Self-Navigation for Fell and Mountain Running
Written by Catriona Adams. Published 10 August 2026 · Updated 1 September 2026
On a marked, organised ultra-trail race, the route is decided for you: flagged course, marshalled junctions, aid stations at known intervals. On a British Round or most UK winter races, none of that exists — the runner chooses the line between summits, reads the weather, and decides in real time whether to press on or bail. That's the skill this site treats as central, not a footnote to fitness.
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of an actual attempt
Three things a marked race does for you — that a Round doesn't
No marked course to follow, weather that can close visibility faster than a runner can descend to safety, and no external cut-off forcing the decision to stop — that call is the runner's alone. Get any one of them wrong and the result isn't a slower finish time, it's a failed attempt or a rescue callout.
Where this shows up
The Bob Graham Round — no marked course, 42 summits, navigation calls at every one. The Paddy Buckley Round asks the same questions over more remote terrain, with 47 summits and fewer landmarks between them.
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