Navigate By CD

A new CD-ROM-based navigation course looks like it might be the answer for those of us born without a GPS unit embedded in our skull (retro-fitting a possibility).

Actually mountain navigation isn't so much a black art as down to the logical use of map, compass and common sense. Problem is that without formal instruction, it's not always easy to pick up the strange nuances of slope aspects and concave versus convex slopes. That's where the Art of Outdoor Navigation CD comes in.

We've used the demo version and despite initial skepticism, we have to admit that it works really well. The interactivity, animations and cunning graphics make it much easier to understand and more realistic than a book version wouldbe. Plus creator Martyn Hurn has all the credentials you'd want being a qualified Mountain Instructor and ex-instructor at Plas Y Brenin.

Pretty soon though, you won't have to take out word for it. Just navigate your way over to the www.outdoornav.co.uk web site, which will be up and running shortly, and you'll be able to try part of the course out over the net.

Price is £19.95, it's available from early December, and five per-cent of profits will be donated to the BMC Access Fund and The Mountain Training Trust. More details on the web site.

Of course, you'll no longer have any excuse for getting hideously lost, but then as I burble incessantly, the big problem isn't so much being lost, it's not knowing that you're lost in the first place...