‘Uncategorized’ Archive

The Dartmoor Way

Recently I walked the Dartmoor Way as my route for the Long Distance Walkers Association Virtual 100 mile event. The Dartmoor Way is actually 108 miles long (and has 16,500 ft of ascent apparently), so I started at Bovey Tracey and walked anti-clockwise to just beyond Ashburton. Some stretches were already known to me, but […]

Preserving forests for the long term.

I was recently reading “The secret life of trees” by Peter Wohlleben, an excellent read, which I would recommend to anyone interested in developing or maintaining woodland. However as the book went on I started to get a sinking feeling, a feeling of almost hopelessness. The problem is not about identifying sites and planting trees, […]

Beavering away at Phytoremediation?

It is a strange  that, in my experience, many villagers, in most parts of the country, whilst liking to see a stream pass through their village, would struggle, to describe where that stream rises, which other villages it passes through and where it meets the sea, let alone what pollution risks there might be to […]

Choosing your outdoor gear……..think in terms of systems.

It never ceases to amaze me how quick we are nowadays to ask the public at large for advice on purchases. On every outdoor forum you will see “l need some new boots….looking for recommendations”. Really? Well apart from the obvious fact that everyones feet are different, the uses to which they will be put […]

Blanket bog restoration…..a real emergency.

Climate change is happening, and we need to act, so that means planting more trees right? Well yes that will help, although it requires a more nuanced approach than just chucking any old tree in on any bit of spare land. However in the UK there is an arguably equally powerful tool, which if left […]

Sad Times

Covid has impacted all of us in one way or another, and 2020 has not been good for the Outdoor Adventure Industry. We at Hillwise have had to think hard about our core income streams and some things have had to go. We have decided, with great reluctance, to surrender our NNAS providership, so we […]

NNAS Courses in March 2018

Coming up in March 2018 we have two National Navigation Award courses on the 2nd and 3rd of March we are running a Silver course at Venford (day 1) and Shipley Bridge (day 2) and then on the 12th and 13th of March we are running a Bronze course at Haytor and Trendlebeare. Both courses […]

NNAS Courses running in 2017

We have two more National Navigation Award Scheme courses running on Dartmoor this year: 19-20/06/17 NNAS Bronze course at Haytor and area cost £70 (non residential). 18-19/09/17 NNAS Silver course at Venford Reservoir and Shipley Bridge, cost £70 (non-residential). Before booking on the silver course please ensure you either hold the bronze award or are […]

Autumn Navigation and Backpacking courses.

We have just posted details of our Navigation Workshops and Expedition Workshops for September and October on the Moorland Guides website so if you need to tweak your navigation or want to make the jump from daywalker to multi-day backpacker why not sign up! If you do miss these there will be more, but after […]

We have another Navigation Workshop on 13/10/14

Another of our popular navigation workshops run from Venford (west) car park. Starting at 10 am and running until 4pm, we will assess your current skill level and attempt to develop them further. It is essential to book (email adrian@hillwise.co.uk) and the cost is £20 per person. You will need to be 18yrs of age […]