“Fantastic day“

Had a fantastic day with Darren our beginners wildlife photography guide at Spurn Point today. The course was very informative with plenty of hands on practice using our learning gained during the day. Darren made it a fun experience and I would certainly recommend it. Also the food was excellent and staff very friendly.

- Lynne H (Wildlife photography for beginners workshop)

“Instructor was brilliant”

Attended a Wildlife Photography Course today at Spurn Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Darren the instructor was brilliant, very informative with a great mixture of PowerPoint, on hand training and in the field photography. Highly recommend the course and it even included lunch and refreshments 5*

- Michelle D (Wildlife photography for beginners workshop)

“Great teaching”

Brilliant the last few days. Great teaching. Really enjoyed it and learnt loads. Thank you.

- Alan Lane (Silver Navigation Course)

“Absolutely fabulous”

Absolutely fabulous day out, thanks for all the effort putting that together!

- Kirsty Stewart (Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team Scrabble Scramble event)

“Best training day in years”

Cheers for today mate. one of the best training days I’ve had at Mountain Rescue in years.

- Jake Rix (Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team Scrabble Scramble event)

“Phenomenal”

Phenomenal, well done for organising it. I’ve never done anything quite like it before, but from many angles, it worked.
Some competitiveness, some thinking, some exercise, and like you said, some fun. A great way to bring teams together ! Superb. So, big thank you for sorting it all out. Greatly appreciated.

- Mat G (Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team Scrabble Scramble event)

“Absolutely brilliant weekend”

I have had an absolutely brilliant weekend completing my NNAS Silver award. Thank you Boot Routes it has been amazing!

- Vicky Mckinnell (Silver Navigation Course)

“Fantastic evening”

I spent the evening with Daz to brush up and improve my Navigation. Daz was instantly friendly, likable and knowlageable. His training, explanations and demonstrations were pitched perfectly. I had a fantastic evening and learnt a lot from him and the other guides. Thanks!

- Carl Pearce (Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team night navigation refresher)

“Highly recommended”

Spent a really enjoyable evening with Darren doing night nav practice in the hills. We covered a multitude of techniques and scenarios, which has me feeling a lot more confident with my nav. Also, Darren made it really enjoyable with his enthusiasm and is naturally engaging in getting his points across. Highly recommended.

- Harshan Gill (Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team night navigation refresher)

“Passionate, knowledgeable and friendly”

Did the Silver NNAS course with Daz and can't recommend enough.

Not much else to add that other reviews haven't said. Passionate, knowledgeable, and friendly. Encourages good practices and is constantly reinforcing the knowledge and skills during the time in the hills, not just spoon feeding information and letting you figure it out for yourself.

Made even more interesting by loads of facts about local flora and fauna, and a little history lesson during visit to a plane wreck.

Can't recommend enough. Finished the course feeling really confident about putting the skills into practice on my own.

- ZW (Silver Navigation Course)

“Good value for money”

A great couple of days training for my NNAS Silver qualification, plus a night navigation session. All in all around 18 hours of training so good value for money.

Daz is enthusiastic, passionate and humorous. He is also very knowledgable not just about navigation skills but outdoor group leadership, wildlife, geology and the history of the areas we visited.

I came away from the training feeling I had learnt a great deal and vastly increased my confidence in my navigation and outdoor skills and I look forward to consolidating these in the future.

I would not hesitate to recommend.

- Neil Runkee (Silver Navigation Course)

“Boot Routes was excellent”

A brilliant weekend with my partner doing the Bronze level National Navigation Award. Daz, our instructor was excellent. Passionate about the outdoors, sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience and coaching us through the the 2 days in the glorious Peak District and our assessment. It was fun, rewarding, just the right amount of challenging and highly recommended, whether you’re building on your skills for future awards or trying something new, Boot Routes was excellent!

- James Padgett (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Excellent and informative guide”

Thank you Daz, and fellow walkers, for a fine day out. Stunning scenery, great company, bad 'dad' jokes, fruit pastilles and end-of-walk beer = perfect. Daz, thank you for being an excellent and informative guide.

- Karen Jones (Coastal Challenge)

“Fantastic guide”

Really great day, thanks Darren. Fantastic guide, really knowledgeable and entertaining too. Looking forward to booking another one soon.

- Suzy Claire (Hebden Bridge walk)

“Outstanding”

Outstanding! Just completed the most fabulous bronze navigation with Daz. It was really enjoyable and fun and I learned so much and now feel map reading has become much more automatic and I am knowledgeable about the countryside. He is a great teacher, pitching things just at your level. He was also a mine of information on wildlife, mountain rescue, and coping with emergency situations, history, geology and much more. I would thoroughly recommend booking up.

- Rikki Hammond (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Would definitely recommend”

A really enjoyable weekend with Daz on the bronze NNAS navigation course. Daz strikes just the right balance keeping it fun whilst ensuring you put the theory into practice on some cracking routes above the Holme Valley. Would definitely recommend.

- Raymond Mooney (Bronze Navigation Course)

“This course is a must”

Just back from from completing the NNAS Bronze Navigation Course with Boot Routes. All I can say is that this course is a must if you're serious about spending time in the countryside. Daz is a fantastic teacher, pitching the content in a clear and relatable way whilst slowly increasing the challenge at a pace that suits your skills. Would Thoroughly recommend Boot Routes for this course. Definitely doing the Silver course to expand my tools.

- Chris Godfrey (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Getting the best out of people”

I attended a Silver Navigator course with Boot Routes having been a keen walker all my life but having never had any formal tuition. I was not disappointed. Darren is an inspirational, positive, knowledgeable teacher who has a real talent for effective communication and getting the best out of people. The result for me is that it has left me wanting to take my skills further. I will be back!!

- Bradley Rogers (Silver Navigation Course)

“Lots of tips and advice”

Lovely walk today with Daz from Boot Routes at Newmiller Dam, Wakefield. He gave an introduction to basic navigation....lots of tips and advice, easy to understand. He is very knowledgeable on the outdoors, nature and navigation. Very helpful, I would recommend.

- Nicola Kingdon (Introduction to Navigation day)

“Highly recommended course”

Two days Navigation course in the pouring rain. Fabulous course, guides and team work. Thanks Darren Parkinson. Highly recommended course.

- Dennise Bell (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Enjoyable and informative”

A very enjoyable and informative 2 days despite the weather! Feel much more confident about trying a few more routes now. Thanks Daz, I really appreciate the time and effort and enthusiasm you have put in to make the course what it is.

- Brian Easter (Bronze Navigation Course)

“A good chat”

Great morning walking as part of the (Free) Kirklees Division Wellbeing Walks at Malham Cove. A great initiative for (off duty) staff to get some exercise, have a good chat, a piece of cake and relaxation. If you do fancy it, let Darren know, who is a great wildlife/walking guide too.

- Mark Catney (Police Welfare Walk)

“Great to talk to”

I worked with Darren, the owner of this outfit over the weekend. I would highly recommend his company for navigation courses and especially his wildlife and geology knowledge weekends. He really knows what he is talking about and he was great to talk to.

- Simon Shrewsbury (Mountain Leader on Ben Nevis)

“Fantastic delivery”

Thanks again for your fantastic delivery of this course. I really got a lot out of both days and feel much better equipped in navigation from it.

- Andrew Gold (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Great day on the mountain”

Daz is a fantastic guide, knowledgeable, friendly and funny in equal measure. He took myself and 5 others up the corridor route to the top of Scafell Pike in the Lake District and we had a great day on the mountain. His knowledge base was brilliant, and he made sure the route suited the different ability levels within the group. I couldn’t recommend him highly enough and would definitely walk with him again.

- Chris Eglen (Scafell Pike walk)

“Amazingly dedicated guide”

Scafell Pike, absolutely amazing walk with great people. Well organised, great evening entertainment and Boot Routes has an amazingly dedicated guide who really cares about each individual walker, encouraging and supporting through the difficult stages and keeping everyone smiling. Thank you and see you soon

- Dennise Bell (Scafell Pike walk)

“Thank you”

Thank you so much for yesterday and supporting us up Snowdon. You were great! Thank you.

- Grace Burton (Snowdon Charity Walk)

“Really committed”

Really recommend Darren's navigation course. I passed the Silver course and learnt lots of really helpful new skills. It was the right balance of being a good challenge but also achievable. Daz chose really nice locations for the walks and there were loads of added bonuses thrown in. He was really committed to making sure we all got the most possible out of it.

- Amy Beswick (Silver Navigation Course)

“Fantastic weekend”

Fantastic weekend Daz @boot_routes !! Learnt so much, new love for orienteering and the second day was epic 😅 THANK YOU 🙏

- Karen Gillard (Silver Navigation Course)

“Given me confidence”

Had a great time on the Bronze Navigation course in all weathers last weekend. Darren is a great teacher and showed us skills that I never knew existed when it comes to map reading. It’s definitely given me more confidence for the next time I head to the hills with my paper maps!

- Clare Brear (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Dad jokes”

Two days of hard but fun work. Really enjoyed this course and would highly recommend it. Darren Parkinson thank you so much for your help, patience and dad jokes.

- Kerry Peters (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Excellent value for money”

Recently completed and passed the Bronze Navigation award. Superb course, really well instructed by Darren, really knowledgeable and delivered an extremely well-structured course. We all had loads of fun and learnt heaps. Would highly recommend this course with Boot Routes. Excellent value for money considering the amount of instructor time you get

- Ewan Peters (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Amazing weekend”

What an amazing weekend attending the bronze navigation award, very informative course with great information, Darren’s teaching skills are brilliant, highly recommended.

- Sam Wigglesworth (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Absolutely Fantastic”

Have just completed the Bronze navigation course with Boot Routes. Absolutely fantastic! Learnt so much, and had a thoroughly great couple of days out in the Yorkshire countryside.

- Karen Gillard (Bronze Navigation Course)

“What an adventure!!”

Passed my Bronze Navigation Course today after 2 days of trekking up hill, down dale, in all weathers. Great experience. I have a blister on each heel. Joints that ache like I'm 90 yrs old. But I survived and still have a smile on my face 😁 and now I have a hankering for more adventures thanks to #bootroutes @Boot Routes

- Sharon Bamford (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Brilliant job”

This was my first experience of a walking challenge, and it didn’t disappoint! Daz did a brilliant job in getting us through the day - thanks

- Eric Robinson (Yorkshire 3 Peaks)

“You were the best”

Amazing, euphoric, mentally & physically challenging beyond belief... so glad I did it Darren you were the best and I honestly couldn’t have got through it without you. Thank you so much! 😀☺️

- KB Michelle (Yorkshire 3 Peaks)

“Amazing training session”

Yet another amazing training session full of knowledge, fun and loads of giggles along the way. I can't wait for the next night walk. I loved it last night. Thank you, Daz, for giving up your time for us and thank you to everyone else for making it so much fun xXx

- Gemma Smith (Introduction to night nav)

“Brilliant weekend”

Brilliant weekend, learning and laughing despite the #fourseasonsinoneday

- Gabby Butler (Silver Navigation Course)

“Absolutely fab course”

Absolutely fab course.. 👍having never before picked up an OS map, I learnt so much in 2 days! Met a great bunch of folks, laughed as we learnt, and all in all, had an amazing weekend.. cheers!!!😊🌲🦌🐦🐑🦡🌲

- Caroline Newsome (Bronze Navigation Course)

“Enjoyable and informative”

A very enjoyable and informative day out with Darren. He coaxed out the knowledge I had lurking in the recesses of my ageing brain and taught this old dog a few new tricks along the way. Highly recommended if you want to brush up on old skills or learn new ones essential to your's and others safety on the hills. Hoping for another outing with Darren in the future.

- Tim Radcliffe (Navigation refresher)

“Professional service.”

It was a great weekend, a good laugh and some ace scenery. Daz's 4x4 caching van is excellent and the trip well organised so thanks a lot for letting me come.

— Greg Smith (Isle of Mull Geology trip)

“Best Walk yet.”

Comment from a regular visitor to the Lake District, but this comment was made after a trip to the Peak District as I was keen to show the client that there were beautiful locations right on his doorstep

— M.B (Guided walk - Peak District)

“I can’t wait until next summer!”

A great event that I attended as part of team extreme! Climbing Ben Hope was my whole reason for coming to Scotland and it was well worth it! Thanks to Daz for organising and I am looking forward to the next!

— Steve Walford (Guided walk - Scotland)