The weather forecast had been threatening snow all week. The rest of the country seemed to be gripped in 2 foot of snow with people abandoning cars and buses sliding everywhere.

However in the Lakes no such weather existed. Maps and compasses would go ahead as scheduled.

We all arrived at Glenthorne in Grasmere on Friday from all different parts of the country. After dinner we started getting to know maps, looking at different scales, and Ordnance Survey symbols. I had also prepared a lovely card game using the symbols which we played.

We looked at the compass - its main cardinal directions and what we find on a compass. And we looked at grid references! (sorry, no photos of this first evening).

In the morning after breakfast, we recapped briefly on what we'd covered the previous evening, then talked about how we combine maps with compasses.

Before we set out, we discussed what we should carry and the day's weather conditions, and we looked at the countryside code.

Heading out to the open air, women paired up to work together, taking it in turns to lead the rest of us to the next point I gave them on the map.

The rest of of the group were meanwhile following closely as we walked - trying to work out which point on the map we had reached.

Our route involved a complete circuit of Grasmere and Rydal Water, stopping for tea at Rydal Hall tea rooms before walking back along the Coffin trail.

Back at Glenthorne we relaxed then ate a delicious Glenthorne dinner. Later we returned to work, and looked at how to read what the landscape should look like from the contours.

We also talked about timing: - how to tell how far you have gone by knowing how how fast and how long you've been walking for.

Today, Monday, we again recapped what we'd learnt to date, then talked about how you walk on a bearing, and how you pace out 100m. We also discussed navigation skills in different weather conditions.

I then asked everyone to plan the day's route and estimate what time it would take to walk it.

I had given them the grid reference of where I wanted to take lunch. The task was completed with ease.

We walked up to pretty Alcock tarn above Grasmere - a steep zigzag walk up with an alternative possible route down. Lunch was taken in a kisu (a walkers portable shelter) beside the tarn.

The scenery was stunning even in the misty weather.

Later back at Glenthorne, I introduced the difference to Grid north (map north, so to speak) and magnetic north - and how to adjust between them.

Introduced at this stage in the proceedings the concept was easily grasped.

In the warmth of the conservatory over tea we learned how to use the roamer scale on our compasses to measure distances.

Later that evening some of the group headed out to the pub - an evening off from map reading!

Today, Tuesday, was consolidation day, and when we stopped for lunch at Easedale tarn, I gave women small features to locate using the skills they had learned.

The whole of the walk was about looking at features and relating what we could see to how it is represented on the two dimensional map.

I had the syllabus to a Bronze navigation award and when I read out the checklist all of the group felt they had grasped all the concepts.

All it was left for them to do was go out and practice.

Questions poured out freely all weekend and nobody felt intimidated if they did not grasp something on first discussion. Everyone helped each other. It was a very satisfying long weekend!