Walking & Orienteering: How to cross hills, back country and rough terrain in safety and confidence: a professional manual for hikers, paddlers, horse trekkers and extreme cyclists - Softcover

Drake, Peter G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1844767590 ISBN 13: 9781844767595

Publisher: Southwater, 2010

Synopsis

This practical handbook provides a handy reference for anyone wishing to explore the back country. Whether you are preparing for a day's walking or mountain biking, a camping weekend, a trek on horseback, a hike through the jungle, or a kayaking tour lasting several weeks, this highly illustrated guide will show you all you need to know. With the emphasis on teaching the fundamentals of hiking and travelling with transport and animals, and of orienteering your way along the route, it makes essential reading before setting off.

The first section of the book deals with planning an adventure in remote territory. Budgets, insurance, medical preparations and personal and mental fitness need to be addressed, and potential hazards must be thought through in advance.

The second section explains the practical skills needed to use a map and compass accurately and with confidence, and shows how to orientate yourself in the wilderness using the sun, moon and stars, as well as how to interpret weather patterns and the natural signposts in the landscape around you as further aids to navigation.

The final section looks at different ways to explore the great outdoors - walking, cycling, kayaking and canoeing, and animal, vehicle and public transport and provides easy-to-follow advice on the equipment and skills needed for problem-free exploration.

Packed with hundreds of helpful hints and illustrated with over 200 colour photographs, including step-by-step sequences for key techniques, such as setting a bearing using a map and compass, or simply repairing a punctured bike-tyre, this book is essential reading for anyone planning a trip in the wilderness.

The essential guide to challenging and adventurous trips in all kinds of terrain for the intrepid explorer and competition walker

Explores many types of back-country travel, including walking, cycling, touring in a kayak or canoe, horseback trekking, travelling with pack animals, with vehicles and on public transport

Gives easy-to-follow advice on practical navigation skills: how to use a map and compass correctly; orientation using the sun, moon and stars; and understanding natural navigational signs in the landscape

Explains how to read weather patterns and interpret cloud formations to ensure your safety in remote and exposed places

Illustrated with over 200 full-colour photographs, including simple-to-grasp step-by-step instructions for key skills and techniques

About this title

About the Author

Peter G. Drake has led or been a member of 36 expeditions, visiting 55 countries in five continents. He has driven overland from the UK to Nepal to climb in the Himalayas, has twice crossed the Sahara to the River Niger, and has followed the Nile route south to East Africa. He has also climbed and walked in the Arctic, Australia and the United States. He has led a Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition to North Africa; the British Schools Expedition to Kenya; Brathay Exploration Group Expeditions to Botswana, Australia, Kenya and South Africa; and the Yorkshire Schools Expeditions to Kenya, South Africa and Australia. He has been a member of the British Mountaineering Council Training Committee, Chairman of the Expedition Advisory Centre at the Royal Geographical Society, and Chairman of the Expedition and Training Committee of the Young Explorers' Trust.

Edition details

• Publisher: Southwater
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1844767590
• ISBN 13: 9781844767595
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96