How I learned to navigate in the Welsh mountains

Maps can be cumbersome things. Especially when it’s windy. They can be pretty confounding even when the elements are in your favour. But we’ll come to that.

We were on a hill – not the technical term – in Snowdonia (Eryri national park), attempting to find first a path, then a boundary line, and then a spur of land – at night-time. Each member of our group was equipped with a map, a compass and a head torch. The wind was high, the sun was down and it could have all felt like an uphill slog. But it was, in fact, exhilarating. The last time I did this, and the last time I felt this energised by the elements and shadowy surroundings, I was 11 years old and yomping about with the Scouts.

Back then, I would have been in the rump of the group, while an older and more responsible boy was entrusted with the map and compass to lead our little troop across craggy terrain. Ever since, I’ve always managed to buddy up with a more technically gifted walker able to read the runes. But I’ve never lost the topography of envy, and the slight sense of unease about striking out alone or straying too far from waymarked paths.

Which is why I find myself sitting in a classroom with five other learners on a two-day navigation course at Plas y Brenin, the national outdoor centre, in Capel Curig. The first thing we are told by our instructor, Grace, is that the contour is the king. “Other things on the map, such as boundaries, buildings, woods and paths, can change, but contours are less likely to.”

These reddish-brown lines spaced at regular intervals paint a two-dimensional picture of the landscape around us and tell us whether it’s flat (widely spaced contours), undulating (round) or steep (close together). They tell you which way is up (the numbers on every fifth contour will be legible) and which is down (numbers will be upside down). There’s lots more to take in besides: map scaling, setting the map to north with a compass, spotting ring contours and re-entrants, calculating height and distance. But you can only learn so much in the classroom, so we head out into the hills happy to follow contours as our king.

The first recce lifted us out of the rain in Capel Curig and up into the blue-skied hills above Conwy Bay, where we started out on the Wales Coast Path before peeling off to learn how to set the map by the features we can see around us.

We measure distances using the scale on the compass and pacing – counting how many paces it takes us to walk 100 metres. On high ground, we set a compass bearing and learn how to follow it by keeping the compass needle in line with the north arrow (red on red). We take back bearings to stay on course and estimate how long it takes to hike a route, including going up hill, using Naismith’s Rule. All the while, Grace sets us new paths to map and teaches us to find evidence in the landscape to determine whether we have arrived or strayed off course.

The reason for this concentration on plotting a course over short distances becomes clear when Grace drives us into the hills at night. Weather conditions can change quickly and dramatically in the mountains, and it’s vital to be able to navigate in poor visibility. Night-time is disorientating enough, playing tricks with scale and distance, but with all the skills we’ve learned, we manage to find our way safely back to the van. And that’s the beauty of learning to navigate – it turns disorientation into discovery.

The two-day Complete Navigation Skills course at Plas y Brenin takes place once a month throughout 2025, £258 for non-residents and £398 for residents including meals