B
BenR
Guest
I spent a very enjoyable Saturday walking in the Peak District. Everyone else seemed to have stayed at home so I had the whole of Bleaklow to myself.
As I was working my way round (and doing a little map and compass work) it occurred to me that a great many threads on Bushcraft UK seem to involve stuff like lighting fires by rubbing a coke can with chocolate yet there is very little on such fundamental skills as finding your way around.
To me, navigation is as essential a bushcraft/survival skill as any other. How can you hope to find your way around in the great outdoors if you can't use a map and compass? Why go through all the business of building a shelter, starting a fire, finding water and trapping food when you can simply navigate your way out of a survival situation?
Why do such skills never get talked about? Is it simply that route finding in poor visibility is not as sexy as fire lighting by friction?
As I was working my way round (and doing a little map and compass work) it occurred to me that a great many threads on Bushcraft UK seem to involve stuff like lighting fires by rubbing a coke can with chocolate yet there is very little on such fundamental skills as finding your way around.
To me, navigation is as essential a bushcraft/survival skill as any other. How can you hope to find your way around in the great outdoors if you can't use a map and compass? Why go through all the business of building a shelter, starting a fire, finding water and trapping food when you can simply navigate your way out of a survival situation?
Why do such skills never get talked about? Is it simply that route finding in poor visibility is not as sexy as fire lighting by friction?