‘Got the train!’ said the text. I found out later that the train had been in the station and about to leave. So we made it with literally a minute to spare. Why so last minute? We had been in Epsom seeing family (mine and Venetia’s) and I was collecting a friend from Heathrow late on Monday but V needed to be at work 2pm in Yeovil, so a train was booked for 1046hrs from Dorking. With me so far? We left plenty of time, drove down the A3, crossed the M25 and planned to turn onto the A247 to Dorking. We had 40 minutes to do about 20 miles and the rush hour traffic had cleared so what could go wrong? Well, if going South West on the A3 you can’t join the A247 directly. You have to come off a couple of miles earlier and head for a village called Send (who comes up with these names?) and you join the A247 there. To be fair the A247 was signposted in brackets but my navigator convinced me to wait for the junction which does not actually exist. Result, nearly end up in Guilford, remedy, come off next exit and come back to Send on A3 and have tense drive into Dorking and catch train with seconds to spare.

Most of the route was familiar and the map clearly shows the A247 intersecting with the A3. Yet, the reality on the ground is not so simple.

Earlier the same morning I took V’s brother to Gatwick airport from Epsom. This time I used the satnav on my Blackberry with my passenger relaying instructions. We left at 8.30 in the morning which could have meant major rush hour congestion. In fact the route we were guided on had no traffic at all apart from a slight build up on the slip road off the M23 to Gatwick itself. I could never find that route again though, I could roughly trace the way we went on a map but I couldn’t be sure of the crucial details. The computer that runs Blackberry’s navigation system was simply choosing the most direct route and avoiding reported traffic build ups. Result, at the airport in 30 mins even though I have very little idea how I got there. If I made the journey again then my Satnav may well take me a different route for reasons I can only guess at.

So, two very different experiences of getting from A to B. The trip to the station involved existing knowledge of local routes, a fairly large scale map and an error in navigation which almost meant a missed train. If I do that trip again I now know where to leave the A3 and the rest is actually very straight forward. Going to the airport involved putting complete trust in a guide which actually made up the route according to sophisticated algorithms and available data. Thanks to a computer network we got to the destination as quickly and directly as possible. However I could never duplicate that route and indeed at another time of day it may not even be the best way to go.

So, which experience is more valuable? Getting to the airport without stress but having learned nothing. Or the tense journey on route to the station which I can now use if I need it again?

I suppose it depends if you are happy to always rely on experts to take care of you, or if you want to be able to take care of yourself. In most of Somerset the Blackberry Satnav application simply does not work because there is insufficient G3 or G4 coverage. (Yes, I could get myself a proper satnav but most of time I manage fine.)

Our ancestors didn’t have access to the communication resources we have today. So, they had to learn to be self-reliant in nearly everything they did, including navigation. That didn’t stop Norse sailors reaching Iceland, Greenland and even America (although the eastern seaboard is a pretty big target if you just keep sailing West). Yes, they must have made a lot of mistakes and taken a lot of wrong turnings. But those who survived the lessons really knew what they knew.

Today we have access to vastly more information than our ancestors ever did. Up to a point that is good. What is not so good is failing to learn for ourselves because so much is just done for us. That way lies dependency and helplessness. Stav training has always been about learning to see for yourself and being self-reliant in all that you do.

Learn more directly from Ivar, his family relied on this system of education for centuries. We still need it today. Somerset 23rd to 25th of September http://www.stavcamp.org/ih.html

I will be teaching an introductory Stav seminar in Illinois two weeks previously http://iceandfire.us/events/index.html

regards

Graham