Learn essential survival skills including shelter building, fire lighting, navigation, first aid, outdoor safety and practical skills to survive in the wilderness.
Good navigation is not simply about reaching your destination. It is about knowing where you are throughout the journey. A navigation checkpoint is a planned point on a route where you stop or pause to confirm your position, check your progress and prepare for the next section. Checkpoints are particularly useful on longer or more…
Being able to take a bearing is one skill. Being able to navigate an entire route is another. A successful route requires more than knowing which direction to walk. You need to understand the terrain, identify useful navigation features, decide where to check your position and have a plan for what to do if something…
A map tells you where you are and where you want to go. A compass helps you keep moving in the right direction. Using the two together is one of the most useful navigation skills you can develop. A compass on its own cannot tell you exactly where you are. A map on its own…
Knowing what a bearing is and knowing how to take one are important navigation skills. The next step is being able to use bearings successfully while travelling. Following a bearing across open ground sounds simple: set the compass, point in the right direction and walk. In practice, things such as uneven ground, obstacles, poor visibility,…
Washing clothes is not usually the first thing people think about when planning a camping trip. But on a longer camp, expedition or family trip, clothes can quickly become muddy, sweaty or wet. The good news is that you do not need a washing machine to deal with basic camping laundry. With a small amount…
Keeping food cold while camping can be surprisingly difficult. At home, you can simply put everything in the fridge. At camp, you may have a cool box, ice packs, frozen food and a warm day to deal with. The key is to start with cold food, keep it insulated and avoid letting warm air into…
A grid reference is a simple way of describing a precise location on a map. Once you understand the basic system, you can use grid references to find features, mark locations, give directions and communicate where you are if you need help. For walkers, Scouts and anyone learning map reading, the most important rule to…
Contour lines can look confusing when you first open a walking map. There may be dozens of thin lines running across the page, sometimes packed closely together and sometimes spread far apart. But contour lines are actually giving you one of the most useful pieces of information on the entire map: They show you the…
Knowing how long a walk will take is an important part of route planning. It affects what time you start, how much food and water you carry, whether you will finish before dark and whether the route is suitable for everyone in your group. The simplest calculation is: Walking time = distance ÷ walking speed…
A short hike does not require a huge backpack full of specialist equipment. But “short” does not necessarily mean “risk-free”. A two-hour walk can still involve rain, cold weather, muddy ground, navigation problems, a twisted ankle or simply taking longer than expected. The right things to take on a short hike depend on the length,…
