Drills to Practice

Many navigation skills will degrade unless you practice them. To these skills sharp you have to practice them. Obviously hanging out in the hills is my job so I have plenty of opportunity to practice them (waiting for Duke of Edinburgh's Award groups is a good time) but you should be able to find time to do some of these drills when out alone or with friends

 

  • Practice pacing. As I say I have a bit of a strange method of pacing. If I have some time to spare I practice by pacing 100 m then going up and down checking that my other pacings are still accurate. Other than that if you haven't been out for a bit check your pacings early on by measuing from the map. You can also measure out 100m on the road near your house.
  • Practice timings. Exactly the same as your pacings. When you first go out in any group guess how fast you are walking and then check it on a bit of path that you have measured from the map. If you think you have changed your pace, check it again. 
  • Map memory. When out on a walk force yourself to put the map away as much as possible and walk on it from memory (or at least remembering your tick features)
  • Get lost and relocation. Put the map away and just walk, If you want you can even just follow someone else to completely randomise it.
  • Identify contours. If you are having lunch look around you for strangely shaped bits of hill and try and find them on the map.
  • Navigate to specific points. When on a route look for strange things on the map then try and navigate to them extremely accurately. For instance you may see a pot hole or a strangely shaped contour or a mine on the map. Go and seek it out.
  • Form strategies. Practice looking at the map and thinking about what your strategy would be if you had to get from point A to point B (this will vary depending on what visibility you decide to work to.
  • Imagine what it will look like round the corner. By looking at the map have a think about what it will look like round the next corner or over the next hill. What will you be able to see. Then see if you are right when you turn the corner.
  • Estimate distance. While you are standing around look at various things that you are pretty sure will be on the map then guess how far they are away. Turn to the map and measure it to see how close you were.
  • Try printing off a contour only map and take that out to practice with. The OpenCycleMap.org website can generate one for you. This link shows part of the lake district as a contour only map

 

If you have an idea of a drill to practice your navigation skills then comment below.

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