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These weekend navigation courses are graded to suit all comers from the complete novice to those looking to explore the upland hills and mountains with increased skill and confidence. Our courses are now aligned with the National Navigation Award Scheme* (NNAS) allowing students to gain recognition of personal performance in navigation skills. In line with the NNAS all courses cover knowledge of safety and access issues when walking in the countryside, as well as an understanding of environmental issues.
 Hill Skills 1 - Bronze Award Training and Assessment
Introductory Map Skills - Finding your way in the outdoors!
"Well what can I say, another superb weekend! I loved every minute! Alan was very knowledgeable and I now feel confident enough to go out map in hand. It was a buzz going up to Mam Tor in the gale even though we didn't quite make it to the top because of the gusts. It's heartening to know though that safety of clients is always top priority . . . Hopefully if I passed I can then move on and book the silver level in April . . . "
- Joanna C.
Course Aim :
This 10 hour course will equip the novice with the hill and navigational skills to safely navigate paths and tracks on UK hills in summer conditions.
Course content and assessment will include :
- Equipment for the outdoors
- Understand how to use map symbols and scales, on a variety of maps.
- Take a 6 figure grid reference for any given position and also locate such a reference on the map.
- Orientate the map with and without a compass.
- Use the orientated map to identify land features and indicate direction of travel.
- Choose simple navigation strategies and routes.
- Use linear features (e.g. paths and tracks) as handrails in simple navigation exercises.
- Estimate distance on both map and ground.
- Using a basic understanding of contours, match major landforms like hills and valleys to their map representation.
- Plan a safe, suitable walk.
- Relocate using simple techniques on paths and other handrails.
- Understand access rights and responsibilities.
- Demonstrate an awareness of local and national access issues and access legislation.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the Countryside Code, and of procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency.
Location: Peak District National Park
OS Maps: 1:50 000 Landranger Series Sheet 110, 1:25 000 Dark Peak Area OL 1
Price per person: £99
Course numbers: 2 – 6
Instructor/client ratio: 1:4
For provisional dates for this course see our calendar of events.
Please
note:
Dates may be subject to change. Alternative and/or additional dates
may also be arranged upon demand.
 Hill Skills 2 - Silver Award Training and Assessment
Map and Compass - Into the wilderness!
"... I am really pleased to have found your Hill skills course - it turned out to be exactly what I needed. HS1 made sense of the things I already knew, and made me use my Map Head - a way of looking that I'd not considered before. Alan made us consider the map and our surroundings in infuriating detail which was excellent training. He got us to look for things that no longer exist but that are still shown on the map, and twice gave us vivid demonstrations of how to misread the surrounding information. HS2 did all the exciting stuff. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be able to use a compass!! ..."
- Jenny K.
Course Aim :
Confident with the basics of map reading this course takes the student further: teaching essential compass work to allow the walker to explore ground away from footpaths and tracks. On completion of this award participants will be able to plan and follow walks in the countryside that venture beyond paths and tracks.
Course content and assessment will include :
- Consolidation of Bronze Award objectives.
- Breaking navigational stages into 'coarse' and 'fine' navigation using clear features en route.
- Navigational strategies: aiming off, attack points, collecting features.
- Understanding of contour features, both large and small, on the map and on the ground.
- Judging distance accurately on the map and on the ground.
- The planning of a safe walk or route involving walking on a bearing.
- Employ simple relocation strategies when lost.
- Use of a compass to follow accurate bearings and to check the direction of footpaths or other linear features on both map and ground.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the effects of fatigue and physical discomfort brought on by navigating in demanding countryside and/or extreme weather condition. Knowledge of basic first aid is also expected.
- Demonstrate knowledge and application of the Countryside Code and current access legislation as for the Bronze level together with an appreciation of basic environmental factors in mixing 'man with nature’
Location: Peak District National Park
OS Maps: 1:50 000 Landranger Series Sheet 110, 1:25 000 Dark Peak Area OL 1
Price per person: £110
Course numbers: 2 –4
Instructor/client ratio: 1:4
For provisional dates for this course see our calendar of events.
Please
note:
Dates may be subject to change. Alternative and/or additional dates
may also be arranged upon demand.
 Hill Skills 3 - Gold Award Training
To the mountains!
Course Aim :
This course involves two days of walking in the hills of Snowdonia including a night of wild camping and a short night navigation phase. On completion, participants will be able to plan and follow routes in any open countryside, forest, or hill environment, and in conditions of zero or poor visibility. This course is for those that wish to advance themselves that bit beyond hill walking and more into the realms of mountaineering below the snow line.
(Will4Adventure can only deliver Gold Award training - you will not be formally assessed by us at this level of awards).
Course content will include :
- Consolidation of Bronze and Silver Award skills.
- Close use of contours, to identify landforms (e.g. hilltops, valleys, spurs, re-entrants and knolls) and utilise them as the prime method of navigation.
- Use of ridges and valleys as reliable handrails and the size and relationship of contour features, (e.g. a series of knolls) and use them for micro navigation to specific locations.
- Use of distance judgement, compass skills and continuous contact (by frequent checking) in complicated areas.
- Planning a safe walk or route in open country in line with set criteria of duration, difficulty and objectives.
- Demonstration of the special physical and navigation demands posed by hill and moorland terrain, poor weather conditions, daylight hours and the effects of fatigue and discomfort on decision making and execution of a selected route. This includes awareness of the effects of heat and cold.
Location: District National Park (1st November to 1st April only) and Snowdonia
OS Maps: 1:50 000 Landranger Series Sheet 115, 1:25 000 Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa OL 17
Price per person: £125
Course numbers: 2 –4
Instructor/client ratio: 1:4
For provisional dates for this course see our calendar of events.
Note: Good hill fitness is required in order to walk with a full pack for two days.
Frequently Asked Questions
How good do I need to be?
You can start at the Bronze Level with no experience.
Can I start at the Silver or Gold level?
We would probably ask you about your previous experience and abilities to determine whether such a course would be appropriate for you, but yes this is possible.
If I sign up for the Gold course, can I borrow a tent from you?
Yes – we have mountain tents for this purpose – for your use free of charge.
Please
note: Dates may be subject to change. Alternative and/or additional dates
may also be arranged upon demand.
Email
will@will4adventure.com
for further details on any of these courses,
or . . .
 Register
your interest here.
Accommodation
While accommodation is not included in the price we will happily help you find something comfortable and to the liking of your budget - from campsites and barns to youth hostels and B&B’s.
All our weekends in the Dark Peak (Rock 1,2 &3, Hill Skills 1&2, and many free weekends) have us based in Castleton, the Hope Valley, which offers the following accommodation options.
Camping and Bunkhouse
(This is where I will be found)
Pindale Farm Outdoor Centre
Pindale Farm, Pindale Road, Hope,
Derbyshire, S33 6RN
Tel: 01433 620111
YHA
Castleton, Hope Valley,
Derbyshire S33 8WG
Tel: 0870 770 5758
castleton@yha.org.uk
B&B
Bargate Cottage
Market Place, Castleton, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S33 8WQ
Tel: 01433 620201
Causeway House
Back Street, Castleton, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S33 8WE
Tel: 01433 623291
Cryer House
Castle Street, Hope Valley, Castleton, Buxton, Derbyshire, S33 8WG
Tel: 01433 620244
Fax: 01433 620244
Four Seasons B&B
Spital House, How Lane, Hope Valley, Castleton, Derbyshire, S33 8WJ
Tel: 01433 620 655
Rambler's Rest
Mill Bridge, Castleton, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S33 8WR
Tel: 01433 620125
Willow Croft
Pindale Road, Hope Valley, Castleton, Buxton, Derbyshire, S33 8WU
Tel: 01433 620400
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn
How Lane, Castleton, Hope Valley,
S33 8WJ
Tel: 01433 620330
Castleton cottages and holiday accommodation guide including attractions in the Hope Valley.
Peak District Cottages More than 325 holiday cottages in the Peak District featured on Let's Stay Peak District - pet friendly cottages,
luxury cottages and more self catering holiday lets for the UK's first National Park.
Peak District accommodation Let's Stay Peak District brings you more than 600 places to stay in the UK's first National Park. Choose from
Peak District cottages, hotels, b&bs, campsites, pubs, holiday parks and more holiday or short break accommodation.
How to get there
With a view to helping the environment and keeping costs down you may be
willing to share space in your car, or maybe you need a lift: either
way, let us know and we'll see what can be done.
If you are making your own way, try plugging the above postcodes into www.streetmap.co.uk and you’ll be provided a great set of instructions.
Alternatively take the train to Hope (in the Hope Valley, Derbyshire) and from there you can walk to Castleton (2 miles), get a taxi or take the 272 bus.
Taxis will need to be pre-booked – try these numbers:
Mick Rowland - 0777 1762068
Sickleholme mini-cab hire - 01433 651173 / 0777 3763445
Note - you must make arrangements to find Castleton in Derbyshire – there is more than one Castleton in the UK !
* The National Navigation Award Scheme helps people get maximum pleasure in the outdoors through the development of skills for finding their way safely in the countryside. The NNAS provides a progression of learning through a network of qualified and enthusiastic course providers. National Navigation Award assessment gives recognition to personal performance in navigation skills and provides tangible evidence in the form of badges and certificates.
The National Navigation Award Scheme is supported and endorsed by Mountain Leader Training UK, the British Orienteering Federation, and Sports Leaders UK. It is a Special Interest Group of the Royal Institute of Navigation.
All instructors delivering these courses are members of the Mountain Leader Training Association.
Will4Adventure is a member of the Institute for Outdoor Learning.
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