LATEST OUTDOOR GUIDES
Keep up to date with the latest guides, activities and resources from Survival Guides UK. Explore new articles covering outdoor skills, survival, Scout activities, camping, navigation, knots, fire safety and practical skills.
Our latest posts are designed to help Scouts, youth groups, leaders and anyone interested in outdoor learning develop practical knowledge and confidence. From new activity ideas and survival skills to useful how-to guides, check back regularly for the latest resources.
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 99: Tie a Clove Hitch Under Tension
A clove hitch is a useful knot for attaching a rope to a pole, but tying it is only part of the skill. You also need to understand how it behaves when the rope is pulled, how to dress the knot correctly and how to recognise when it begins to slip. For this challenge, you’ll…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 98: Make Bread Dough, Let It Rise and Cook It on a Stick
Cooking bread over a campfire is a satisfying way to practise your outdoor cooking. Unlike a quick flatbread, this challenge involves making a yeast dough, giving it time to rise and cooking it slowly over the heat of your campfire. The key is patience. Dough that has not risen properly can be heavy, while bread…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 97: Learn the Full Morse Alphabet
Morse code is a way of communicating using short and long signals arranged into recognisable patterns. It can be sent using sound, light or other distinct signals, making it a useful communication skill to understand when learning about outdoor signalling. For this challenge, you will learn all 26 letters of the Morse alphabet, practise recognising…
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What to Do If You Get Cut Off by the Tide
It can happen more quickly than you expect. You walk around a rocky headland to explore a small beach, spend a little longer than planned looking at rock pools, or cross a causeway that seemed perfectly safe when you arrived. Then you notice that the water has risen across your route back. Getting cut off…
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Coastal Safety Rules
There is something about the British coastline that encourages people to explore a little further. A path leads towards a headland, a gap between the rocks reveals another small beach, or a stretch of sand looks inviting enough for a walk that lasts longer than planned. Most coastal visits are straightforward, but the sea and…
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How to Read a Tide Table
The sea can make the same stretch of coastline look completely different within a few hours. At low tide, a rocky bay might open up into a wide beach, revealing rock pools, sandy paths and places that were underwater earlier in the day. Return later and the route you used to get there may have…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 96: Plan a Route That Links Three Water Points
Planning a route involves more than choosing a start and a finish. On a longer walk, knowing where you can access water can help you manage your supplies, estimate journey times and make sensible decisions if conditions change. For this challenge, you need to plan a route that links three water points. You will use…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 95: Make a Hot Drink from Pine Needles
Making a hot pine needle drink is a useful outdoor skill that combines tree identification, responsible foraging and basic campcraft. The needles can add a fresh, resinous flavour to hot water, but identifying the tree correctly is essential before collecting anything. For this challenge, you must identify a suitable pine, gather a small amount of…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 94: Track an Animal Across Mud or Snow for 100m
Following animal tracks is one of those outdoor skills that changes how you see the landscape. A muddy path that first appears empty may contain a trail of footprints, tiny marks from claws, disturbed leaves and other clues that reveal which animals have passed through. Your challenge is to find a genuine animal trail in…
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SGUK Outdoor Skills Challenge 93: Cook an Egg in Embers
Cooking over a campfire isn’t always about balancing a pan on a pot stand. Embers hold heat long after the flames have settled, making them useful for certain cooking methods when they’re managed properly. An egg cooked in its shell is a simple way to explore that heat, but it needs care: the shell can…
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