Walking with Shepherds Walks

Map and Compass course - thoughts from a participant

Navigation – using a map and compass to find your way on a walk.  Does that fill you with trepidation?  If so, you should attend one of Shepherd Walks Map and Compass days in Rothbury.

If you want a fun day, whilst learning the basics of how to find your way around, with a chap (Russell Tait) who has a great sense of humour and certainly knows what’s what, then this is not for you!

Only kidding, it’s exactly what you want.  Starting at 10.00 a.m. with a brief introduction from the man himself, Jon Monks, we commenced a day that provided a good deal of understanding regarding maps and simple navigation techniques.

Russell started with the scales of typical OS (Ordnance Survey) maps, the symbols found on the maps and how to recognise certain features.  We went on to taking bearings, aiming off and other navigation methods.

This indoor part of the day took us to around 11.30 ish and then we went outside to practise taking bearings.  Pacing was next.  What is pacing?  A technique to allow you to measure distance is what it is.  As individuals we are all obviously different and our stride is dependant, in the main, on height.  Over a measured 100 metres you walk the distance counting how many strides (double) you take.  As an example, I’m 6ft and over 100 metres, I take 62 strides.

With this in the bank you can measure (with surprising accuracy) distances between two points or from where you are to a point on the map.  Sound complicated?  It’s not, do the course, its well worth it.

We returned to the hall for our lunch.

At 14.00 Russell had us outside again and this time we were heading out North (see, I now know what direction we went) to begin further exercises, putting into practise what we’d been taught.  The next 2 hours took us up onto the Carriageway above Rothbury where we did pacing, used bearings, had a wonderful walk, experienced beautiful views to the south and west, had some laughs and an excellent afternoon.  Oh yeah, one more thing.  Russell was able to find his Italian with the aid of one of our company.

That’s got you thinking.  An Italian?

Well, Russell related the tale of an Italian prisoner of war who spent part of the war in the Rothbury area.  During that time he carved his name onto a rock on one the many crags.  As we were walking along the carriageway heading back in the direction of Rothbury, Russell took off across the heather toward the crags.  He himself was not certain where the particular rock was, so there we were looking for a name carved on a rock.  Eventually a shout was heard and there it was.  Russell was ever so pleased and he took a GPS grid reference for future use.

So folks, that was about it.  We then headed back down (a steep down) to Rothbury and the Church Hall.  A brief chat and some map related documents handed out and that was that.

We all gave our thanks to Russell as it had been, without doubt, a great day.

If you want to learn basic navigation techniques from a chap who obviously knows what it’s about and who has a wonderful way of getting it across and has a sense of humour, this is for you.

Think I might try the advanced course next.

• To find out more about Map and Compass training courses in that are coming up please click here.

Map and Compass Training

Course Date - 15/11/08

The first thing that I noticed on meeting the eleven bright and breezy people who came along was there was an obvious shortage of men!

  Only two of us, I tried out my “Winnie and Geordie' story to test the water. It went down quite well and I knew then that we were in for a good day.  (For those of you lucky people who have never heard the tale, it is about growing old gracefully).  After introductions and a cup of coffee and  biscuits, we got down to the business of the day starting with theory, grid references, timing, confidence with a map and an introduction to the compass.   Then a short session outside around a quiet part of  Rothbury to practice  bearings and pacing which is the technique of measuring distances as you walk.  Lunch was taken in the Parish Hall at Rothbury with everyone eager to get onto the hill.

After some examples of good practice in the hills and personal safety the group headed for the gentle hills surrounding the village. It was a gorgeous Autumnal day with great views of the Cheviots as the group navigated it’s way around the many interesting features, hidden footpaths, woodland, Iron age hill forts, ancient boundaries and out onto the heather moorland where there was an opportunity to find crags and built historical military installations.

As the sun was setting, the return to Rothbury was led by the group and I had a chance to chat to individuals.  Most, but not all, in the party have had some past experience of navigating either from work or Duke of Edinburgh/ school activities and may have not had the chance to navigate on the hill for some years. It was very nice to see the confidence of the group growing over the course of the day. On our return to the Parish hall we shared experiences and consolidated our day with going over what we had achieved and an emphasis was on the need to practice new found or long forgotten skills.

There was a great buzz during the day and I found myself very impressed with the progress of the group.  As the result of the interest in a follow up day, that some may like to come along to, Jon and myself are looking to include extra events next year which will be open to those who have attended our map and compass training days.  The new event will be called “hidden in the hills” and will be a day of learning some new skills and consolidating existing knowledge. 

To view pictures from the course please click here.

• I you would like to attend our next Map and Compass course in April 09 please click here to find out more.

Map and Compass training day

Course Date - 10/10/07

I could not believe it when I woke up on Saturday morning. After a few days of superb winter sunshine it had to be raining on the day when our Map and Compass course was going to be taking place.

Thankfully by the time we were meeting up the weather had dried up a little, but it was a true November day, cold and dull. This course, as with all our other map and compass training courses, was going to be taking place in Rothbury. This is mighty handy for me and Russell, as we both live in Rothbury, so it’s a short commute to work.

We had a big group for the course and they soon grasped grid references and basic bearings in the classroom. Then it was out for a bit of basic map reading around Rothbury Village. It was cold when out and about, so the group welcomed the return to the classroom for lunch.

After lunch it was on with the walking gear and after a short while we were pacing our 100 metres, working out how many steps we take. This is the basis of measuring distances that we get from the map. When we incorporate this with direction that we get from the compass there should be no holding everybody back.

We climbed up to the Carriageway Drive; to the north of Rothbury on the open moorland to put everything we had learnt into practice.

The air was turning cold and dusk was not far away when we eventually turned for home, dropping down steeply back into Rothbury. A little late back, but it had been a fun day.

You can view more pictures from the Map and Compass training day by click here.