Find below our complete guide to outdoor skills, well almost complete! We’re in the process of organising the content into more coherent sections.
YES! Despite our innate nature, Mud and Routes are becoming more organised!
As a starter for 10, here’s our Complete Introduction to Map Reading and Navigation Online Course.
With the dark evenings now in control, running in the dark is almost a given. Donning the heavy Led Lenser H14 for the first time in months wasn’t comfortable on the ears, and so we came up with this dual solution. Not only does it reduce pressure on the ears, it helps keep the head […]
The Beast’s Tip Of The Week – Banish Headtorch Chafage Read More »
The squeamish should click away now… So here’s a picture of a cow to save your delicate little eyes from the truth about what we all do on a roughly daily basis. Still here? Good. I think this is something all of us wild campers have in common. We’ll try and keep this as clean
How to S*** In The Wilds Read More »
While we all know not to leave our litter on the hill (hopefully!) what else do we need to be aware of? Here are a few points to consider if you want to leave no trace when you’re in the wilds. It’s by no means comprehensive and we recommend the links at the end of
The clocks are going back on Saturday night, and the evenings are going to be longer. Yet it’s not all doom and gloom as we at Mud and Routes believe you can embrace the dark winter nights and make them your own! You can keep on night running, walking those night walks or even mountain biking in
Embrace the Winter Evenings Read More »
It’s getting dark again in the evenings, but don’t let that stop you making the most if it! You can still pop onto the hills in the right conditions, and here are some ideas 1 – Stargaze – With a pair of binoculars, or just making the most of the darker skies you usually find
5 Things to do at night on the hill Read More »
Sometimes you just do something because you must. So finding myself with a key and not a single pocket, I had to work out how to take a door key on a run without resorting to a jangling chain or carrying a waist-pack just for that purpose. You’ll be glad to know that it does
Beast’s Tip of The Week – Carrying your Key Without a Pocket Read More »
So you can now read your map, you’ve got your route all planned out and you can identify a compass from 50 metres. You’ll be glad to know, you’re ready to try some skills out in the field. How to handle and hold the map Is it in a case? Don’t go with it hanging
Navigation Skills 8 Orienting, Setting or Thumbing the Map Read More »
What Compass? You’ll now need to buy a compass. We recommend that you get yourself kitted out this week ready for the next sections.You’ll also need 5 toggles, a map case and if you can’t store it in the map case then get a compass case. The compass does remain in place better on a
Navigation Skills 7 The Anatomy of the Compass Read More »
What counts as a decent brand of compass? We’ve used Silva, Suunto and Recta which tend to be quality compasses. I’ve a Suunto that’s now over 25 years old, it’s getting a bit dodgy, with something growing in the fluid, but still serves as an emergency compass. We’ll compare a standard Silva Explorer compass, which
Navigational Skills Cheap vs Expensive Compasses Read More »
With winter looming, we hope, it’s time to stow away those summer only bits of kit safely for the winter as well as catching up with those repair jobs ready for the spring. Here are some hints and tips to keep your kit at their best over the winter months. 1 – Sleeping Bags –
Kit Care – Storing Summer Kit for the Winter Read More »
Evenings are already getting darker, and it will soon be dark as soon as most of us leave work. Here are our tips on choosing a head torch for these dark evening walks and runs. Technology type In the past, the only choice was your common or garden incandescent bulb – which gave off as much
Choosing a Headtorch for Night Running and Walks Read More »
What makes a good or unwise route? Bob wanted to plan a walk up onto Carnedd Llewelyn and then onto Carnedd Dafydd, starting from Bethesda. He was going to be dropped off at Gerlan, and picked up on the main road, so he planned a walk up Cwm Llafar, up to Llewelyn before following the
Navigational Skills 6 Planning a Route Read More »
Naismith’s rule, named after William W. Naismith, was devised in 1892 to estimate the time taken to cover distances in the mountains. He estimated that you: allow 1 hour per 5km walked and 1 hour for every 600m ascended. If you ever do a Mountain Leader or Navigation course, then you’ll have this drummed into
Navigational Skills 5 All you wanted to know about Naismith’s Rule and Route Timing Read More »
Tranter’s corrections are often quoted, but seem to be based on a strange premise of what constitutes fitness. The table below then corrects your Naismith Time depending on your level of ‘fitness’. It also goes as far as saying that this walk’s too much for you slow coach. All well and good, but my fully
Tranter’s Corrections? Read More »
What is a contour line? Contour lines denote the height of the land at any point along that line. So if you followed a 100m contour line around the hill, your altitude at every point would remain at 100m. That’s why traversing a hillside without loss or gain of height is known as contouring. Depending
Navigational Skills 4 All about Contours Read More »
If you read our review on the Nathan Lock Laces, you’ll have realised that we weren’t overly impressed by the price for what was essentially a bit of cord and a toggle. So we decided to see how easy it would be to create out own pair from spare bits we had around the Mud
Beast’s Tip of the Week – Bargain Elasticated Laces Read More »
The first thing you’ll need to get and become familiar with it the map. Forget the compass for now, that’s to come in a few weeks, so here’s the first few steps. We’ve mixed the article up with some videos from the Ordnance Survey site as well as a live map. You’ll need before you
Navigation Skills 2 Map to Basics Read More »
It’s essential to be able to navigate on the mountains, so we’ve put together an Introduction to Navigation series of articles that we’ll be publishing over the next few weeks that’ll give you the basic grounding. However, we suggest you invest in a good book, attend a course or join a more experienced hill goer. Or better
Navigation Skills 1 Why Learn to Navigate? Read More »
If you’re keen on landscape photography, but loathe to carry a tripod, here’s a few suggestions that might let you get away with it when that essential shot rears it’s head and you just have to have a stable platform for your camera. Some work better than others! 1 – Use what’s available. Varying from
Alternatives to Tripods in the Wilds Read More »
Simply fill container of choice with water from the tap. That’s cheap. Alternatively, if you want a bit more flavour then you can make your own hydration drink from juice, water and a bit of salt that also helps replace some of those electrolytes lost due to sweating. You’ll need: 500ml Fruit Juice or 3
The Beast’s Tip of the Week – Cheap Hydration Drink Read More »
Water can get a bit boring on long trips, and while hydration tablets are useful for adding flavour to water on a long trip, they’re both expensive and the flavour isn’t as great as it could be. So when we saw Squash’d from Robinsons, we had to give them a go. Squash’d is a small container containing concentrated
Robinsons Squash’d Review Read More »
I’d bought this on a whim to take with me on a recent trip to the Rhinogydd, and I didn’t really expect much from it as I’d had a bad experience with a Wayfarers sponge a few years back and avoided the brand ever since. These were on special, and normally cost around a fiver
Wayfarers All Day Breakfast Meal Kit Review Read More »
So you want to try and keep clean on a multi-day trip, or perhaps desperate for a lunchtime run but no showers to freshen up after sweating? Here’s a few suggestions. 1 Towel Dry. This goes without saying really, and makes all the following a bit more effective. You can use a microfibre towel while
Keeping Clean Without a Shower Read More »
If you’ve read our article here –Keeping Clean Without a Shower – then here’s a review of the Muc Off Dry Shower. Muc Off may well be known to you those of you who get your bikes muddy on trails as one of the best bike cleaning kit around. Now, they’ve also got something that’ll
Muc Off Dry Shower Review Read More »
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