A new direction

On the weekend of February 17-18 I did a Bronze National Navigation course at the visitors centre in the Brecon Beacons.

The scenery was simply stunning. I was gawping out the car window at purple mountains and wide sweeping valleys long before reaching the park.I was really excited to start classes, as I’m a keen walker but have a very poor sense of direction, and had always relied on other to do the map reading. Now I would finally be able to explore on my own steam.

The course didn't disappoint. I learned loads of useful skills, like reading a compass and how to correct myself and re-discover the route if I went wrong.

On the final day we had to do a sort of orienteering route, hitting exact points and recording markings to show we’d been these. I was slow, but I did it!

For those with £50 to spare, I can heartily recommend the course. Otherwise, just read 'How to Navigate' in Issue 2 of WILD- coming soon! NG