Navigation training walk with a client who is preparing for some multi-day ultra running events and wants to improve their navigation skills. Today’s session was mainly getting to grips with relief mastering contour features and recapping from previous sessions.

The walk began from the village of Pegsdon; the whole area is interesting in respect to its history, geology and wildlife. We were soon leaving the village and approaching the first set of hills and marvelling at the large dry valleys which cut deep into the slopes, a result of water running over tundra during the ice age. Once up on the hills we entered a nature reserve where many species of flowering plant are found.

We looked at aspects of a slope from an isolated top, off the main ridge a large lump of more resistant chalk. From this position you could clearly see the barrow ‘knocking knoll’. Apparently, this has been there from Neolithic times and is named according to a myth, said to have come from the chieftain buried in it knocking on his treasure chest.

Having exhausted all the slopes here we moved on recapping some previous sessions, moving through fine scenery until we arrived on Telegraph Hill. This is named as such because the admiralty built a telegraph station here which was part of a communication system that was used during the Napoleonic wars. I got my client to find different features on the the slope and then we made our way towards Noon Hill, briefly walking along part of the Icknield way – an ancient trackway possibly even older than the barrows in this locality.

We worked our way onwards to Deacon Hill, successfully identifying a broad spur, a col and finding a spot height along the way. On arriving at the trig point we stopped briefly to observe the view. After which we continued to locate a few more features, a flat area on a ridge and a re-entrent before returning to our cars. All in all a good and successful day!