Knowing where you are and how to get where you want to be is the fundamental key to exploring the countryside and wild places. It’s also not a bad metaphor for personal development, team development and business strategy. But we can talk about that another time if you want to explore a trip with us.
I was lucky enough to get the keys to the UK mountains young, via the scouts and trips with my family. Climbing Lake District hills was, I thought, normal. I’ve since learnt how privileged I was to have this as part of my upbringing. To be truly comfortable in the wilder and more remote parts of the UK, to feel safe and at home there.
When I set about working on my own professional qualifications for taking groups into the mountains, I had to take navigation to the next level. As part of becoming a mountain leader we have to learn to find our way to safety in any weather. The cloud can come down quickly up high and visibility be reduced to 20 metres. Phone batteries can run down quickly in the cold. It’s map and compass stuff at the core of what we do. And if there’s no thick cloud to practice and be examined in. We do it at night. Up at 700m. Without paths, learning to follow contours, interpret the map in very fine detail, using compass bearings and counting paces to estimate distance.
Navigation is a fantastic skill to learn and develop. And in the age of sat nav and walking GPS it seems across the population navigation skills are actually decreasing. Mountain rescue are called out to hundreds of “preventable incidents” each year because people get lost with no map, only a phone and no basic navigational understanding.
That’s not their fault. If you don’t grow up like I did with all the opportunities to learn navigation, trip planning, mountain weather and group safety how do you know where to start?
In 2023 I am starting to offer navigation training courses via the National Navigation Award Scheme (NNAS). If that’s of interest please get in touch to be on the waiting list for a course.
I’m also personally delivering training to two charities that I hope will do great things with it. Enabling volunteers for wild new routes to take their refugee communities to wilder and more interesting places and have safe fun when they do. Leading a fundraising challenge walk for Mind Buddy, which will include route planning and navigation work so that participants can gain new skills and hopefully take on more trips to benefit their own mental and physical health. Connect Outside customer trips are enabling me to offer my time pro bono to these charities! The more connect outside trips we do, the more good we can do for others in wider society. We want sustainability for people and planet to be at the core of all we do whilst we are busy earning a living. This is one of the ways we’re starting to give back to society.
If you want to learn more about navigation online, I can highly recommend starting with and OS beginners guide
For wider adventure safety advice, the amazing adventure smart website is a growing resource for leading yourself in the UK outdoors
