Blogs from Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe

For the first week we went to the Trassy Track in the Moune Mountains. We walked along the river and went to hare's gap. On this day out I learned quite a lot of things. The first thing that I learned was how to use a compass so we knew where we were going. We also learned how to read a map and take the bearings to find out where we were at that exact time and how far we were going to walk. For this we needed to know how to pace our steps. To do this we counted every two steps we took for every one hundred metres. We learned how to do a magnetic bearing. I didnt really improve on any skills because it was my first time going up the mountains with ... read more

This was our second time in the Mournes as a group. This time we started in 'Fofanny Dam' car park. And followed a path which took us over 'OTT Mountain'. We crossed a stile which sat between Carn Mountain and Slieve Loughshannagh. We then hiked to the top of Doan, and went for a swim in Lough Shannagh. The previous week in class we spent time improving our grid referencing, and we practiced this skill set. On top of Doan we improved our knowledge of the surrounding area by locating different points from the map, this gave us a better understanding of where we were. This week i developed the practice of keeping tabs on where everyone was, and whether or not people were falling behind the group, and telling the others to wait up. I ... read more

We traveled to the mournes on the thursday of week 1 where we were taught new skills e.g. How to take a magnetic bearing, pacing and how to map read well. For me, personally, It was a recap of skills I had already been previously taught. First off, we followed the "Trassy Track" and used our pacing skills to make sure we where walking the right distance to our first point. We then took a bearing from our first point to our second point and then used our pacing skills again. At our second point we went off the "Trassey Track" to find a sheepfold, using our skills in pacing, taking a bearing and reading a map. Once we all found the sheepfold we took a lunch break. After our lunch break we then travled to ... read more

We began at a car park just north to fofanny dam, walking to the top of doan mountain, then down to loughshannagh river where we stopped for a swin afterwards continuing to the car park. I learnt that the group should always be going as fast as the slowest person to keep the group together as a team and also to keep team morale up. i developed my teamwork moreso this week as the group received no help from the leaders taking a bearing and deciding on what tracks to do as a group. also as we were concentrating on staying with the rest of the team and not getting to far in front of the group perhaps splitting the group in two. the group took the bearing for a stile on the base of Carn ... read more

Week 1 was up the trassy track. While up there i learnt how to pace 100 meters which helps with getting place to place when you no distances, my 100meter pace is 68 double steps. when we got up on the the mountain I got showen how to take a bearing and follow it, this is helpfull when the weather is misty or there is low visiblity. I have found out that I am pretty good at taking bearings but really need to work on my confidence in a group. . ... read more