Rudman took 18 months out of the sport to bring up Ella, the daughter she has with partner and fellow British skeleton athlete , but came back in style last season.

"Last season was my best ever," she says. "I had two track records and .

"This season, I need to concentrate on qualifying, then we'll see what happens at the Olympics, but it's a tricky track.

"Each track changes and this is a brand new track with different bends and a different weather system. I'm a different person as well. I've got a lot of work to do."

The entire skeleton team, which comprises some 30 athletes and support staff (up from just 12 a decade ago), has plenty to do to ensure they live up to expectations in Canada.

The cut-off point for Olympic qualfiication is mid-January, at which stage the world rankings will determine how many athletes each country gets to send.

Team GB would, ideally, like to send six athletes - three men and three women - to compete in Whistler, but it all depends on individual performances over the next three months.

Our camera straps itself in, then takes a trip down the Bath practice track

"The next six months are going to be full of twists and turns, both on the track and off it," admits Bromley, ranked 10th in the world heading into the new season.

"I've been through this twice and there's always something waiting to trip you up. We have to go in, do what we're good at, and hopefully it'll fall into line with where we want to be.

"I've never wanted anything more than an Olympic medal," he concludes. "I've given absolutely everything."

Some of the team are unsure about the training arrangements - Canadian athletes will get up to 300 practice runs down the Whistler track, compared with just 30 for those from GB - but Vancouver 2010 approaches at exactly the right time for a British skeleton squad miraculously at the top of its game.

Unlike some other winter sports, the squad has held on to precious funding arrangements through its performances, and that has paid off in talent on the track.

They now hope their work on the Somerset slopes translates into victory down Whistler's icy rollercoaster because, unlike so many athletes riding high on London 2012 hype, they will never get a home track, never mind a home Olympics.