Events Calendar

Choose from a range of hiking trips, navigation courses and bushcraft courses.

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Over the coming months we will be running the following National Navigation Award Courses:

  • 28-29 October 2019 – Bronze NNA Course
  • 31 Oct – 1 November – Silver NNA Course
  • 7-8 November – Gold NNA Training Course
  • 2 December – NNA Tutor Award Course
  • 6-7 December – Bronze NNA Course
  • 27-28 January 2020 – BRonze NNA Course
  • 21 February – NNA Tutor Award Course
  • 24-25 February – Silver NNA Course
  • 9-10 March – Gold NNA Training Course
  • 3 October 2020 – Tutor Award Course

To book on to these courses click on the Booking form.

More detailed information on the courses is provided below and in the Aspen Outdoors Ltd NNA Brochure 2019-2020.

Bronze National Navigation Award – Mugdock Country Park, Near Glasgow. This course is run over two days and provides an introduction to navigation skills. The course is aimed at beginners and is for all ages. £75 per participant. The course will cover:

  • Identifying features and landforms in the landscape
  • Understanding and using maps with different scales and map symbols
  • Following linear features like paths and tracks using a map
  • Using a compass to set the map and find out where you are
  • Measuring distance and estimating time
  • Re-locating yourself if you don’t know where you are

Upon completing the course you’ll receive a formal qualification and certificate (SCQF level 4).

Silver National Navigation Award – Kilsyth Hills, North Lanarkshire. This course is run over two days and develops your skills so that can navigate in open country using compass bearings and natural landforms. The course is ideal for participants who are confident in using a map to follow paths and tracks in lowland countryside terrain and want to learn how to navigate off path.  Both days of the course are run in the Campsie hills to the north of Glasgow. £75 per participant. The course will cover:

  • Setting and following compass bearings across open ground
  • Using pacing to measure distance
  • Estimating the time needed for height gain
  • Using landforms like hills, ridges, spurs and valleys to navigate
  • Adopting appropriate strategies for navigating from one point to another, using techniques like aiming off and attack points.

Gold National Navigation Award Training – Callendar Crags, Callendar. The Gold NNA course comprises of two days of training followed by an assessment day. The course develops skills and techniques for off path navigation, dealing with complex contour features large and small. On completion of the course participants will be able to plan and confidently follow safe routes away from paths and tracks in any open countryside. Day 1 is run in the Callendar Crags hills and day two on Beinn Bhreac on Loch Lomondside. An date for assessment will be arranged with participants at the end of training. £100 per participant. The training course covers:

  • Utilising contours and fine detail as the prime method of navigation
  • Accurately following routes, judging distance using pacing and timing, using compass skills and maintianing continous map contact.
  • Re-location techniques like aspect of slope, transit lines, contour interpretation, back bearings and resection and navigation strategy.

Tutor Award Course – Palacerigg Country Park, Cumbernauld. The National Navigation Tutor Award prepares participants to teach National Navigation Award courses. The one day course introduces participants to a different teaching techniques and exercises as part of a structured and stepped approach to teaching navigation. The course provides guidance on how to structure and organise navigation courses. It also provides lots of information on useful navigation resources. Holding the NNA Tutor Award is a pre-requisate to running Bronze, Silver and Gold NNA Award courses. £60 per participant.
To book on to these courses click on the Booking form.

Introduction to Bushcraft Course
 9 November 2019, £85 per participant. Want to learn some bushcraft skills like friction fire, making natural shelters, foraging for food or making natural cordage?Bushcraft is about thriving in wild places and developing a set of skills and knowledge help you do that; using natural resources to sustain you, feed you and keep you warm. Bushcraft helps you develop a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the natural environment. The more you learn the more satisfying it becomes.Typically a one day bushcraft course will cover:

  • Friction fire
  • Identifying and collecting natural tinders
  • Using quartz and steel to start a fire
  • Making char cloth
  • Cooking on fires and making and using pot-hangers
  • Natural Cordage
  • Knife skills
  • Making natural shelters
  • Learning how to leave no trace

Our next course is on Saturday 9 November 2019 at Winston Lodge, Lanarkshire. £85 per person. Booking form.