By: Blonde One
You might have heard of the NNAS if you are a navigator or a teacher of navigation, but for those that are unfamiliar with it let me explain.
The National Navigation Award Scheme gives accreditation for navigation skills. There are 3 stages: Bronze, Silver and Gold and it is used by numerous groups including youth groups such as DofE and Scouts. For several years the Two Blondes have used it to give recognition to the students that we work with.
The Bronze Award requires basic skills such as understanding map symbols and using handrails, Silver requires skills such as navigating at night and using back bearings, and to achieve Gold, as you would expect, you need to demonstrate high level skills such as navigating by contours alone and have some leadership skills such as first aid and dynamic planning.
The scheme is excellent as it provides a framework for teaching navigation and it provides that all important certificate. Let’s face it, we all love a certificate, don’t we?
I feel in puckish mood as is usual when I turn to Two Blondes Walking. All these disguises you both put on in an attempt at moral rectitude, suggesting that these rambles, saunters even, with which you are both besotted, should be seen on a higher level. Not that you are both doing God’s work, but perhaps Thor’s. Today is Technoid Day whereby you attempt – in vain, I fear – to convince your readers of your ultimate seriousness, evoking the OS as a form of deity and glorifying your mudlarking under the heading of navigation. I sympathise, of course. For years I’ve attempted to pass as a writer with very little in the way of supportive evidence. But why don’t you emerge from the closet – you’re simply out there enjoying yourselves and doing wonders for your complexions. It’s not the pursuit of a doctorate: you’re hedonists not academics.
What’s my score on the puckishness scale?
You score at about a 8.5 on the puckishness scale! But you are quite correct … we are just out there enjoying ourselves!
We will particularly be enjoying ourselves next week when there will be just us, Dartmoor and maybe a small bottle of wine 🙂
Where do you obtain these handrails? Are they portable? how much do they cost? At my age, crossing rough terrain becomes increasingly hazardous – it sounds as though they may be useful.
It would be lovely wouldn’t it, to have a portable handrail? For those days when the mist and the mood is down!