This is the essential guide to challenging and adventurous trips in all kinds of terrain for the intrepid explorer and competition walker. It gives easy-to-follow advice on practical navigation skills: how to use a map and compass correctly; orientation using the sun, moon and stars; and understanding natural navigational signs in the landscape. It explains how to read weather patterns and interpret cloud formations to ensure your safety in remote and exposed places. It is illustrated with over 200 full-colour photographs, including simple-to-grasp step-by-step instructions for key skills and techniques. This practical handbook provides a handy reference for anyone wishing to explore the back country. Whether you are preparing for a day's walking or mountain biking, a camping weekend, a trek on horseback, a hike through the jungle, or a kayaking tour lasting several weeks, this highly illustrated guide will show you all you need to know. With the emphasis on teaching the fundamentals of hiking and travelling with transport and animals, and of orienteering your way along the route, it makes essential reading before setting off. Packed with hundreds of helpful hints this book is essential reading for anyone planning a trip in the wilderness.

About the Author

Peter G. Drake has led or been a member of 36 expeditions, visiting 55 countries in five continents. He has driven overland from the UK to Nepal to climb in the Himalayas, has twice crossed the Sahara to the River Niger, and has followed the Nile route south to East Africa. He has also climbed and walked in the Arctic, Australia and the United States.