NNAS SILVER NAVIGATOR AWARD 27TH & 28TH MARCH 2024I have delivered many NNAS Silver courses in the last 4 years - I find every one of them enjoyable but this one goes on the list of the most enjoyable courses. I always love teaching navigation and all the fun that goes with it. The weather, although challenging at times, made perfect conditions for this course and the 'Silver' learning environment. Feedback:
From the NNAS website: 'The Silver National Navigation Award develops the navigation skills acquired at the Bronze level. It adds skills required to navigate to features and places some distance from paths and tracks. It teaches accurate compass work. It will also teach you to select the suitable navigational techniques to cross open country.' Day 1 I chose a route that I particularly like for navigation and with the weather forecast looking very changeable, it wouldn’t be enjoyable to be on lowland in all the mud and wet ground that is about at the moment. We would reach just above 600m for a very short period of time and on a very interesting route. The route allows for a revision of PROW and access to open access land and also many features to relate ground to map and map to ground. The visibility wasn’t, great, sometimes poor, adding to the learning environment. The first session took place in the Brecon Beacons National Park tea rooms where we had informal introductions and covered appropriate parts of the syllabus for indoors. I am a great believer in learning outdoors and dynamically - wind, rain, hail can make this challenging for participants who maybe feel a little more apprehensive than others, so a balance is struck to optimise the learning experience. All participants were particularly competent in different areas of the syllabus and this made a very enjoyable, full on learning day. We rounded up the afternoon in the tea rooms where I introduced Alan Ward who would be assisting us with the day into night navigation session that evening. Night Navigation It’s didn’t rain, hail or snow - we did the whole 2hr session on a beautifully calm and quiet evening, quite a contrast from earlier. The participants all enjoyed the different experience of navigating in darkness (simulating low visibility). Day 2 An excellent area for putting into practice everything that has been learnt on Day 1. Participants worked confidently and accurately. Snow on the ground made the terrain slippery and added to the already challenging conditions - although we had breaks of sunshine it would be followed by low visibility. The rain developed into heavier showers as the day went on. All the participants did exceptionally well over the duration of the course. They remained calm and collected when the going got tough. Very well done and congratulations. It was immensely enjoyable for me, thank you all for training with Bryn Walking.
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NNAS Bronze navigator award 18th & 19th march 2024This NNAS course took part in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Both candidates enjoyed learning new skills, being inspired and feeling very much more confident about literally taking the map into their own hands. Feedback:
Day 1 Meeting at the Brecon Beacons National Park Visitors Centre, we had a coffee to start and informal introductions. The syllabus was looked at as a whole and their prior experience discussed. We talked about parts of the syllabus in more detail, for example planning, resources and weather. From the NNAS website: 'The Bronze National Navigation Award is a practical hands-on award. It is aimed at people with no navigation experience whether you are new to the outdoors or have been relying on others, guidebooks or easy well-defined routes.' It was sunny but with a chilling wind which meant we had to have plenty of layers. Both candidates took in so much information and worked together to work our way round the common, dynamically learning different aspects of interpreting the map and some simple compass skills. Day 2 Day 2 gives the candidates the opportunity to put into practice everything that they have learnt on day 1. The route is chosen as one which would be typical of an achievable walk for a Bronze Award holder. In a relaxed setting each candidate could demonstrate how to plan and how to reach an objective. Discussion was encouraged and enjoyed throughout the day regarding many subjects relating to the outdoors. Congratulations to both candidates who will now venture out to practise their new skills and a new sense of freedom.
A very enjoyable two days - thank you both! MOUNTAIN TRAINING HILL SKILLS 14TH AND 15TH MARCH 2024Day 1 We met in the Brecon Beacons Visitors Centre tea rooms for informal introductions and an overview of the Mountain Training Hill Skills syllabus. Planning, weather, equipment and health & nutrition, we covered in more depth. This course does not include assessment and is an introduction for the candidates of walking in the hills. From Mountain Training website: 'A Hill Skills course is your key to getting started in countryside and moorland walking. No previous hill walking experience is required because the content of the course is aimed at beginners. If you do have some experience of hill walking but aren’t confident about planning walks, navigating and understanding the equipment required, then a Hill Skills course is an ideal way to learn.' Bryn Walking provided transport to the start point. The area offers so much to see, discuss and learn and how to interpret the map; contour and crag features, a trig point, limestone plateaus and sink holes, old industry and Bronze Age occupation. The varying and limited visibility gave opportunity for demonstrating how useful and important map and compass skills are. Day 2 We headed straight on to the hill on an interesting route up Fan Fawr (734m). This area offers so much for discussion regarding tourism, erosion, land ownership and management, geology, topography and it contrasts very well with day 1. The candidates showed resilience in the weather conditions that weren't ideal and were conscientious, receptive and very good company through the course. Well done! Course Feedback
A 3-day training programme by Bryn Walking for Aberystwyth ramblers: Rec Basic first aid for the outdoors and the nnas silver navigator award - written by alan WardREC BASIC FIRST AID FOR THE OUTDOORSThe venue for this course was the Jubilee Hall Scout Hut in Newtown and Helen and I were there to set up well before the scheduled start time of 0930. The Scout Hut was particuarly spacious but somewhat difficult to keep warm throughout the course. There were 8 participants for the 6hr course and they were all Walk Leaders for Aberystwyth Ramblers. This course would be the first to utilise some of the new training equipment recently purchased by Helen for Menhinick Outdoors Limited. Course content:
The course ran smoothly throughout the day and ended with real life practical scenarios in the grounds of the Scout Hut - congratulations to the 8 participants who worked hard throughout the course and passed. REC First aid - course feedback1. Helen and Alan were excellent instructors, pitched at the correct level. 2. This was First Aid Course which covered a wide range of issues in depth and detail, The introduction and presentation with Visual Aids was very informative, and the practical hands-on experience with various pieces of equipment and aids which followed resulted in a well balanced informative course. 3. The course was helpful in that it was an excellent refresher as I have not been to a first aid course since before the covid pandemic. I particularly found the section on abdominal thrusts helpful with good aids. I did find the session rather long - seven hours in all as we arrived at 9.30 and did not leave until just after 4.30, I must admit my concentration and interest was starting to flag by then and as we also had to travel it was a long day. 4. Very enjoyable course which taught myself a lot on First Aid. The only problem was the venue being very cold. 5. The hall we used was not terribly well heated. If we had just been told to wear warm clothes for the day it would have been more comfortable. nnas silver navigator award - day 1Day 1 - The Silver National Navigation Award develops the navigation skills acquired at the Bronze level. It adds skills required to navigate to features and places some distance from paths and tracks. It teaches accurate compass work and will also teach how to select suitable navigational techniques to cross open country. The course started with a 2hr theory based session, at Bryn Heulog, to introduce the 4 participants to the content of the course and the timetable to be followed during the course. Helen used a PowerPoint presentation which was very effective and combined this with practical tuition of topics such as grid references, map scales and symbols and basic use of compasses. We left Bryn Heulog before midday for the twenty minute drive up to Llyn Mawr parking area near the bungalow at the 404m spot height. Once we were all ready we used the road section to go over pacing on the way to where the bridleway left the road opposite some barns. Following the bridleway, the concept of timing was introduced and the participants were then asked to work as a team to locate the intersection of a bridleway (not visible on the ground) with a field boundary at Craig y Llyn-mawr. Two were successful in this challenge but Helen called the other two back and discussed navigational processes. Continuing upwards to the stile, Helen introduced compass bearings which resulted us finding the Craig y Llyn-mawr trig point (485m) where the geology was quite interesting. Soon after we paused for lunch on the leeward side of Craig y Llyn-mawr where good all round views were enjoyed including of Cader Idris to the north west. After lunch the participants returned to the trig point and, as a team, worked towards an enclosure and then onto a row of quite prominent, but small, standing stones. Heading southwards to the bridleway at Craig Lithrig (slippery rock), we then followed it back to where the VW Transporter was parked and we returned to Bryn Heulog for a break of about 1.5hrs before meeting up again at 1800 for the "Day into Night Navigation" session. The "Day into Night Navigation" session took place on and west of the 489m spot height at Banc Gorddwr. The session was interesting and increased in intensity of challenging navigation throughout the session. Helen and I thought that the participants had enjoyed the experience and with their mixed abilities, some did better than others. nnas silver navigator award - day 2Day 2 - This started with a 1.5hr review session in the Bryn Heulog Conference Room and covering more theory on the syllabus. We left Bryn Heulog before midday in the VW Transporter for the twenty minute drive up to the Cider House Car Park (441m) near the Kerry Ridgeway. After disembarking Helen asked me to demonstrate the correct procedure to use a Group Shelter. This day would see individual "leaders" manage the group on point to point navigation sections on an 8km route which circumnavigated Cilfaesty Hill (528m). On these two day courses we try to provide the required training on Day 1 so that Day 2 follows on as the Assessment Day. We noted that the "leaders" "led" or managed their individual navigational sections in different ways while Helen and I made every effort to encourage them to use normal good practice skills which are, of course, nationally recognised. We stopped for lunch close to a Cross Dyke before continuing on, with the weather becoming milder but wetter and we arrived back at the VW Transporter by 1600. Driving back to Bryn Heulog we all enjoyed a cup of tea before some navigational challenge games to allow for individual debriefings before leaving for home with all four participants having passed the course. Feedback
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