When teaching navigation some of the biggest errors I see arise from people either walking too far or not far enough to their target. This blog describes non-GPS techniques, like pacing and timing. With practice these techniques can give you a high level of accuracy in gauging distance travelled. Here's are the bits of equipment …
Tag: hiking
Navigation Skills: Strategy
Navigation strategy is about devising an effective plan to find a target. Walking in a straight line to your target in one leg can be effective when the distances are small and or when the feature you are navigating to is large and obvious; e.g. a prominent loch. It is important to note, however, that …
Making Ice Cream on Meall a’Bhuiridh
Saturday was looking to be a pretty special day weatherwise with sunshine, cold temperatures, little wind and complete snow cover. Fantastic winter hillwalking conditions like that don't fall on a weekend all that often in Scotland so I was keen to get out and enjoy the hills. Me, Hua and Ainslie decided upon Glencoe and …
Winter Hillwalking on the Grey Corries
November and December are a quieter time of year for me, time for catching up with friends and some personal hillwalking adventures. I'd arranged to meet my friend Jon Foden (Nettle) on December the 4th for a day on the hill. He's a man of many talents: a paramedic, marine, ski-mountaineer, climber, mountain biker, fell …
Hiking in Crete
What does a mountain leader do for a holiday....? Go for a swim trek. It's the same principle as a trekking holiday except you swim - about 5km every day - exploring coastlines, taking in beautiful underwater scenery and encountering aquatic wildlife. With a guide and support boat my swimming holiday to the south coast …
Top tips for keeping dry on expedition
Keeping dry on a Duke of Edinburgh's Award Expedition is a skill learnt through good advice and experience. Once a young person has completed all levels of the Award (Bronze, Silver and Gold) they'll have done 18 days hiking and 12 nights camping. Not surprisingly, by that stage, they'll have some good tips to share …
Stone and Wool Pendant Necklace
I was up in Shetland last week guiding for About Argyll Walking Holidays and taking inspiration from all the beautiful shells, pebbles, driftwood and other natural materials you find whilst out hiking I decided to make a stone and wool pendant necklace. I am a bit of a magpie when it comes to pebbles and …
What’s a bothy and how do you spell it?
This blog has been written by Al McGowan. Al works for Aspen Outdoors Ltd as an outdoor instructor. He's a blogger, hill runner, geologist, Duke of Edinburgh's Award supervisor and Assessor and holder of the Hill and Moorland Award. Check out is website and blog on http://www.hillsofhame.com. A team of instructors from Aspen Outdoors Ltd …
Olight H1R and H2R Nova Headtorch Review
There are some really cool new headtorches on the market, chief among them are flashlights made by a company called Olight. Back in Spring 2018 I was fortunate to be sent two of their headtorches to try out: the Olight H1R and H2R Nova. With rechargable batteries, high levels of brightness and a delightful build …
OUTXE Powerbank Review
Having a powerbank handy to charge up electonic stuff whilst in the outdoors has, for me, become an essential bit of kit. When guiding clients in the mountains I use my iPhone6 for photographs, navigation apps and as an emergency telephone. Some of the apps I like to use are: Mapping software like Memory Map ; …
Aspen Outdoors Ltd 