£70.00
Beginner/Refresher Navigation Training Days in the Yorkshire Dales (Settle or Leyburn) and Northumberland (Rothbury)
Venues Long Preston, Leyburn, Rothbury
A 1-day course for beginners who want to be able to use a map confidently in the outdoors, plan your own walks and follow paths and other linear features. You will also learn to use a compass.
The Beginners Navigation Course is suitable for a beginner who wants to learn the basic skills of map reading or anyone looking for a ‘refresher’ for map and compass skills that may have been forgotten in the mists of time.
Regardless of your experience the course is a chance to learn the skills in order to explore the countryside further with more confidence.
It is also for anyone wanting an enjoyable day out in some of the most beautiful (and unspoilt) corners of England.
We have Beginners (Refresher) Navigation Courses in 3 locations
All Weekend Dates unless stated.
22 March, 23 March, 26 April, 7 June, 6 July, 6 Sept
I have been holding courses for 15 years from this pretty, unspoilt village in the Yorkshire Dales. It is accessible via car or train.
2. Leyburn, Northern Dales
10 May, 26 July
Leyburn is a market town in Wensleydale. It is easily accessible from the A1.
3. Rothbury, Northumberland
7 May (Wed), 24th May, 21 June , 2 August
On the fringes of the Cheviot Hills with excellent road links from the north east and Edinburgh
Meet for a 9.45 start and the day finishes at roughly 4.30 to 5.
In the morning (a couple of hours) we will be indoors for a couple of hours understanding the basics of maps and compass’s. We will also look at how to Plan your own walk which explores a new and interesting area.
For the remainder of the day we will be outside practicing the skills learnt in the morning. The walk will be between 4 and 5 miles.
£70 per person
Merryn Lloyd (verified owner) – May 21, 2024
Excellent and enjoyable course. Jonathan has given me the confidence now to plan a route and be able to walk it accurately.
Sue Edwards – May 20, 2024
Our daughter bought us a voucher for this course for Christmas, following an incident on a very long and hilly walk last summer where we got disastrously lost. We found the training really interesting and useful during the classroom session in the morning, and learned so much in a relatively short time. The afternoon was spent putting our new knowledge and skills to the test on a group walk in lovely countryside on a beautiful day. We both thoroughly enjoyed the day with Jonathan and a great group of fellow students. By the way, I am married to Dave the legend (84), as mentioned in the other Dave’s review, and nowhere near as old as him, but am no spring chicken. I have just ordered our first OS map and a proper compass and we can’t wait to get started planning our own walks. Pacing – it’s the future! Jonathan is very knowledgeable, patient and a thoroughly nice bloke. Highly recommended!
Dave (verified owner) – May 19, 2024
So where do I Start. Im a GPS user after 2 years of not walking at all I got back out , got the gps and started doing my own routes. BUT what happens if the gps fails . . Of course I can read a map , well not as well as I thought. So I signed up for this course in Long Preston, why have i not done this before. A great day , lovely weather ( for once) and from the start was no pressure and a great relaxed atmosphere, . We had a a grest group of people on the day and Dave (84 years old ) was a legend. I think Jonathans relaxed helpful teaching method just works so well and is always on hand to keep you right. A great course cant recommend this enough . Im already booked onto the next course.
Harj – December 11, 2023
I did this course in September 2023. I found it useful and Johnathan to be knowledgeable and approachable.
Ange Morley (verified owner) – October 17, 2023
Completed my 1 day navigation course and finally after loads of different people trying to teach me how to take a bearing with a compass, Jonathan finally got it to click in my head. He passed on a wealth of knowledge and clear to see he is passionate about walking out lands. Classroom based morning then outdoors for practice in the afternoon. Facilities were great and he even let me bag the local trigpoint. I will be back for the hill skills course. Thank you Jonathan
Tony & Hilary (verified owner) – July 17, 2023
We went on the beginners navigation course last week and it is worth every penny. I feel as if I can (with a bit of practice) really begin to get so much more out of walking. The course is really well structured and in a small group. Jonathon is really good at explaining everything and making it interesting. I hadn’t begun to realise just how little I knew, even though I knew it wasn’t much. It’s absolutely fascinating as well as being immensely useful.
Gerard (verified owner) – April 3, 2023
What a fantastic day I had ,I learnt so much from Jonathan, he was so patient and knowledgeable. After the morning classroom session we put what we had learnt in to practice in the afternoon and it was so brilliant, I would recommend that anybody wanting to know how to read a map and plan a route go on this course.
Justine and John (verified owner) – October 18, 2022
My Husband and I completed the Beginners course on 15th October 2022. We learnt so much in just one day. We did some Theory in the morning , then spent the afternoon putting it into practice on a fantastic walk. Jonathon is great, he explains things so well and has a lot of patience ! We have gained so much confidence and can’t wait to try our new skills out. Highly recommend this course.
Vivienne Birch (verified owner) – August 17, 2022
I completed the beginners course last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought I could read a map reasonably well but found there was an awful lot I didn’t know. I particularly enjoyed the practical afternoon using the compass which took some time for me to do properly but Jonathan was very patient and approachable. I feel I now have a new useful skill which I will enjoy practising. Would throughly recommend the course
John Dickson (verified owner) – July 6, 2022
2 July with three companions I was introduced to the niceties of map reading and compass work by the very personable Jonathan. A good day : theory followed by on the ground practice. I learned a lot! Very enjoyable and thoroughly recommendable.
Mahmoona (verified owner) – May 9, 2022
Really useful course – been meaning to go on a navigation skills course for years and my only regret is I wish I’d done it sooner. I was worried I might not get the concepts but there is a good mix of theory and practical work with plenty of opportunities during the day to practise what you have learned and repetition of key elements such as taking bearings and gauging distance travelled. I feel confident enough to have a go at it by myself. The outdoor element is at a good pace too if you’re not too fit like me!
Susie (verified owner) – April 26, 2022
I wanted to gain more confidence in planning my own walks using a map and compass so the beginners navigation course was ideal for me. Jonathan is welcoming, friendly and a great teacher. I enjoyed learning new skills and had fun putting them into practise while making new friends, all in one day! The course is really good value for money and I highly recommend it. Thanks Jonathan.
Martin Hawer (verified owner) – April 25, 2022
Having a basic grasp of navigation using a map my wife, Denise and I thought it would be a good idea to better our knowledge as a team so decided to attend a navigation course together. We found Jonathan’s courses on the web, held in Long Preston which is only an hour away from home so decided to book the intermediate course. We’re so glad we did, Jonathan is a very good and patient teacher both in theory and out in the field, he tailors to your needs where he can and makes the whole experience very enjoyable, as the saying goes, “time flies when you’re enjoying yourselves” this was certainly the case, we wished it could go on longer because it was really informative and detailed. We had good fun and are looking forward to using our new skills out in the hills. If you’re looking for a good navigation course to attend then go to Jonathans, you won’t be disappointed.
Stephen (verified owner) – April 4, 2022
I went on the Beginners course on Sunday 3rd April 2022, a good informative and interesting day learning to use Maps then introducing the use of a Compass, Bearings and Pacing then being able to see where you are with view points around us then relating these on the map, a good day outwith a nice set of folk, I’ve always liked using Maps from driving PSVs/HGVs for nearly 18yrs, this has opened another view on using them, thankyou Johnathon for a good day.
Margaret (verified owner) – March 29, 2022
I’m so glad I took this course. Jonathan covered all aspects of finding your way and orientation and reading the map versus the landscape. He explained everything very clearly and really made sure we had grasped the idea and could repeat it while out walking. Very patient and reassuring. We got instructions vie email as follow up to the course. I have much more confidence I’ll be able to navigate myself and already ordered a compass. And the walk was lovely too. Looking forward to exploring the area more.
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