Beginners Navigation 2 Days

Included:

• Highly experienced and qualified instructor
• Unless otherwise stated, the Beginners Navigation Two Days course will be run privately for you, meaning you benefit from a personalised activity, focusing on your individual interests, ability and goals.

All you will need to bring:

• Essential navigation equipment (i.e. 1:25000 map of the area and compass – ask us if unsure!)
• Clothing which can be worn in layers, including a warm jumper in all seasons
• Waterproof jacket and waterproof trousers
• Waterproof walking boots
• Warm hat and gloves in Autumn/Winter/Spring
• Sunhat/cap in Summer
• Suncream
• Sunglasses
• Headtorch and spare batteries
• Water bottle (at least 2 litres)
• Packed lunch and snacks
• Personal first aid kit
• Your sense of humour

If you have walking poles, it can be a good idea to bring them (although these may need to be juggled with map, compass, reading glasses…). Gaiters also help to keep your feet dry and protect your lower legs/trousers from spiky plants. A flask with hot drink can be worth its weight in gold!

Physicality:

The walking distance covered on this course tends to be no more than five miles per day, but this can be over very rough ‘off the beaten track’, hilly and sometimes boggy terrain, so a moderate level of fitness will be helpful, as would well worn-in walking boots.

Previous experience:

Walking experience over rough ground would be helpful. Some previous map reading experience would be an advantage but not essential.

Testimonials

“I can’t recommend Rock and Moor enough!
I can’t recommend Rock and Moor enough. It was a very well organised thought through trip as well as loads of fun too. The aim was to learn to navigate using a compass and OS map which was achieved and Mike, our instructor was able to deal with all the different learning styles of the group, have fun, impart some local knowledge and make sure it was an adventure too.”

“Dartmoor Beginners Navigating Weekend!
We did a two day beginners navigating course with Mike for a friend’s birthday on Dartmoor and it was brilliant! 6 of us, all complete beginners began the course barely knowing how to hold a compass and we left on the second day feeling confident taking bearings, map reading and full of inspiration to go out and do our own walks!

Mike was really patient, a great teacher and just a nice person to be around 🙂 He tailored the weekend to exactly what we wanted and helped us to avoid some bad weather by adding in an indoor rock climbing session! Would highly recommend.“

“New skills, beautiful nature, fun day out….
Spent a fantastic weekend with friends learning new skills in the beautiful surroundings of Dartmoor with a great and patient guide Mike. We were all new to map reading and this trip has increased my confidence to use a compass, inspiring me to get out into nature and test my new found skills at navigating….and to embrace all weather! On the most challenging weather conditions , though, Mike was able to accommodate us and take us indoor rock climbing for a few hours showing his ability to be flexible. This was great fun. I would recommend Rock and Moor to any group and all ages, a great team building day out and a great way to get young people out in nature and away from screens!”

“Fantastic orienteering experience
We had a fantastic experience with Mike from Rock & Moor. We spent 2 days learning to orienteer and Mike couldn’t have been more helpful. Most of our group were total beginners and he was endlessly patient and kind. We had bad weather in the morning on one of the days so he adjusted the plan around this and took the group climbing so that we felt we all got the most out of the two days. After the course I feel much more confident to navigate and it inspired all of us to put our new skills to the test in the future. Thank you Mike!”

“I highly recommend Mike at Rock and Moor. Mike taught a group of us how to navigate the Moors. We had such a great weekend and are now confident to navigate ourselves with a map and compass, a real achievement for me! Mike explains clearly and is very patient! Looking forward to the next adventure! 🙏 Thank you!”