Bespoke Navigation Skills Training Courses in The Lake District. July 24th 2015.

Within a few days of Iain getting back from The Alps, he was back at work with Peter Brookes who wanted to learn how to use a map & compass properly in order that he could venture anywhere into the mountains in the UK.

Peter & his partner's family regularly make visits to the Lake District from Manchester as they own a static caravan in the area - an ideal base from which to explore all that the Lake District has to offer.

Peter's partner had, in fact bought Peter one of our gift vouchers to be redeemed on one of our Weekend Navigation Skills Training Courses, however as these are only run during the Spring & Autumn, Peter was unable to book on to one at the present time.

However, the other option was to use the voucher as part payment towards a bespoke Navigation Skills Training Course "one on one" with Iain which is what Peter chose to do.

We started off Peter's one day Navigation Skills Training Course by meeting him in Staveley and then heading off to nearby Green Quarter Fell.

First of all, Iain impressed upon Peter the importance of orientating the map and then we set off up Hall Lane looking for tick off features - measuring the distance between these features on the map and the pacing out that distance on the ground. Eventually we moved on to the importance of using grid references to pinpoint a location on the map and then we developed Peters skills to be able to find these features on the ground.

The latter part of the day was spent navigating from one grid reference to the next; and Peter was expected to be able to give Iain a bearing as well as the distance to the next grid reference en route. This he did well - despite the difficulty imposed on us by the Bracken seen in photo two which was nearing waist height in places! We finished off the day by discussing Naismith's Rule. Naismith reckoned that most people could walk at 3km per hour and that an addition of 1 minute per 10m contour crossed should be added to the time for distance walked. We reckon William Naismith was a bit slow as most people manage at least 5 kilometres per hour when walking in the hills!

Peter paid £160:00 for his bespoke Navigation Skills Training Day in The Lake District with Iain which might sound a lot - but consider the benefit of getting one on one tuition with an experienced Mountaineering Instructor. A lot of skills can be covered in a day! If you are looking for better value then book as bespoke Navigation Skills Training course - but bring more people along as our £160 per day fee applies to up to four persons; and then each additional person over & above that number pays only £40 each per day - bargain!

The other alternative is to book on to one of our Navigation Skills Training Weekends.

The next weekend course will be running during the weekend of September 26th & 27th and the cost is only £80 per person for the weekend course.

All of our navigation skills training courses are ideal for everyone - even those having the most basic understanding of map reading & navigation. They are also ideal for anyone wishing to update or refresh their map reading skills prior to attending a Mountain Walking Leader Training or Assessment Course or re-assessment.

Contact us to here book your Navigation Skills Training Course in The Lake District or call us on 07761 483364. We look forward to working with you.