LATEST OUTDOOR GUIDES
Keep up to date with the latest guides, activities and resources from Survival Guides UK. Explore new articles covering outdoor skills, survival, Scout activities, camping, navigation, knots, fire safety and practical skills.
Our latest posts are designed to help Scouts, youth groups, leaders and anyone interested in outdoor learning develop practical knowledge and confidence. From new activity ideas and survival skills to useful how-to guides, check back regularly for the latest resources.
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge: Something Big Is Coming
Something big is coming to Survival Guides UK. Not another short list of outdoor activities. Not a course that finishes after a few lessons. And not a challenge that stops when you reach number 100. We are building something much bigger. The SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge is going to be a huge, ever-growing collection of…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 42: Cook by Stone Boiling
Cooking outdoors doesn’t always require a metal pot, a camping stove or a kettle over a fire. One traditional technique, known as stone boiling, uses heated stones to warm water in a separate container. It takes patience and careful preparation, but it’s a fascinating way to explore how people could heat water and prepare food…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 41: Make a Fire Blowpipe from a Hollow Stem
Getting a fire going isn’t always about adding more tinder or piling on extra kindling. Sometimes, a small amount of carefully directed air is all that’s needed to help an established bed of embers burn more strongly. A traditional fire blowpipe is a simple tube that lets you direct your breath towards a particular spot…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 40: Predict Where Water Will Pool After Rain
After a spell of heavy rain, some parts of the ground dry quickly while others remain muddy for days. You can often predict where the water will collect before the rain even starts, simply by looking at the shape of the land, the soil and the way the surrounding ground drains. This is a useful…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 39: Learn the Risks of Carbon Monoxide When Cooking in a Tent
Cooking outdoors is part of the enjoyment of camping, but using a stove in the wrong place can turn an ordinary meal into a life-threatening situation. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas produced when fuels such as gas, petrol, charcoal, wood and other carbon-based materials burn without enough oxygen. It has no colour, smell or…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 38: Build a Bough Bed
Sleeping on the ground outdoors can be uncomfortable, even when the weather is mild. Cold ground draws heat away from your body, while roots, stones and uneven surfaces can make it difficult to settle down. A traditional bough bed tackles some of these problems by creating a raised or thickly insulated sleeping platform from natural…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 37: Find Five Types of Animal Homes
A woodland floor, hedgerow or patch of grass can look quiet until you start noticing the signs of life around you. A hole beneath a tree root, a nest tucked into a hedge or a web stretched between two branches can tell you that an animal has been using that spot for shelter, raising young…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 36: Learn How to Read the Surface of Water
Water can look calm from the bank and still be moving with surprising force beneath the surface. A smooth patch might indicate deeper water, a line of bubbles may reveal the direction of a current, and a patch of swirling water can show where the flow of the water meets an obstacle. Learning to notice…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 35: Make and Follow Trail Markers
There’s a useful difference between walking a route someone else has marked and being able to mark a route for somebody to follow. The second takes a little more thought. You need to decide where a marker belongs, make its meaning clear and check that the next person can follow it without having to guess.…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 34: How to Take a Pulse
Knowing how to take a pulse is a useful skill to have outdoors. If someone feels unwell during a walk, struggles during a strenuous climb or needs a moment to recover after exertion, being able to measure a heart rate gives you another piece of information about how they’re doing. It’s also a straightforward way…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 33: Learn the Float to Live Technique
Falling into water unexpectedly can be frightening, even if you’re a strong swimmer. You might slip from a riverbank, fall off a paddleboard, get caught by a wave or enter the water while walking beside a reservoir. Your first instinct may be to thrash about or swim immediately towards the nearest bank, but cold water…
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