Hill Skills course - Day 2 on the Quantock Hills

Back out with the six volunteer rangers from the Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills AONB services today delivering day 2 of their 'Hill Skills' course for Wet and High Adventures. 

We headed to the Quantock Hills today for a full day practical session which started and finished from Triscombe on the western side of the hills.

Todays route covered 18km taking in Wills Neck (highest point on the Quantocks), the managed forests of Cockercombe and Ramscombe and the northern commons around Black Hill.

The weather continued with blue skies and great visibility but once again struggled to get above freezing. This gave us the opportunity to look at appropriate clothing and the benefits of layering, especially during the 'movement on steep ground' part of the day.

Over the course of the day we covered the rest of the hill skills syllabus and continued to work on the basic navigation techniques. 

The day finished with well earned refreshments in the Blue Ball pub in Triscombe.  

Hill Skills course- Day 1 on the Mendip Hills

Today I was working for Wet and High Adventures delivering Day 1 of the Mountain Training 'Hill Skills' course. The candidates are six volunteer rangers from the Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills AONB services who are training to lead walks as part of their role.

We chose to deliver day 1 on the Mendip Hills using Charterhouse Outdoor Centre as our base. The day was broken down into a six hour practical session on the hill followed by 2.5 hours in the classroom covering all of the theory.

The practical session covered basic navigation skills, affects of weather in the hills, the hill and moorland environment and walking pace management. This was delivered while taking in a 16km route over Black Down, around Rowberrow Warren and through Velvet Bottom. 

The classroom session consisted of; a weather lecture, appropriate clothing, footwear and equipment for hill walkers and the use of guidebooks and the internet for researching good days out on the hill.

Although the temperature struggled to get above freezing we were blessed with a beautiful blue sky day with views as far as the Gower and the snow capped Brecon Beacons. 

Hills Skills - Day 2

Today I was back out on Dartmoor delivering the second day of the Mountain Training Hills Skills course for the FdSc public services students from Bridgwater College.

It was another stunning day on the moor with a few light rain flurries early on followed by sunny skies.

We covered the rest of the hills skills syllabus looking at navigation strategies, problem solving, independent leadership and relocation techniques. This was all covered while walking the route the students planned in the theory session. 

Our route took us on a loop from Whiteworks OEC via crock 'o'gold, nuns cross and fox tor mires.

Hill Skills Day 1 on Dartmoor

It was a stunning day on Dartmoor to be delivering the first day of a Mountain Training Hill Skills course for the FdSc students from Bridgwater College. I took 8 students and Gwilym the other 8 around the Cramber Tor area to work on various parts of the syllabus. 

During the day we covered:

Collecting and Catching Features

Hand-railing

Contour recognition

Aiming Off

Grid and Magnetic Bearings

Pacing and Timing

Measuring Distance

Equipment 

Moorland Environment

The day started overcast but quickly cleared to a blue sky day, great for teaching map to ground navigation but not ideal for teaching bearings. 

More Navigation Training on the Quantock Hills

 

 

 

 

 

Back out in the beautiful Quantock Hills AONB today with the other half of the Level 3 Outdoor Adventure students from Bridgwater College.

 

No snow on the ground this week but the morning did start with heavy fog and a very chilly northerly wind. The route took in open moorland, wooded valleys and managed forest over the 12km distance.

 

We spent the day going through some basic navigation techniques: Collecting and Catching Features, relating map to ground, contour lines, timing, pacing and grid bearings. As a group we also discussed the environmental impact of outdoor activities on the area and looked at some of the flora including Lichen such as Devil's Matchsticks and Pixie Cups. 

A really good day with the students being challenged both individually and in pairs. We even found time to shelter from the wind in the natural undulating terrain.

First Time Scrambling for Louise

With a few rare days off together Lou and I decided to jump in the van and head up to North Wales for a couple of days hill walking.

Lou has done plenty of walking in the moors and mountains but never tried her hand at easy grade scrambling so we headed over to Tryfan and the Glyders today.

We started with an ascent of Tryfan's North Ridge, A nice grade 1 scramble with multiple options to make it harder if you wish. After summiting Tryfan we dropped down to Bwlch Tryfan before taking on Bristly Ridge (Grade 1) on Glyder Fach. After reaching the top of Glyder Fach we headed over to Castell Y Gwynt and descended via Y Gribin.

A really good day out in the mountains with intermittent weather. 

Haberdashers Aske's Boys School - Gold D of E assessment

For the last 4 days Robin and I have been on Dartmoor assessing the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award for 39 boys from Haberdashers Aske's Boys school. They were in 6 teams and started their expedition  from Ivybridge Train Station and walked to Yeoford Train Station over 4 days and three nights in Dartmoor National Park.

They chose a mixture of wild camp sites and commercial campsites when planning their routes around their aims.

Robin and I debriefed the groups around a campfire before they departed Yeoford station. All 39 boys were sucesssful in completing their expedition and just need to present their aim to finish off the expedition section. I am looking forward to working with the other 30 boys from the school on their expedition in October. 

Expedition Preparation with Level 2 Outdoor Adventure students from Bridgwater College

I've been working with my Level 2 Outdoor Adventure students today from Bridgwater College looking at the final preparations for their Expedition next week.

The session started with the students familiarising themselves with the 4 different types of tents owned by the college. the students worked in pairs to put up each type of tent.

After break they were challenged in their pairs to produce a three course meal utilising a camping stove (Trangia with Gas burner) for at least one of the courses. We then conducted a master-chef style assessment of the meals produced and discussed the pros and cons of each meal and whether it was realistic to carry on expedition.

The students did really well and i'm sure they will enjoy their assessed expedition next week.

A beautiful day on Pen y Fan!

What a cracking day!

The day started by meeting the Bridgwater College, Public Services Foundation Degree students at the Cannington Centre at 07.30 for the 2 hour drive to South Wales.

Our route up Pen y fan started from the Taf Fechan car park where we headed up to the dam of the Neuadd Reservoir before heading west up on to Criag Fan Ddu. The route took the shape of a horseshoe taking in the summits of Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn. Due to a late arrival at our start point caused by traffic issues we didn't quite have time to summit Fan y Big.

All the students performed really well in the final part of their hill walking assessment as part of their land based outdoor activities module. The aim of today being a mountain experience to finish the assessment, consolidating the skills they learned on Dartmoor with Gwilym and looking at their hill fitness and steep ground skills.

It has been an absolutely stunning blue sky day with a light breeze to keep us cool.

Supervising Bronze D of E for Somerset Adventures

This weekend I have been working for Somerset Adventures helping to supervise a bronze D of E practise Expedition for the Kings of Wessex school in Cheddar. We had 19 groups in total to manage.

Due to the lack of qualified mini-bus drivers within the staff I spent most of the weekend checkpointing groups, co-ordinating the other staff in my team and ferrying staff between checkpoints. This is the reason for the lack of photos in this post, Sorry!

It was a full on weekend with so many students out and about but all went smoothly due to the great organisation of Robin from Somerset Adventures. I'm looking forward to supervising their assessed expedition in a couple of weeks time.