Okay, so there wasn't really any purpose for these journeys. The Journey itself was the purpose, as well as brushing up on some navigation skills.
The Map and Compass has been my least practised skill since I got into the outdoors and Bushcraft so it was well over due to actively take a map and compass and see if we could walk on a bearing correctly or would I totally mess it all up.
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| In Hindsight moving away from my Bike may have been a good idea! However with an Ali Frame as apposed to a Steel Frame I was fortunate not to stray off course. I believe the effect on the compass would be worse on Steel. |
So with the help of Shane Gadd and Spirit Meets Adventure we set out on our bikes with map and compass in hand and just went wherever it seemed right. through the heart and the outskirts of Tilgate Forest, staying away from the usual trails so better to put in practice the trust for the compass.
I will add at this point that my Bike was kindly donated by Matt Hill and Cycle Recycle. Matt is a friend of myself and Shane's that as well as running Golden Glow Reiki, he's also doing an incredible job at getting people back on their bikes, getting outdoors, keeping fit and frankly doing everyone a favour alongside Shane by inspiring people to get out and making it possible for them to do so.
This was the first of two trips I have done with Shane with the Map and Compass, but this one was particularly special as I was able to get out on the bike and that added a different element to the navigation too.
The following week or so at scouts I touched on some of the elements used in map reading. My scout group have always struggled to understand maps so we stripped it back and in fact they were learning about them without even realising. A simple game of battle ships my way and now they fully understand 4 figure and 6 figure grid references.
The game started by having a blank Grid with 2 figure digits on the x and y axis... this was all they knew at this point. They were then asked to position battle ships within the squares on the grid.
The idea behind it was to start by giving your opponent a 4 figure grid ref, if a ship was in that square your opponent would have to tell you at that stage. From there you have to get a direct hit using next a 6 figure grid reference. A simple game that when the ''map'' element was removed the scouts had the chance to absorb the information. Now I can throw a map in front of them ask for a 6 figure grid reference to say, their house or where they are now and they can quickly check and fire the answer back at me with confidence. A good start to understanding the map and building confidence.
The next trip myself and Shane embarked on was to Ashdown Forest and on New Years Eve! A start to a fantastic new year I reckon!
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| About to settle down with some lunch and a GORGEOUS hot chocolate with a splash of spiced rum! |
We embarked with a map of the area and our compass' we followed the bearing almost exactly which at times took us through dense patches with nothing but a small animal trail to walk along.
This was good experience as I had learnt that our minds can be our enemy when trying to follow the compass. What you think is the right way can sometimes take you in totally the wrong direction which led me to doubt the compass (or at least my ability to use it), It's easy to see why people often get lost on day trips and hikes when they leave unprepared.
My thoughts on this were that the mind tends to follow a path laid out for you already, whereas the compass doesn't care if there is a brick wall in the way either way you have trust your own senses but remember to rely on the compass too.
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| Some of the denser patches we pushed through. evidently it seems that the those two bracken branches were broken already so perhaps I wasn't the first to move through this patch. |
While we were headed to Ashdown Forest I had to show Shane the Hut that was built there to represent what a Mesolithic building may have looked like.
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| Shane stood inspired in front of the Mesolithic hut |
Personally if I could have right then and there I would have loved to spend the night in that hut, You could feel the temperature difference just standing inside it. Incredible.
I intend to make a massive effort in documenting, for my own purpose and sharing all that I get up to as much as possible. So I will be following up on this small article soon.
If you want to get to grips with map and compass but don't know which is the north end of your compass needle... Have a look at these brilliant videos from Steve Backshall that lays it all out in a simple easy to understand format. Click here for the videos.
