Exploring 1, 2, 3...
Exploring I do this alone. Always, well mostly always. How? I've a few basic rules that I stick to; 1) Decide where you're going and familiarise yourself by looking at map before you go. In short get a map out, look at the route you're planning, the area, terrain. Google Street View can be good for this too, especially for look for parking, pubs, stiles from the road onto the trail/route. 2) Roughly how many miles is it? How many walls, gates will you pass. What features will you see?. 3) Don't wander off route on that tempting looking side path , there's time for this later when you're more familiar with the area. 4) Every now and then turn round and look back. What do you see? . This is especially good if you need to retrace, relocate/get your bearings, turn back. 5) Have a get out plan, in case... (you checked the map? you looked back?). If the weather becomes adverse, or the terrain is more unpredictable than you predicted it's ...