Wander Wild Scotland

We were treated to glorious sunshine on the first day of the Cairngorms Wild Camp adventure this weekend. A leisurely walk through the glens due to the heat saw us camp in the shadow of the mountains.

A lovely socialble, midge free evening of sharing stories and learning from each other gave way to a wonderfully clear sky at night treating us to amazing views of the Milky Way stretching out way above us.

The next morning the wind dropped and the midges were present. Everyone dealt with them admirably as we packed up and headed back towards Ryvoan Bothy for a break out of the drizzle before heading back through the forest to the cars.

A weekend of two halves weather wise but lots of fun had by all!

Love Her Wild
Harvey Maps

It's always a pleasure to run courses for the Love Her Wild local groups in Scotland, but Saturday was extra special.

Love Her Wild ran a nationwide navigation day. Across the whole of the UK, navigation courses were delivered to around 340 people at the same time.

I was running an Introduction to Navigation session in the Pentland Hills with a fab group who have all left with the confidence to plan their own routes and navigate their way around them.



Fieri Leadership & Development
OrdnanceSurvey Maps

DofE season has started again!

Always a pleasure to support Logos Strathearn Youth Project with expeditions. This group had a challenging Gold practice route in Perthshire with some challenging, cold, windy weather thrown into the mix.

Well done, team! Can't wait to see what you come up with for your qualifying expedition.

Pic 1. Lots of open navigation 🧭
Pic 2. Mr Toad supervising 100m pace count 🐸
Pic 3. Ticks are out and about already. 1:25000 map for scale. 😱

DofE Scotland

It was an absolute pleasure to run an Introduction to Wild Camping weekend with Eve Armstrong for a group of women from Love Her Wild.

We took 4 women into the Perthshire hills including someone who'd never camped before. There were lots of smiles, laughs and learning over the course of the weekend despite the drizzly, persistent rain at times. And a visit to a bothy on the way back to avoid the midges!

We covered

● Responsible access
● Planning a trip
● Kit and how to pack your rucksack
● Food/nutrition and cooking
● How to find a suitable wild camp site
● What a good and bad water sources looks like
● Wild toileting
● Emergency procedures

Harvey Maps

Well done to the Logos Gold DofE group for competing their expedition with some pretty challenging conditions in the Cairngorms.
High winds, unseasonably cold and some persistent rain at times, forced a reroute from their original plan to go over Braeriach to lower level options. They did get to see some of the best parts of the Cairngorms though with the Loch Avon basin being the highlight.

A damp and dreich day out in the Lawers range yesterday. This route was carefully chosen to avoid the worst of the high winds forecast and the bulk of Beinn Ghlas did indeed shelter us for most of the way. The wind really picked for the last 150m climb to the summit of Meall Corranaich (1069m). We didn't hang about on the summit and the group really had to use their imaginations for the summit views!

Hopefully my kit will be dry enough for delivering tomorrow's DofE training session!

Outdoor Adventure Scotland

Saturday's Introduction to Navigation course took place in Menstrie Glen in glorious weather.

Lots of positive, linear features to use to giving confidence to beginners to navigation and a lot of history to share stories about.

Lovely to have a visit from a small tortoiseshell butterfly at lunctime as well. It's feeling a lot like spring!

*Topics covered*

🧭 Map types & scales
🧭 Setting the map
🧭 Measuring distances on the map and the ground
🧭 Timing & pacing to get to a target
🧭 Grid references
🧭 Basic compass use
🧭 Emergency procedures in the hills

If Carlsberg made wild camping trips...they'd still not be as good as this one!

There's no better feeling than waking up in your tent and opening the door to a view like this after navigating to a remote, wild camp site in 10 metre visibility the previous day. Make your coffee, sit in your sleeping bag and enjoy the view 🏔☕⛺

We ran our first Introduction to Navigation course of the year on Saturday in the Lowther Hills with a group of enthusiastic women. Lots of great questions and great chat.

This course is designed to cover the fundamentals of navigation and get familiar with maps

*Topics covered*

🧭 Map types & scales
🧭 Setting the map
🧭 Measuring distances on the map
🧭 Timing & pacing to get to a target
🧭 Grid references
🧭 Basic compass use
🧭 Emergency procedures in the hills

Picture 2 & 3 credit - Ally Hughes

Any Hour, Any Day, Any Weather - Scottish Mountain Rescue Scottish Mountain Rescue represents 25 volunteer Mountain Rescue Teams (including two Search and Rescue Dog Associations (SARDA), Scottish Cave Rescue Organisation and the Search And Rescue Aerial Association – Scotland (SARAA – Scotland) with over 850 volunteers.

Introduction to Navigation course for six women from the Central Scotland Love Her Wild group in some "atmospheric" conditions in the Ochil Hills today. Great for practicing timing, pacing and compass bearings to get to target points.

Thank you all for being such enthusiastic learners!

Love Her Wild
Harvey Maps

Preparations well underway for this weekend's Introduction to Navigation course for a group from the Love Her Wild Central Scotland regional group.
with Harvey Maps