Exercise Anywhere Academy offers bespoke navigation courses for instructors, walk leaders and Nordic Walking UK members.

Navigation Essentials for Hikers Online Masterclass

This 90-minute masterclass is delivered by Sean Bolland, a mountain-marathon winner and experienced Navigation Coach, and is a great starting point for anyone who feels they have little or no navigation skills. It will also greatly assist those who feel they have reasonable nav skills but want a refresher and to improve. Everyone will be surprised at how much knowledge they may already have!

Much of the session provides useful practical advice and tips. One of the primary aims is to improve your skill set. Often people repeat the same mistakes over and over which convinces them they are not very good. Sean wants to get past this!

While navigation courses are usually done face-to-face, Sean has developed a session full of practical tips and tricks. and is proud of the positive feedback his unique skills session is getting:

“I participated in the online navigation course led by Sean Bolland. I found the course very helpful. It’s very much aimed at beginners, and starts from absolute basics. Sean’s explanations were very clear, and he used screen-sharing very effectively to give examples with maps. I came away feeling I’d learned some new skills and also refreshed some points I was rusty on. Definitely would recommend this for anyone with no/limited experience of navigation. I hope to do the outdoor practical course at some point in the future.” Alan

At the end of the session, Sean will suggest ways for you to put things into practice and how to take your skills to the next level.

If you have the following items available, bring them to the session. If you don’t have them, don’t worry and don’t rush out to buy anything:

• Compass, any model or type. If you have more than one type, bring them all.
• Any map. OS or Harveys, 1:25000, 1:50000, 1:40000. If you have one of each scale, bring them all.

DATE OF NEXT COURSE(S)

TBC

COST

£20

Using Digital Devices for Navigation Workshop

Hikers are increasingly using digital devices for route planning, route sharing, map reading and much more. Originally we just had GPS units but now we have a plethora of devices – smart phone apps, smart watches, tablets as well as ‘sync-ability’ with our desktop computer.

This 1 hour Workshop explores how to get the best out of the digital world when it comes to mapping and navigation. It will help work out the best solution for you. Eg for some using Viewranger with a paper map back up works well. For others a smart watch with paper map back up is good.

Bear in mind that this is a big subject area, there is only so much we can cover in 1 hour. It wont be a complete ‘instruction manual’ on your own preferred device or app. But it will help you determine the set up that works best for you.

The Seminar will be presented by experienced Navigation Tutor Sean Bolland of Adventure Trails.

DATE OF NEXT COURSE(S)

TBC

COST

£10

NNAS (National Navigation Award Scheme) Bronze Award  

A professionally designed and delivered course by WALX Helvellyn Ullswater on behalf of the NNAS (National Navigation award Scheme.  Over the 2 days you will delve into Navigation like you never have before, pouring over maps, unlocking the code, planning routes and getting some proper ‘practical’ training in. If you demonstrate the correct understanding after 2 days intensive training and assessment, then you will walk away with a NNAS Bronze Certificate and will be able to use this to either gain your Silver Award or put it towards a Mountain Leader Training course. 

Level and entry requirements

This is an entry-level course into navigation for personal development and will give you a NNAS (National Navigation Award Scheme) Bronze Navigator Award. Note: to qualify for the Bronze Navigator Award you are required to demonstrate a good understanding and application of the skills learned on the course. This is built into the training so you won’t feel as if you are being examined.

No qualifications are needed in order to participate on this 2-day course.

What do I need?

• Compass 
• Map TBC 
• Full waterproof cover (Jacket and Pants), these must be taped seams, please call to discuss if you’re not sure 
• Clothing suitable for the countryside & time of year – We will not be moving quickly, so please account for that in your clothing selection. – remember it is a 2-day course, so you will need clothing for 2 days 1 spare warm top, not cotton please. Wool or synthetic will be fine
• Spare clothing for day 2, should your day 1 clothing get wet 
• Suitable footwear for wet ground, preferably off road/walking/running shoes 
• Hat & Gloves x 2
• Headtorch 
• Lunch, day-food & a water flask 

We will supply:

• Notes to be emailed to you each evening after day 1 and day 2, as there is always a lot to absorb 
• NNAS Bronze Navigator Award certificate, upon demonstration of understanding and application of skills learned.