1 Day
Advanced
Dartmoor, Devon
Ratio: Up to 6 clients to 1 instructor:
1:1 £200
1:2 £110
1:4 £60
1:6 £45
About the course:
Do you want to be put through your paces and learn some extra skills as you go such as nature’s navigational aids, search techniques and fast efficient micro navigation?
Whilst in bad weather and/or at night it’s particularly important to be precise with navigational skills. With good practice comes confidence in your compass and a methodical fluency which can be crucially important in poor visibility or when needing to get back to base quickly. Only then do you start to feel at one with the land around you. Once mastered, this level of ability can give you an extra measure of safety and confidence should you go out on an adventure and get caught in bad weather (Caveat: With suitable equipment and company of course!)
Objectives:
- Map orientation, setting map features to the land around you
- Finding north without a compass, nature signs
- Measuring distance, pacing and timing over different terrains
- Taking and walking on a bearing, back bearings, triangulation, resection, boxing around a feature
- Contour interpretation
- Micro navigation in preparation for night navigation practice (optional)
- Strategy
- Relocation
- Hand railing
- Attack points
- Aiming off
Catching features - Search techniques, line search, spiral search.
- Using a GPS, mobile navigation apps
- Standard hill kit and emergency procedures
- Hypothermia
- Access and environment
- Weather forecast interpretation and being prepared
- Further map reading and route planning
- Direction, Distance, Description, Duration, Dangers
Included:
- Highly experienced and qualified instructor
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:
This course is best suited to those who can already navigate to a six-figure grid reference with confidence in the daytime (that’s to find an object within a 100 square metres of accuracy). Walking experience over rough ground would be helpful.