micro nav practice on the sleat moorland

Sat, Sep 22, 2007

With the severe gales and rain forecast, myself and Allan decided to wait until later for our foray into the Mamores for a high camp and instead, I had a day of micro-nav practice on the moorland in Sleat. I was quite interested to see what the landscape was like out on the moor as the Gaelic names mentioned rushes and willow, not to mention bog and moorland. So it would be interesting to see what was out there.

This is the route I worked out:

The route, 1:250,000


I decided to pace the first part of the route, from A to G, using spurs and re-entrants as targets. Really interesting too along the way, with a lone flowering Bog Asphodel, which I'd seen flowering at 900m last week on Sgurr Coire na Feinne. Some stats I came up with, just to confirm what I'd been using up 'til now:
  • 100m = 61 paces on the flat. 1min per 100m distance.
  • 100m = 64 paces on ground on the route, i.e. boggy, deep heather and tussocky, alth0ugh fairly flat. 1m 15s per 100m distance.
From G to K I used timing instead of pacing as the features were obvious and quite far apart. I could see each one from the one I was starting from. Some more stats I can remember, didn't bring a notebook this time:
  • G -> H : about 6mins I think!
  • H -> I : about 7.5 mins
  • I -> J : 2mins 50secs
From K onwards I started pacing again. The last leg from M to N took about 10mins. An example of what I was aiming for is this, point J:

Knoll and lochan at point J


The knoll at point J, which I was heading for, is the tiny wee rise to the left of the lochan. It's actually 25m from the centre of the lochan. Also, you can't really see it but there's a lone rhododendron in the lighter area of bog to the left of lochan. Hope it doesn't spread. Perhaps I'll come back in 10 years to check! The hills in the background are Beinn na Caillich above Broadford with Glamaig in the murk behind.

It was well worth wandering round the moor. Plenty of plants to see, a Raven to hear in the gale and navigation that is totally absorbing. Next, it’s a night nav. Might go up Blaven. Watch this space.

You can see all the pictures from the trip here.