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.
-
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…
-
How to Use Handrails and Catching Features
When you’re navigating outdoors, you don’t always need to follow an exact bearing from one point to another. Sometimes it is easier and safer to use features that are already in the landscape to guide you. Two particularly useful navigation techniques are handrails and catching features. They are simple ideas, but they can make navigation…
-
How to Avoid Poisonous Plants and Fungi
There is a big difference between recognising a plant or fungus and knowing that it is safe to eat. When you’re learning to forage, the safest habit you can develop is being comfortable leaving something alone when you cannot identify it with certainty. Some poisonous species are surprisingly common, and some can look very similar…
-
How to Forage Common Safe Plants
Foraging can be a great way to learn more about the plants around you, but the most important skill is not knowing how many wild foods you can eat. It is knowing when you have identified something confidently enough to eat it — and when you haven’t. There are edible plants growing in many familiar…
-
How to Ration Water and Food Outdoors
When you’re outdoors for longer than expected, one of the most useful skills you can have is knowing how to manage the food and water you’ve already got. Running out is rarely caused by one big mistake. More often, supplies gradually disappear because you’re drinking whenever you feel like it, eating larger portions than planned…
-
How to Use Water Purification Tablets
Water purification tablets are a useful way of treating water when you’re camping, hiking or travelling somewhere that you cannot rely on the water supply. They are small, lightweight and easy to carry, which makes them particularly useful as a backup to a filter or as part of an emergency water-treatment kit. The important thing…
-
How to Use a Water Filter
A water filter can make collecting water outdoors much easier, particularly on longer walks, camping trips and adventures where carrying all the water you need isn’t practical. Rather than carrying several litres from the start, you can collect water from a suitable source and filter it as you need it. However, using a filter isn’t…
-
How to Carry a Fire-Lighting Kit
A fire-lighting kit doesn’t need to be complicated and it doesn’t need to have too much equipment. In fact, one of the best kits is small enough to keep in a pocket or a corner of your rucksack and contains a few different ways of getting a fire started rather than relying on one single…
-
How to Light a Fire in the Rain
Lighting a fire in the rain is less about having a special firelighting trick and more about preparation. If you simply collect a pile of wet wood, strike a match and hope for the best, you’re likely to end up cold, frustrated and surrounded by smoke. The secret is to find the driest material you…
-
How to Light a Fire With a Firesteel
Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of our links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. A firesteel is one of the most useful fire-lighting tools to learn because it can produce a hot shower of sparks even when matches and lighters aren’t practical.…
-
How to Build a Snow Shelter
Snow can look like one of the least useful materials for building a shelter, but when it is deep enough and properly packed, it can provide surprisingly good insulation. A well-built snow shelter can block wind and trap warmth far more effectively than you might expect for something so cold. There are several types of…
Explore Survival Guides UK
Looking for something specific? Explore our activity plans for practical outdoor sessions, take on our survival challenges, or browse our badges to discover new skills and achievements to work towards.
Whether you’re looking for Scout activities, survival skills, camping ideas, navigation resources or practical outdoor learning, explore the rest of Survival Guides UK to find your next challenge.