Our Gold & Silver teams undertook a navigation exercise in the Brecon Beacons this half term. They were accompanied by two year 10 Bronze students making up the second day of their Practice Expedition.

The students covered just under 9km and 500m climb over 4 hours. Hopefully they improved their navigation skills, developed an awareness of the challenges of navigating in open CROW land and have improved their observational skills and map reading.

The students have planned their Practice Expedition in Exmoor for the first week of the summer holidays. They will now be planning their Assessed Expedition in the Black Mountains for the first weekend of September.

Todays experience will have given them some ideas about route planning in open CROW land. I am sure the two boys from the Bronze year 10 group have at least appreciated the need to use their compasses and they will be able to take a lead role with their teams in the Assessed Expedition.

The Gold & Silver teams learnt the importance of using compasses and taking bearings. They have also gained an understanding of the need to read maps and take into account contours when planning their routes.

They also know what a cuckoo sound like!