Map Reading and Navigation Courses

Silver Navigator Award Overview

The Silver National Navigation Award develops navigation skills needed for the mountain environment. You'll learn how to navigate to features and places away from paths and tracks. It teaches accurate compass work and poor weather navigation techniques. It will also teach you to select the suitable navigational techniques to cross open country for walking and hiking.

Our Silver National Navigation Award courses are taught in mountainous terrain and involve periods where you’ll be navigating away from established paths and tracks.

Silver Navigator Award Syllabus 

• Relate  small hills, small valleys, prominent re-entrants and prominent spurs  to their corresponding map contours. Use prominent hills, ridges, spurs  and valleys as a means of navigation in good visibility.
• Use landforms and point features to orientate the map and as collecting and catching features.
• Use a compass to: Accurately follow a bearing; aim off; check the direction of handrails and other linear features.
• Deviate briefly from a compass bearing to avoid obstacles or difficult terrain and accurately regain the original line.
• Use back bearings to check route following accuracy.
• Measure  distance on the ground in varied, open terrain using timing and pacing  and make practical allowances for any discrepancies.
• Simplify legs using coarse navigation, attack points and fine navigation.
• Recognise dangerous or difficult terrain on map and ground.
• Plan and implement navigational strategies based on the above skills.
• Maintain route finding accuracy in poor visibility or darkness.
• Recognise a navigation error within a few minutes and apply appropriate relocation techniques.
• Understand how personal fitness and nature of terrain affect route choice both at the planning stage and on the ground.
• Understand the potential consequences of fatigue and physical discomfort in demanding terrain and/or extreme weather conditions.
• Select appropriate clothing, equipment and first aid items for walking in open country in all weather conditions.
• Demonstrate  an understanding of the Countryside Code, current access legislation  and the environmental impact of walkers on the countryside.
• Understand the responsibilities of walkers towards other countryside interests such as farming, forestry and conservation.

Who is the Silver Navigator Award for? 

This award is aimed at people with little or no navigation experience who want to become independent in the mountains. You do not need to complete the NNAS Bronze navigation course first. It is also well suited to those who may have learned navigation in the past and would like to refresh or rebuild their confidence with map and compass skills.

A general level of fitness is required for a day’s walking in upland and mountainous terrain.

Military Personnel

The NNAS Silver Award is also highly relevant for military personnel who want to strengthen their land navigation skills. The course focuses on accurate map interpretation, relocation techniques and effective use of the compass in mountainous terrain and poor visibility. It provides a practical way to refine core navigation skills that are directly transferable to military training, briefing and selection courses, while building confidence in operating independently in mountainous environments.