Navigation

TECHNIQUES AND SKILLS FOR WALKERS

by
Pete Hawkins

JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS,
OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL
www.cicerone.co.uk

About the author

Pete Hawkins has been teaching walkers to navigate for over 35 years. He runs the Silva Navigation School from his home village of Tideswell, in the Peak District.

As a writer and journalist, he has contributed to a variety of outdoor magazines for many years as well as contributing to BBC local radio. He has also spent many years leading walking holidays around the world.

Other Cicerone books by the author

Map and Compass

This book is dedicated to Clare and Stephen – two
people I am immensely proud of – and to Sue who gives me the space to pursue my dreams.

© Pete Hawkins 2019

Second edition 2019

ISBN: 978 1 85284 891 0

Reprinted 2022 (with updates)

First edition 2007

Printed in China on responsibly sourced paper on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All photos and illustrations by the author unless otherwise stated.

Acknowledgements

Numerous people have been enormously helpful in the preparation of this book. First and foremost are the many participants I have encountered over the 30+ years of running map and compass courses; they have provided me with ideas, amusement and inspiration.

A dutiful word of thanks must go to the folks at Cicerone for their support, encouragement and for spotting all my silly errors – you make me sound lucid, thank you.

I would also like to thank Silva for sponsoring my courses and for providing the compasses; Tracklogs for giving me access to their digital mapping software; and the Ordnance Survey and Harvey Map Services for permission to reproduce their maps.

This product includes mapping data licensed from Ordnance Survey® with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

© Crown copyright 2019 OS PU100012932

Map on page 18 reproduced with permission from Harvey Maps.

Orienteering Maps © Derwent Valley Orienteers, the Orienteering club for Derbyshire

PREFACE
By Alan Hinkes, OBE

I have always been fascinated by maps. Perusing OS maps for O-level geography at Northallerton Grammar School was a pleasure for me. My hillwalking began over 30 years ago on the North York Moors and finally led me to the Himalaya, where I climbed all of the world’s highest mountains: the fourteen 8000m peaks.

Weekend school trips would be spent tramping the moors and dales, learning to map read. I soon learnt how to take compass bearings and navigate, often in the rain and mist – thick hill clag, as we called it. As a teenager it gave me a thrill and sense of achievement to be able to find my way over featureless terrain and safely lead a party in the hills.

When working as an outdoor education teacher, basic map reading was usually on the agenda, and I always tried to make it fun and simple. Pete has a knack for writing a book that is both interesting to read and which covers all the finer points of map reading and using a compass to move safely on the hills.

As a mountain guide I’ve been instructing and guiding in the hills for many years, and I am aware of some people’s anxiety about navigation. Pete’s book will help to raise your knowledge of this essentially satisfying skill. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced hillwalker, there is plenty of information to be had out of this book. Pete knows his stuff!

I have been climbing all over the world, yet still relish a day in the British hills with my map. This book will make your hillwalking and map reading more enjoyable.

Get out there, navigate and enjoy yourself!

Alan Hinkes, 2007

FOREWORD

I started using the humble map and compass in earnest over 35 years ago, and for all those years I have been their greatest advocate. Over the three and a half decades both have given me immense pleasure, and hundreds of lucky souls have learnt that pleasure from me too!

Looking back over my 35 years of teaching navigation, I find myself thinking about what has and hasn’t changed. The ability to use a map and compass is as important now as it ever was. Something else that hasn’t changed is that the majority of people I see out on the hills don’t seem to have the requisite navigation skills and appear to complete a walk more through luck than judgement; a guidebook or a route taken from a magazine is no substitute for being able to plan and execute your own route.

Something else that hasn’t changed is the fact that acquiring the right skills to navigate safely is easy. The book you have in your hand is a great first step and may be all that you require, but adding a practical, hands-on course, like those I run through the Silva Navigation School, can quickly transform you from a bumbling, always-getting-lost walker into a confident hillwalker.

What has changed, certainly over the last three decades, and especially during the past 10 years since this book was first published, is the use and availability of navigation technology. In the first edition of this book, technology was treated as an add-on as GPS units were generally unreliable and complicated to use. Over the past 10 years the growth in the use of smartphones has not only placed simple navigation technology in most people’s pockets, but it has also helped simplify dedicated handheld GPS units.

In this new edition, navigation technology has been incorporated throughout the book. Each section will take you through the more conventional way of doing things while also offering technological navigation solutions. I will highlight times when technology doesn’t provide a solution, as well as the rare instances when technology can supersede conventional, old-fashioned ways of doing things.

In adapting this book to reflect the growth of technology in navigation, I still remain firmly of the opinion that being able to read a map and compass properly, without relying on technology, is vital.You should never bypass these essential skills and head straight for the technological solutions. Technology can fail and can also be misleading; good map reading and compass skills will never let you down.

Pete Hawkins, 2019

CHAPTER 1

Why use a map and compass?

Glance along the bookshelves of any outdoor equipment shop and you’ll see a wealth of guidebooks to every corner of the UK and the world. The quality will vary, but all will contain a number of routes in your chosen destination along with some kind of a map: perhaps a simple sketch map or an extract of the full-colour official map with the route overdrawn. The better guides will also provide some information on the history or ecology of the area.

Guidebooks are an ideal way of getting to know an area in advance; study the guidebook and locate the most interesting places. However, many people simply use the guidebook to direct them around the route. I advocate a different approach. Take out the map of the area you intend to walk and compare the guidebook route with the real map. Put the guidebook away and turn the suggested route into something that suits your purposes, depending on where you are staying, proximity to a bus stop or safe place to park, or perhaps an interesting feature you’ve seen on the map that wasn’t mentioned in the book, and so on. The walk then becomes yours and you can use your own map skills to follow the route rather than rely on the book.

As you progress through this book, you’ll notice your map skills improving. You will be looking at the map in far more detail than previously. The symbols you missed before, or ignored, will be more familiar; you’ll be able to spot features on the ground that you’ve identified from a close study of the map. Your days of getting lost will fade into distant memory, your confidence will increase and, thus, your reliance on guidebooks will decrease.

So, what about the compass? What role should this play in your walks? Most walkers carry one in their rucksack, but few know how it works. Rest assured it is a simple tool to use and can make a walk in poor weather or darkness a far safer and more enjoyable experience.

Knowing the right compass techniques in bad weather or at night is invaluable. If you know you can confidently continue with your route, or come up with a safer alternative, you’re less likely to panic and get into greater danger. If you’re walking with less-experienced companions, your confidence may be what it takes to turn a potentially terrifying situation into an enjoyable if challenging walk.

Compasses can also play a role in decent weather, and if kept handy, and not stuffed into your rucksack, can help you decide quickly which of two paths is the correct one or help in identifying a landform to aid your navigation.

Most walks, of course, can be enjoyed without using a compass, but it is important to remember that learning to use a compass once, then forgetting about it is not a good plan. Regular practice will mean that when you hit bad weather or fading light, or are in remote countryside with few features, you will be able to use your compass successfully.

The same advice applies to all the other skills you’ll learn in this book. Knowing when and when not to use them is just as important as knowing the skills themselves. Pulling the right technique out of the hat at the right time will make for a far more enjoyable experience when out in the hills rather than fastidiously applying every skill and technique all the time. By all means practise and show others that you can use a compass, but you must also learn when using one is appropriate and when you can navigate sufficiently well without.

Even the most experienced walker will become uncertain of their location at some stage. They’ll know roughly where they are but may not be sure, for example, where they are in relation to a particular path that will take them off the hill. Simple locating techniques will come into play in such circumstances.

Figures 1.1a & 1.1b As you become more familiar with map reading, errors on the map shouldn’t throw you. The map (Figure 1.1a) shows a single large building to the west of the road junction. On the ground there are at least five buildings (Figure 1.1b.)

Becoming familiar with UK maps that have different scales, and which are produced by different publishers, will help you adjust to using foreign maps. Instead of sticking to a 1:25,000 OS map, take out a Harvey map or a 1:50,000 or 1:40,000 map, occasionally. The more variety you experience the quicker you’ll adjust when abroad.

It is also entirely possible to find a mismatch between the ground and the map (see Figures 1.1a & 1.1b). A good navigator will not be thrown by the unexpected and will study the detail of the map, comparing it with what they see in front of them. One aspect may be wrong or missing, but other features around should confirm your location.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Take a map of your local area and choose a short walk of a couple of kilometres long. As you walk this route, try to match the features on the ground with those marked on the map. How accurate is it? Are there features on the ground not shown on the map (and vice versa)? If so, you need to decide whether the presence or absence of those features would affect the accuracy of your navigation. Would you use a particular building, for example, as a point to look for prior to a change in direction? Would the absence of the building on the ground mean you would miss the direction change?

This exercise comes into its own when you are using unfamiliar maps (perhaps when abroad). Study the map closely and see how well it matches the ground before setting off to remote areas where you have to rely on it. Bear in mind also that the map symbols may differ from those you are used to.

Does the map match the features on the ground, and how well? The level of accuracy will obviously affect how much you rely on the map. If it’s not very accurate, navigate with care. Also bear in mind that urban areas (even in the UK) are resurveyed far more regularly than rural areas because changes are more frequent. Changes do also occur to the landscape in rural areas, however, and you should never assume that any map is 100 per cent accurate. They become historical documents as soon as the ink is dry

Figure 1.2 is a favourite of mine. After this book was first published, the OS mysteriously updated their maps to reflect the altered wall patterns they could see from the top photograph. However the wall patterns had also changed either side of the photograph; these stayed wrong on the updated map! I felt honoured that they used me as a source for their mapping! Since that initial update they’ve checked again and revised all the walling in this area.

So, what role does technology play in ensuring we can enjoy a good walk, run or ride in the hills? Anyone who knows me will be familiar with my views, which have largely gone unchanged in the 20-plus years that GPS receivers have been available for use in the hills. I am a firm believer in being able to use traditional map and compass skills and not being reliant on technology in any way. That said, there are times when having access to a bit of tech in your pocket can make your walk safer, more enjoyable or more efficient.

Figure 1.2 Compare the map extract with the top photograph. Some of the walls are missing on the ground, and there’s a footpath on the ground (in red) that doesn’t match the right of way on the map (shown in green). The lower photo shows what the pattern of walls and fields may once have looked like

I said above that my views have changed little in 20 years, but they have changed slightly. I always carry my smartphone with me, which has a very accurate GPS function. When I’m running a course, there are times when I consult my phone to confirm to participants their exact location. I also run and cycle a lot and always record my route, whether on my phone, a GPS watch or a GPS receiver. When I’ve finished, I then spend time poring over the copious statistics these gadgets produce – how fast did I complete a certain section? Was this quicker than last time? To me, walking is different, though. I’ve never felt the need to compare walks: how fast I walked a section or whether I walked a particular route in a new personal best! Each to their own, of course, but do remember that technology often can and does fail. Collecting stats is one thing but relying on it to navigate safely is another. Common sense would suggest that fully equipping yourself with the traditional skills is an essential, adding in technology if, and only if, it floats your boat!

Just one last thing before we get going. Map and compass skills are practical skills. Reading about them in a book is a good start but reinforcing them through a training course (see Appendix B) and plenty of practice on the hill is vital. Practise what you learn in this guide and when you find yourself having to navigate for real, you’ll do so efficiently and with confidence.

Note This book uses examples drawn from the UK using maps available in Britain. However, the techniques and skills covered are applicable to navigation in other countries.

CHAPTER 2

Map essentials – scales and grids

Maps come in all sizes and scales, and the first task is to decide which map is best for the job in hand. The first consideration has to be what is available. In the UK we are blessed with one of the world’s best mapping agencies, the Ordnance Survey (OS). With the whole of the country covered on a variety of scales, there is plenty of choice. Add to the OS maps those available from private companies, such as Harvey Maps, and there really is no excuse for not having the correct map.

But there is also a fabulous, largely untapped resource of maps, which for those beginning the journey of developing map-reading skills are there for the using. Orienteering maps generally come in larger scales than conventional outdoor maps (1:7,500, for example, as opposed to the smaller 1:25,000 scale). An online search for permanent orienteering courses will reveal hundreds of courses waiting for you to use them.

If you compare an orienteering map with an OS map, they obviously look different (There are similarities with Harvey maps – that’s how Harvey maps started.), which might put you off at first, but persevere because once you get used to them, a larger scale map has many advantages for the novice, but more about that later.

Figure 2.1 Orienteering Maps, although they look different, are a fantastic resource for the novice navigator

Map scales

The scale of a map relates to the ratio of the distance on the map to that on the ground. For example, on a map with a ratio of 1:15,000, 1cm on the map represents a distance of 15,000cm or 150m on the ground. Bear in mind that all UK maps are drawn using the metric system and an understanding of this is essential to good map reading.

Figure 2.2 shows how the distance breaks down on the three common walking map scales: 1:50,000, 1:40,000 and 1:25,000.

Figure 2.2

Figure 2.3 shows two map extracts of the same area. Compare the level of detail on each map. The 1:50,000 map (2.3b) is far less detailed as each grid square is smaller despite covering the same area of land. It is perfectly possible to walk with a 1:50,000 map, but if you have the choice, use a 1:25,000 map. The whole country is covered by the 1:25,000 OS Explorer maps, and selected areas are covered by the Harvey Superwalker series of the same scale (Figure 2.4a). Figure 2.4b also shows the same area at 1:40,000; this a less common scale but it is promoted by the British Mountaineering Council and mapped by Harvey.

Figures 2.3a & 2.3b 1:25,000 (above) and 1:50,000 (right) map extracts showing the same area of ground. Always try to use the map with the greatest amount of detail

Figures 2.4a & 2.4b The same map areas as in Figure 2.3: the first is taken from a Harvey 1:25,000 map and the second is a BMC Mountain Map (1:40,000) extract

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Get hold of a 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 map of the same area (and a Harvey Superwalker if available). Plan a short walk and compare the level of detail shown on each map. The difference between the two OS maps will be obvious, but how you react to the two 1:25,000 maps will largely depend on your personal preference. They look very different and the symbols used vary but the accuracy is pretty similar. Getting used to two sorts of maps and being able to switch from one to the other readily is a useful skill, especially if you walk abroad. Being able to look at a foreign map and quickly understand what it all means will make your foreign walking experiences all the more enjoyable and successful.

Grid lines

Grid lines first appeared on maps in the 1930s and came about as a response to the military need to be able to accurately locate objects. For today’s outdoor enthusiast, they have a role to play too. Many walkers’ groups, for example, use grid references to pinpoint the start of a walk, and being able to accurately state a grid reference to a mountain rescue team is vital.

Grid lines are the vertical (N–S) and horizontal (E–W) lines overprinted on all UK walking maps. They are drawn at 1km intervals, so the scale of the map determines how far the grid lines are apart. On a 1:25,000 map the grid lines (both vertical and horizontal) are 4cm apart (the equivalent of 1km – Figure 2.3a) and 2cm apart for the 1:50,000 (Figure 2.3b).

These grid lines are derived from a larger grid drawn over the whole country and beyond (Figure 2.5). Each side of each square represents 500km, and the squares are lettered A to Z (excluding I). Most of Britain falls into N, S, T and H.

Figure 2.5 The UK’s grid system is based on this 25-square illustration

These large squares are further subdivided into another 25 squares, with sides of 100km, and again lettered A to Z (excluding I), as shown in Figure 2.5.

The final subdivision breaks these smaller squares into 1km squares, which are the ones you see on the map. The vertical and horizontal grid lines are numbered from 1 to 99 along the sides, top and bottom of the map (and on some maps mid-sheet too). These squares are used to obtain a grid reference for a particular feature.

Grid references

The first step in reading a grid reference is to work out which of the 100km lettered squares you are in. You’ll find this either in the map’s key (Figure 2.6) or printed in blue at the corners of each map.

Figure 2.6 The grid letters for the map can be found in the key

Using the grid letters avoids ambiguity. There is only one SK 150 760 in the UK, but a 150 760 for each of the 100km squares. If you are giving a grid reference for the start of a walk, the full grid reference is important. However, for most of the time you use grid references you can avoid the grid letters. Figures 2.7a and 2.7b show two map extracts; both grid squares have the same grid numbers, and both have a pub – only the grid letters distinguish their actual location.

Figure 2.7 The pubs in Figures 2.7a and 2.7b share the same four-figure grid reference of 05 32; however, one is located in Workington (NY) the other near Uttoxeter (SK). The grid letters distinguish one from the other!

Reading four-figure grid references

Assuming you know the grid letters already, there are two simple techniques you can use to read a grid reference. Let’s say we want the grid reference for the youth hostel shown in Figure 2.8.

Figure 2.8 Method A

Method A

Remember the saying, ‘Go along the corridor, then up the stairs.’ This will remind you to use the grid numbers along the bottom (or top) of the map first and then use those up the side. The youth hostel lies between verticals 28 and 29 and horizontals 40 and 41. Always use the lower of the two numbers. So, the youth hostel has a grid reference of 28 40. If it were located in the ST area square, the full four-figure grid reference would be ST 28 40.

Figure 2.9 Method B

Method B

The second method requires you to ‘draw’ a capital L along the nearest grid lines (Figure 2.9). You then use the downstroke grid line first (28) and the horizontal-stroke line second (40) to obtain the grid reference.

Six-figure grid references

There are occasions when greater accuracy is required. For example, you may wish to navigate to junction A of the stream in Figure 2.10. You’ll see that there are a number of stream junctions in the same square, all of which share the same four-figure grid reference of 28 40. In this case a six-figure reference will accurately identify junction A.

To work out a six-figure grid reference, divide the square by a further 10 × 10 squares. Figure 2.11 shows this applied to Figure 2.10. Starting from vertical 28, the new subdivisions are numbered, west to east, 280, 281, 282, 283 and so on up to 289 and 290. The same applies, south to north, from horizontal 40, i.e. 400, 401, 402 and so on.

So, the grid reference for junction A of the stream is 283 407 (remember it’s the junction and not the letter!). Drawing an L around the grid lines will give the same result (Figure 2.12).

Figure 2.10 The three stream junctions all have the same four-figure grid reference (28 40)

Figure 2.11 Using a six-figure reference distinguishes the stream junctions from each other

Figure 2.12 Using the L method to establish a grid reference

Figure 2.13 The grid reference reminder on the OS map key

Note OS maps provide an explanation on how to read grid references, using an example taken from the map in question (Figure 2.13).

The terms ‘easting’ and ‘northing’ are used, which confuses matters. Understand only that you read the easting first (the vertical grid lines) followed by the northing (the horizontal grid lines). I much prefer the two methods described above.

Some countries, Sweden for example, give the northing first – and, therefore, when giving a grid reference abroad it may be worth including the words ‘north’ and ‘east’ (or south or west, depending on where you are) to avoid any confusion.

Accuracy

Time for a recap: the four-figure reference actually describes an area of 1km2 or 1000m × 1000m, which is 1,000,000m2. The six-figure reference reduces the area to 10,000m2, a considerably smaller area. If a grid reference is used to describe the location of an injured colleague, a rescue team would have a far greater chance of success searching an area of 10,000m2 rather than 1,000,000m2.

There may also be times when you could give an even more accurate grid reference – an eight-figure one. You can get the idea from Figure 2.12. Junction A of the stream appears to lie just over the midway point, between verticals 283 and 284 and horizontals 407 and 408. Use your eye to estimate an eight-figure reference – 2836 4076. An eight-figure grid reference increases the level of accuracy from 10,000m2 to 10m × 10m or 100m2. As this book was being put together What3Words (what3words.com) has been in the news, as many emergency organisations begin to adopt this alternative grid system. They use a 3m2 grid system covering the entire globe - each square has its own unique three words to identify it, which users can identify from a smartphone app. How this develops over the next few years will be interesting to watch. See their website for more details.

Using a Romer scale

With practice you can become reasonably accurate at working out the grid reference of a particular point by estimating the distance across and up the square by eye, but you can also use the scale that is printed along the edge of the base plate of your compass.

Figure 2.14 shows a typical compass. Along the end of the compass is a millimetre ruler, and on each of the sides are divisions relating to 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 scales. You already know that on a 1:25,000 map each grid square measures 4cm, so each new vertical and horizontal line will fall every 4mm. Figures 2.15a and 2.15b illustrate how to read a six-figure grid reference using the millimetre scale and the 1:25,000 divisions on your compass.

Figure 2.14 Typical walker’s compass

Figure 2.15a Using the millimetre scale to measure grid references – in this case the first part of a six-figure grid reference

Figure 2.15b Using the 1:25,000 divisions to measure grid references – in this case the second part of a six-figure grid reference

A Romer is a simple device that makes reading grid references even easier. Figure 2.16 shows one in action on a map. Place the corner of the Romer on the point in question; the grid reference is then read off against first the vertical grid line (283) and then against the horizontal grid line (407). Again, by estimating the distance between the subdivisions by eye it is possible to come up with a reasonably accurate eight-figure grid reference (2836 4076).

Figure 2.16 A Romer can be used to work out six-figure grid references

More expensive compasses have Romers for the common scales printed on their base plates (see Figure 6.12). You’ll also find a Romer for the common scales printed on the Navigational Aid that comes with the printed version of this book.

There is a quicker way to derive a grid reference. By firing up your GPS (or smartphone’s mapping app), you’ll be presented with one, assuming you are not in heavy tree cover or near a tall cliff and have a good GPS signal, of course. Quick and easy to do – this is probably the most that many GPS owners ever use their expensive units for! At least I can make phone calls from my mobile too!

Six or eight figures?

For the most part a six-figure grid reference is sufficient for our needs. However, there may be times when even greater accuracy can be useful, for example, when describing the location of an injured colleague. When giving an eight-figure reference, you must be absolutely certain that you are at that location.

Many GPS receivers and smartphones provide grid references of up to 10 figures – 1m accuracy. This is great in theory but just consider what that means on a 1:25,000 map, where 100m is represented by 4mm, 10m is 0.4mm and 1m is the equivalent of 0.04mm on a map. It’s impossible to distinguish detail at this level on a 1:25,000 map.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Using Figure 2.17 work out the six-figure and, if you can, eight-figure grid references for the marked points. Estimate the six-figure references first by eye and then using a 1:50,000 Romer scale or the scale on the compass edge (for the answers, see Appendix A).

Figure 2.17 Grid reference exercise

CHAPTER 3

Map symbols and contours

Understanding the symbols on a map is relatively straightforward. Each map has a key to the symbols, so if you get stuck you can find the answer easily. You’re sure to be familiar with many of them, so a full explanation of each is unnecessary for the purposes of this guide.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Regular use of your map, and a comparison between the ground and the map, as suggested in Chapter 1, will have brought you some way towards understanding the symbols. If you need further practice, plan a series of short walks in a variety of terrain and compare the features on the ground with the way they are shown on the 1:25,000 map. Repeat the exercise with a 1:50,000 map, a Harvey map and a BMC 1:40,000 map (if available).

However, some symbols do need explanation or, at least, clarification, particularly those relevant to walkers. Frequenters of the outdoors have always had a responsibility to walk, ride or run where they have legal access or right of way; however, since the enactment of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act in 2004 and 2005, this responsibility has increased.

Figure 3.1 shows the symbols used to denote roads, footpaths and other rights of way on a 1:25,000 OS map. Concentrating on the path and rights of way symbols in particular – shown in the lower half of the figure – let’s consider what they mean.

The short black dashes denote a path or, if two are drawn parallel, a track (shown in Figure 3.2 as F). These are routes that were visible on the ground while it was being surveyed. However, the presence of a path or track does not necessarily mean you can walk on it. You can only walk on a path or track if it is also marked by green right of way symbols. These symbols are shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1 1:25,000 map symbols for rights of way, including roads; the important ones for our use are the green dashed symbols, although your right to use them depends on whether you are on foot,
wheels or hooves

Figure 3.2 Most maps give a complicated picture of rights of way, visible paths, and rights of way with visible paths along their line

Figure 3.2 shows a map extract with many paths and rights of way. Route A is shown by short black dashes alone, which means the path is visible on the ground – but it is not a right of way. Look closely at route B; it has black and green dashes. This denotes a public right of way that is also visible on the ground.

Route C, on the other hand – short green dashes – is a public right of way, but without a visible path on the ground. Route D1 shows short green dashes on top of parallel black dashes; this illustrates a public footpath following a track. The public footpath at D2, in places, follows a track too, but in this case a track with field boundaries either side (fences, hedges or walls).

Route E – long green dashes – denotes a bridleway; bikes and horses, as well as those on foot, can use this route. Route F is a byway open to all traffic; any vehicle or pedestrian can use it (but try getting the Rolls up that!). Route G is a restricted byway, which is essentially the same as a bridleway, but you can also take a non-mechanically propelled vehicle (a horse and carriage!) along it as well.

And finally, just to confuse matters, ‘route’ H – small dots – isn’t a route at all; it’s a parish boundary not a public right of way, even though many walkers want to walk along them. See Figure 3.3 – these symbols are often confused with rights of way, especially the civil parish or community boundaries – but remember they are black. Rights of way on a 1:25,000 OS map are always shown in green.

Figure 3.3 Boundary symbols often confuse walkers. They shouldn’t do; if they’re not green, you can’t walk along them!

There is another designation of path that we can walk on; short or long brown dashes (Figure 3.4) denote concessionary or permissive paths. These are routes that the landowner has allowed the public to walk along (or ride in the case of a bridleway). It should also be noted that permission to use these paths can be withdrawn at any time. A permissive path will never become a right of way unless the landowner allows it. Some are closed once a year, or a small charge is made to prevent claims that they should be designated rights of way. If a permissive path is closed permanently, signs will be posted to that effect, but it will obviously take a long time for that change to be reflected on the map.

Figure 3.4 Permission to use concessionary routes can be withdrawn

We can also walk on land that has been designated access land. In England and Wales the symbol for access land changed with the passing of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which came into effect from September 2004. Access land is now shown as light-yellow shading bordered by pale-orange (Figure 3.5); access woodland is designated by a brighter green than the green used for non-access woodland (a consequence of mixing green and yellow). If you’re on access land, you can walk wherever you like (with seasonal considerations for wildlife and other land management issues). You’ll see that some of the ground shown in Figure 3.2 is shaded yellow. So, in fact, we can walk along route A, even though it isn’t a public right of way. Indeed, we can also walk off-path too and enjoy the freedom that access land gives us. (To check the current status of access land, visit www.openaccess.naturalengland.org.uk, and for information about access to military land, visit www.gov.uk/guidance/public-access-to-military-areas.)

Figure 3.5 OS Access land symbols

The availability of access land is a real bonus for walkers, but many don’t make the most of this new freedom. The temptation to stick to existing paths and tracks is overwhelming, and the privilege of being able to leave the path behind is rarely enjoyed. Once your navigation skills and confidence have improved, try wandering off the path sometimes; it’s a liberating experience.

However, the inability to navigate confidently must be another restricting factor. If you can trust in your navigation skills, then you can benefit fully from the freedom to roam. Hopefully, this guidebook will go some way to giving you that confidence.

Figure 3.6 A collection of footpaths, bridleways, concessionary routes and off-road cycle routes along with national trails confuse this area

Other route symbols

Other symbols have started to creep on to modern maps – such as small dots and diamonds (Figure 3.6) – relating to the burgeoning network of walking, riding and cycling trails. Although these sometimes run along roads and lanes, they can also provide interesting routes for walkers.

Types of map symbol

It’s worth mentioning at this stage that there are two sorts of symbols: those that show the location of a feature and those that show a general location. The former are in the majority: roads, paths, buildings, field boundaries and so on. The latter include vegetation symbols: forest, marsh, orchard, rough grassland and the like. Just because there’s a tree marked on the map doesn’t mean you’ll find one exactly at that spot on the ground.

Using different maps

So far, the emphasis has been on the symbols used on OS 1:25,000 maps. OS 1:50,000 maps use red as the principal colour for denoting rights of way (Figure 3.7) and Harvey maps use their own set of symbols (Figure 3.8). Knowledge of the symbols used by all the maps you use regularly will help you switch easily from one to the other. Harvey maps clearly make the distinction between public footpaths and bridleways that are visible on the ground against those that aren’t. Although this isn’t drastically different from the OS black dash overlain with a green dash to indicate a visible path on the ground that is also a right of way, the specific mention of it in the key is a useful reminder.

Figure 3.7 The symbols used on the 1:50,000 Landranger maps

Figure 3.8 The Harvey rights of way symbols

Access in the UK

As mentioned above, this has undergone radical changes this century and, although it is strictly outside the terms of this book, a brief summary of our access rights is appropriate here.

Scotland

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 created a right of ‘responsible access to land’. This formally legislated for what has existed in Scotland for many years. It established a public right of responsible access to land, including inland waterways, for both educational and recreational purposes. It also ensured landowners make provision for such access rights to be reasonably exercised. So, essentially, you can walk (and camp) wherever you like as long as you have no impact, although sometimes seasonal restrictions are put in place to allow for stag hunting or grouse shooting.

What confuses many who don’t walk often in Scotland is that rights of way are generally not shown on OS maps. However, so long as walkers behave responsibly, the ability to walk along paths marked on maps shouldn’t be a problem.

Figure 3.9 The Scottish public access symbols

There are plans for adding what the Scots call core paths (paths in and around towns and cities) to maps, and recreational routes are now being shown (Figure 3.9). For more details about access in Scotland and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code visit www.
outdooraccess-scotland.scot.

Ireland

The situation is not as straightforward here; there is no historic right of access to the hills of Ireland (north or south), and access seems to be at the whim of the landowner. Many long-distance walkers spend much of their time walking along lanes as a result. The best advice is to contact the nearest information centre to where you plan to walk.

England and Wales

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 opened up much of the mountain, moorland, heath and downland areas in England and Wales. This hasn’t greatly affected public rights of way, although some more obscure designations, for example, roads used as public paths (RUPPS) have been redefined as restricted byways. As far as access land is concerned, walkers can now enjoy access to far greater areas of land (Figure 3.10).

Figure 3.10 The access land symbol for England and Wales

Contours

One of the most useful symbols on maps are contour lines. Contours are lines that join points of equal height. The better you are at looking at contours and predicting the shape of the ground, the better you will be at route planning and on-the-hill navigation (see Figure 3.11).

Figure 3.11 Using ropes, poles and a small slope to understand the relationship between slopes and contours

The intervals between contours vary depending on what map you are using. On the 1:50,000 OS Landranger maps the interval is 10m; most Harvey maps have 15m intervals, the exceptions being Dartmoor, the Thames Path and Two Moors Way, which have 10m contours as the relief is less pronounced. The OS 1:25,000 maps have different contour intervals depending on whether or not you are in an upland area. Make sure you check the interval for the map you’re using.

For example, the OS Explorer Dark Peak map has 10m contours (Figure 3.12a), yet its neighbouring White Peak map has 5m contours (Figure 3.12b).

Figure 3.12a Contour lines at 10m intervals

Figure 3.12b Contour lines at 5m intervals

Compare the two map extracts. The valley shown in Figure 3.12b has many contour lines close together, which gives the appearance of the slope being steeper than that shown in Figure 3.12a. However, the contour interval is 10m in Figure 3.12a as against 5m in Figure 3.12b, so you’d actually be climbing higher and steeper if you were walking in the area in Figure 3.12a.

Just be careful if you’re studying your maps on-screen when two maps join with different contour intervals; the 5m interval lines will stop! (Figure 3.13 – spot the grid lines ending in the middle of nowhere! This shows the transition from the White Peak to Dark Peak maps with their different contour intervals.) There are other points to note about contours too:

Figure 3.13 The divide between two maps with different contour intervals (note also the missing contours where the old quarries are located.)

Every fifth contour is drawn slightly thicker – an aid to counting height climbed or descended.

If you turn the map so that the numbers denoting contour height are the right way up, you’re looking uphill.

The closer the contours, the steeper the slope.

When the ground becomes very steep, for example, along a cliff line, the contour lines merge into one and crag symbols are used (Figure 3.14). (As a side note, a few years ago the OS changed the colour used to denote crags from black to a far from obvious grey. I haven’t managed to get a plausible explanation from the OS as to why this change was made, but the outcome is that crags are now a lot less visible on OS 1:25,000 maps – be careful!)

Contour lines tend to be omitted in quarries and opencast mining areas; generally speaking, this is not a problem as we don’t tend to walk in these areas, but inevitably the lines will be missing years after the work has finished (Figure 3.15, to the west of Crossdale Head Mine).

Figure 3.14 The OS symbols for heights and natural features; the contour interval will be indicated here in your map key

Figure 3.15 The contours are omitted to the west of Crossdale Head Mine – this is a former quarry

Learning contours

There is no easy route to grasping what contours illustrate on a map. Some people will study maps for years and still find them just a mess of wiggly lies. But care and perseverance will help make things clearer. Here are a few hands-on ways of learning contours.

If you have access to some long lengths of rope and a couple of walking poles, find a small embankment (perhaps a children’s playground or the edge of a football field) and extend one pole to its full length, keeping the other as short as possible (or use a 30cm ruler instead) (see Figure 3.11). Lay one rope out around the embankment, keeping it at the same height (as a contour line does). Then take the second rope and using the short pole as the vertical height and the long pole as a guide as to where to place the rope, lay out the second rope. Try this again if you can find a small gully/valley. You could, of course, try this on a smaller scale using string, cocktail sticks and a cushion or pillow.

Figure 3.16 A simple contour map with a double-summit hill

This one is for the secret Blue Peter presenter in you. Take a large sheet of paper and draw a hill with a couple of summits and a saddle in between (like that in Figure 3.16). Add contour lines at regular intervals as though you were looking down upon the hill from above. Then take some more paper and trace the different contour lines on to separate sheets and attaching each sheet to a flat piece cardboard, cut out each contour shape. Now reconstruct the hill in 3D, using the cardboard sheets. Can you name the various parts of the hill: saddle, summits, ring contours, spur, ridge, valley? You could expand this by copying the contour shape of a hill or valley you know well. Build a scale model of your valley, take it out to the area in question and compare the two. Are there any features that are not represented on your model (and therefore in the contours on the map)? Is this because they’ve been missed off, or are they too small in scale to show in contour changes?

Figure 3.17 The 2D and 3D versions of the same map. If your digital mapping software has this option, you have another method for learning contours

The feature I like most of all with most computer-based digital mapping software is the ability to turn flat, 2D maps into 3D images. Suddenly, contours come alive and instead of looking at a collection of brown lines, obscured by other symbols, you can see the shape of the ground. It makes learning to read contours an absolute breeze (Figure 3.17).

My last suggestion is pretty radical and involves you taking your map outside into an area with some interesting landforms. Sit on top of a hill and compare and contrast what you can see on the map with what you can see on the ground. Throw in a flask of coffee, a sticky bun and blue sky, and you’ll be in heaven.

Slopes

As your exploration of contours lines will have revealed, the space between the contour lines helps determine the shape and steepness of the slope. Figure 3.18 shows three simple examples of different slope characteristics.

A: Regular spacing between the contours gives a straight slope.

B: Closer contours at the top make the slope concave.

C: Closer contours at the base make the slope convex.

The closer the contour lines, the steeper the ground. If you don’t like steep slopes, avoid close-packed contours!

Planning a route

It’s a good idea to study a planned route on the map before setting out, so that you can anticipate the ups and downs. In terms of digital mapping, the ability to plan a walk on-screen makes the above job even easier. Route planning on-screen usually involves clicking your intended route at various stages, which will produce a straight line between this and the last point (waypoint or waymarker). If you have a very wiggly route, you’ll end up with hundreds of waymarkers on your route, or an approximation of the route (and distance walked). On-screen planning comes into its own through your ability to zoom into the map, so you can see more details of where you’re walking. The on-screen version will also give you an idea of the route profile.

Whether you use a digital map or a conventional paper one, it doesn’t matter. If you look upon a walk as a story, each leg of the route is a chapter. How many legs or chapters you have will depend on your map memory and, to some extent, how many things there are along the route to spot and tick off.

Figure 3.18 Showing how contour spacing affects the shape of a slope

Figure 3.19 Studying the contour patterns, as well as the actual features along the route, will give you a good idea of the lie of the land before you set out

Figure 3.19 shows a route running from bridleway A, via B and C, and ending at D by the side of the reservoir. Here’s a short description of the walk, taking into account what is indicated by the contours. Legs A to D are our chapters.

The bridleway starts rising gently, before swinging round and climbing steeply (crossing the contours at right angles) up to the shelter. The path then contours (stays level) for a short while, with a wall to your right, and then just after a track joins the bridleway, it starts to climb with increasing steepness with the woodland on your right. Crossing through a wall, we leave the woodland behind. The path climbs steeply at first then more gently up to the path at B.

Turning south, the route follows a right of way with a visible path on the ground. The path contours at this point. After about 150 metres a footpath continues uphill (crossing contours, not straight up the slope) but we carry on the level with a wall on our right. At various stages along this route there are large boulders on either side of the bridleway and downslope (on the reservoir side of the path); there’s a visible path (but not a public right of way) roughly paralleling the path we’re on. Just before you reach point C, you will pass near Whinstone Lee Tor, and the slope either side of you will get steeper.

When a bridleway comes in from the left, turn sharp right on a footpath, and following the wall downhill for 150 metres and turning back on yourself, continue following the wall downhill to the edge of the woodland. The path gets increasingly steeper as you descend. The path enters the wood after a while and there are a number of walls that cross the path, or the remains of walls at least. The path continues to contour here. As you join the track at Ashopton,
turn right and follow the bridleway track downhill
to the side of the reservoir.

So, that’s the story. As you walk this route, use this narrative to check you are in the right place, ticking off the features and slope directions as you pass them.

How common features are shown by contours

Sometimes a landscape feature is clearly shown by the contour patterns; at other times it’s important to look at some of the other symbols on the map. For example, I expect we all know what a valley looks like on a map; the distinctive V-shape of the contour lines is a good indicator, but it could also be a spur or ridge rising out of lower ground. Figure 3.20 shows a valley and a spur – note the similarity in the contour shapes from A to B (down the spur) and A to C (down the valley). However, by noting the stream running from A to C, the name of the spur (The Ridge!) and the inclusion of a couple of spot heights, you shouldn’t mistake the spur for the valley or vice versa.

Figure 3.20 Spurs and valleys are often found next to each other. Don’t confuse one with the other; the Vs in the contours point uphill in a valley but downhill on a spur

Figure 3.21 Two common upland features and the way they are represented by contours

You’ll begin to recognise other landscape features the more you compare your map with the ground, especially if you practise in a hilly area. Figure 3.21 shows a couple of common features: first, a saddle or col (lower ground that links two hills or mountains) and second, a feature you’ll find in upland glaciated landscapes, the corrie, cwm or cirque. Formed by the actions of a glacier scouring out the head of a valley, they are recognisable by the characteristic horseshoe shape of their contours.

I could cover many more examples but have a go at the following exercise and things should start to fall into place.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

The more you study contours and try to determine the shape of the land they represent, the better your navigation skills will become. You can practise both inside and out.

Indoors

Take a map of an area you’re familiar with (I’m assuming you are looking at a map of a hilly area of the UK). Looking carefully at the contours, try to work out the shape of the feature. If you have access to digital mapping software, you will be able to view the landscape in 3D. Study a flat map and try to work out the shape of the ground, then press the 3D button and it’ll appear in front of your eyes. Were you correct?

Outdoors

Assuming you’re in an area with hills, plan a short walk. Break the walk down into small sections and, as in the example above (see Figure 3.19), work out what is happening on the ground: are you going uphill, downhill or staying on the flat? Then walk the section and see if your description matches reality. Repeat for the rest of the walk.

CHAPTER 4

Walking with the map

Understanding everything on your map is an important first step in using it properly, but it is not the complete answer. Many walkers think they are proficient map-readers, but, in reality, most don’t look at the map in sufficient detail, or sufficiently often, and fail to spot features that can help them keep track of where they are. Being able to do this is invaluable if you want to avoid getting lost.

Setting the map

A common mistake is heading in the wrong direction, especially at the start of the walk! One simple technique is available to help you avoid doing this – setting your map.

When you read a book, convention has it that we read it with the words the right way up. This, unfortunately, carries over into reading maps. An oft-quoted complaint against women map reading in cars is that they turn the map upside down when they are heading north to south. Good for them; turning your map so it is facing the direction in which you are heading is extremely sensible. It means that if a feature appears on the left-hand side of your route on the map, it’ll appear on the left-hand side on the ground, too. This will obviously mean that the words on your map may be upside down or sideways, but words are often perfectly readable the wrong way around.

So, how do you set the map? There are two methods, one more accurate than the other.

The first (less accurate) method is to find a linear feature, such as a wall, stream or road, and turn the map round so the feature on the map coincides with the run of the feature on the ground. This will not be 100 per cent accurate, but it will give you a reasonable approximation and should cut out any obvious errors (Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1 Setting the map using linear features

The second method is more accurate and involves using your compass. This oft-misunderstood piece of equipment will be discussed in greater detail in the following chapters, but if you know nothing else about a compass, you’ll probably know that the red end of the compass needle always points north. We also know that the top of the map is always north. Holding your map horizontally (or laying it on a flat surface), put your compass on your map and then turn your map underneath the compass until the north–south grid lines align with the compass needle and the red end points to the top of the map (Figures 4.2a & 4.2b).

Both techniques produce the same result. Once you have the map set, try to ensure it stays set throughout your walk. Turn the map whenever you change direction and reset the map whenever you stop and consult it. Being disciplined will help you to keep on track during a walk, matching land and map features accurately.

It is worth mentioning here that the majority of GPS units (with maps), phones and satnav systems don’t have north at the top of the screen. Can you imagine the problems we’d have in trying to follow a route on a satnav if we also had to remember that we’re heading in the opposite direction to that shown on the screen?

Figure 4.2 …and turn it till the red end of the needle points to north on the map

Figure 4.3 Practice orientating your map with this indoor exercise

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

For a bit of fun one evening (this would be a good Christmas activity when the family are look for something to do other than watch television) give everyone a sheet of A4 paper and a pencil. Ask them to imagine there is no roof on the room and they are hovering above it looking down. Get them to draw the room first, marking on all the furniture (Figure 4.3 shows a similar exercise in a training room.).

The next stage is to designate one wall as north (say the side with the fireplace). Place an N on the north wall. If you’ve got some playing cards (you could, of course, make some cards with map symbols on them) and Blu Tack, put five or six cards at various locations around the room, on furniture and on walls, and ask the family to mark these on their drawings. Next, ask them to draw on their maps a route between the different cards; this could be a direct line between them all or a twisty-turny route.

Now it’s time for some exercise. Starting from their current location, they are to walk their route, making sure the north of the map coincides with the north wall of the room. When they’ve completed that, ask them to swap places and maps with someone else and repeat the exercise, trying to interpret someone else’s map. The last, probably chaotic, stage is to follow a third person’s route, but this time with the map not set.

Hopefully, the exercise has shown how important it is to have the map set when following a route – if it was chaos indoors, imagine what it would be like outdoors on a walk.

Map cases

It’s important to consider how best to look after your maps. Most people use map cases, which come in all shapes and sizes, some more useful than others. The biggest mistake most users make is hanging the case around their neck. You can’t set a map with it hanging on a string from your neck. Hold the map case in your hand and remove the string.

An alternative to a map case is to use a laminated map. The advantage of using a laminated map is that the whole map is readily available, rather than just the small section exposed in your map case. Lamination also protects the map; a laminated map will last much longer than a paper one. The downside is that laminated maps are more costly and slightly bulkier, but if you walk often in the same area, using the same one or two maps, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Figure 4.4 Laminated maps are more robust and can withstand
ill-treatment and bad weather better than paper maps

A second alternative would be to print out the section of map you need for your walk (but always have the full map sheet handy in your rucksack). This assumes you have a decent printer, of course. You could also laminate it or put it in a protective pouch to make it last longer. Handling a single sheet of A4 is obviously easier than managing a full sheet map. Did I mention always carry your map with you as well, though? No? Please always carry your full map with you and keep it handy. Please!

Many handheld GPS units and phones also have the ability to display maps. Screens are pretty good, especially on phones, but you are restricted to a limited screen view of the map and may miss a useful navigation feature that is just off your screen. My advice is to stick to the paper version.

Map memory

As has already been mentioned, maps contain a great deal of information, but most walkers don’t appreciate quite how much there is and how useful it is to their navigation.

Using the technique I discussed in the last chapter, break your walk into sections and tell yourself a story as you progress. A good navigator will do this automatically, mentally planning the next section of the walk in advance. First, study the contours and then consider the features you will encounter along the way. This needn’t take very long; indeed, the more often it’s done, the quicker it’ll take. If when walking the route your mental picture doesn’t match the ground, quickly reassess where you think you are. Was your planning incorrect or are you heading in the wrong direction? Without rapid reassessment you’re likely to walk a lot further off-route before you realise your mistake. The more you do this, the better your memory will become, and the sections of the walk will get longer while the errors you make will decrease.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Plan a short walk and break it into sections. At the start of each section spend some time studying the map. Look first at the contours, as we did at the end of the last chapter; will you be going uphill, downhill or will you be staying on the same level? Next, make a mental note of the features you will be passing, then walk the section, mentally ticking off the features and changes in slope as you progress. Repeat for the rest of the walk. The more you do this, the more automatic it will become and the more your map memory will improve.

CHAPTER 5

Introducing the compass

Ask your average walker whether they can use a compass, and the chances are pretty high that it’ll be a big fat NO. Compass manufacturers don’t help with the instruction leaflets they provide, and, what’s more, generations of compass teachers haven’t helped either – and that includes myself.

I learnt my craft in the Scouts as a youth and again when I was a young geography teacher, fresh out of college. Map and compass training followed a standard procedure: map first, followed by details about what makes a good compass and how to take and follow an accurate bearing. Being able to read and follow a compass bearing is important, of course, but many find the traditional approach at best complicated and at worst – totally baffling.

So, to break with tradition, and to adopt the approach being advocated by the National Navigation Award Scheme (nnas.org.uk), we’re going to start using a compass before we really learn about it!

We already know that the red end of a compass needle points north because you have already learnt to set or orientate the map by turning yourself, map and compass round so the red end of the needle points to the top of the map.

Figure 5.1 shows a rather unconventional-looking compass; unconventional unless you are an orienteer. This is a thumb compass. You’ll notice something obvious about it apart from its shape. It does have the red end of a needle, but there aren’t any numbers around the compass dial; in fact, if you had the compass in your hand, you’d discover the compass dial doesn’t move either. The direction of travel (DOT) arrow and the red end of the needle are the only two things you need to use with this compass.

Figure 5.1 A thumb compass, used by the best navigators – orienteers!

‘What’s that?’ I can hear you muttering. ‘I go walking, not orienteering. Why am I being told about orienteering compasses?’ In answer, let’s briefly consider what the sport of orienteering entails: speedy navigation around a course while looking for small markers, posts or flags. Speedy is the key word. If every orienteer took accurate bearings to get them to the next flag and followed them as assiduously as most navigation teachers tell their students to, my earlier description wouldn’t require the word ‘speedy’.

Orienteers are quick and efficient navigators not only in determining the direction in which to go, but in interpreting the terrain along the way as well.

So, how do the majority of the more sedate compass users benefit from this and without the benefit of a thumb compass? Let’s imagine a scenario where you arrive at a path junction and are not sure which path is the correct one or, as in the illustrations, where the path actually goes (Figure 5.2). Identify the path on the map and place the edge of your compass along it (Figure 5.3). Now turn yourself, map and compass around until the red end of the needle is pointing to the top of the map. Figure 5.4 shows the red end of the needle pointing to the top of the map, the edge of the compass running along the line of the path and the DOT arrow indicates the direction you should walk across the field (Figure 5.4a shows this in diagrammatic form).

Figure 5.2 Just where does this path go across the field?

Figure 5.3 Lay the edge of the compass across the path in question

Figure 5.4 Turn yourself, map and compass around until the red end of the needle points to the top of the map. Follow the direction of travel arrow.

Figure 5.4a The end result in diagrammatic form – follow the line indicated by the DOT arrow

Having taught this method for a while now, I have noticed that one thing my students struggle with is how to hold the map and compass, especially if they are holding a full-size OS map. The temptation is for them to hold the map so that one of the straight edges is parallel to their stomach; this usually results in them twisting their arms in strange angles and not looking along the DOT arrow (Figure 5.5).

The correct way is, in effect, to stand behind your compass. By doing this your toes and nose are pointing in the same direction as the DOT arrow (Figure 5.6). With the compass correctly placed, you can understand that there will be times when the map is at an angle to your body; this is correct (Figure 5.7).

Figure 5.5 How not to hold your compass

Figure 5.6 Holding a compass correctly without the map

Figure 5.7 And with the map – the bottom of the compass still lies parallel to you…the map sits awkwardly

Once you have this fixed in your mind, this is a very quick and efficient method of checking a direction. Here’s another scenario: you arrive at a stile but looking across the field, you can’t see the exit stile or the direction the path follows on the ground. Place the edge of the compass along the line of the path on the map, or between the entrance and exit points, and holding the map, compass and you correctly, turn yourself around until the red end of the needle is pointing to the top of the map; the DOT arrow is now pointing you in the correct direction.

The more you do this practically on a walk, the more familiar you’ll become with the compass, and you’ll find yourself whipping out the compass more regularly (or even keeping it in your hand throughout your walk), and it will suddenly become a useful tool rather than something you just use in an emergency.

Just a quick word here about something called Magnetic Variation (MV), which we’ll cover later in the book (Chapter 7). The information above assumes that the MV is non-existent or very little (less than 5°). This should see us ok for the next 30 to 40 years here in the UK, but if you’re reading this in 2058 (only three years till my century – send me a card!) or somewhere in the world where the MV is higher than 5°, then skip forward to Chapter 7 where I discuss MV in more detail.

Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s take a look at all the various types of compasses available and what to choose.

CHAPTER 6

Choosing your compass

Having the right tools for any job is important, and if you’ve ever bought cheaply only to have the item break at the vital moment, you’ll realise that false economies can be made. The same applies to your navigational tools, especially the compass. Choose badly and you’ll get into trouble; choose wisely and you’ll increase your chances of safe and accurate navigation.

If you choose your compass based on the information given in this chapter, you will be selecting a good make. Silva is a well-respected name, and I’m often asked about the difference between the various types of compass available. I’ll detail the main ones below, but it’s worth stressing that the build quality and accuracy of the compass housing used on the cheapest Silva protractor compass (currently the Field) is the same as that used on the Expedition 4 compass, which is much more expensive.

What to look for

Figure 6.1 shows a typical beginner’s compass. It has all the essentials without any extras. Let’s go through the various parts in more detail.

Compass needle

The needle is the most important part of your compass and is usually made of metal. In some higher specification compasses the needle is sometimes made of plastic; a small bar magnet attached to the needle does the work. Where the magnet sits is immaterial; the important thing to realise is that it is susceptible to deflection by other metal objects. If you carry a mobile or a camera, or have metal zips, a wired bra or other metallic objects on your person, check that the needle isn’t being affected before you rely on your compass for accurate navigation.

The other important thing to remember is that the red end of the needle points north. The other end, whatever the colour, points south; this may seem obvious, but remembering that it points in the other direction will help when you are checking the accuracy of your bearings.

Figure 6.1 The minimum requirements for a walker’s compass

Be careful where you store your compass. Keep it away from any objects with strong magnetic fields, such as TVs or speakers. I have a compass whose red end points south; it lived in the boot of a car with large speakers!

Compass housing

This is the circular part of the compass that houses the needle. It’s filled with a liquid that dampens the needle’s movement, bringing it to a stop quickly. If anything will go wrong with your compass, it’ll probably be the development of a bubble in the housing. If the bubble remains small and doesn’t affect the needle’s movement, then it’s not a problem. Once the bubble grows and stops the needle from settling in the correct position, it’s time to replace the compass.

The liquid also has another hidden function, at least it does in a good compass. A Silva compass housing, for example, contains white spirit and a secret ingredient that prevents the build-up of static electricity on the needle. Without this your needle may stick in the wrong place and not point north. A cheap compass won’t have this feature.

You should be able to move the compass housing relatively easily. However, if it is loose and moves too easily, you’ll end up changing bearings during your navigation. When assessing a compass in a shop before making a purchase, move the compass round a few times to see how comfortable the movement is. Try it again with your thick winter gloves on; if you can’t move it when wearing these, how will you cope when navigating in the depths of winter?

Around the edge of the compass, the 360 degrees of a circle should be marked, along with the major cardinal points (N, E, S, W). These should be printed clearly and rise in divisions of two degrees. Anything greater than two degrees and you won’t be able to accurately take or follow bearings. Some compasses don’t have the divisions marked near the edge of the housing (Figure 6.2). This will result in your bearings being inaccurate. If you are serious about navigation, avoid compasses like this.

On the base of the compass housing there should be a series of parallel lines, the middle two of which form an arrow. These are the orienting lines and housing arrow. You will see that the housing arrow points to the N on the edge of the housing.

Figure 6.2 An example of a poorly designed compass; the degrees are marked on the inner edge of the housing, which will produce inaccurate bearings

Base plate

The compass housing sits on a clear plastic base plate. You can buy compasses with different-sized base plates; choose one that fits comfortably in your hand. The only difference a small base plate makes over a long one is that you’ll be restricted in the length of bearings you’ll be able to take.

Direction of travel arrow (DOT)

This runs from the edge of the compass housing towards the end of the base plate and is parallel to the two long sides of the base plate. Closer inspection of the compass housing of many compasses will reveal an extension of the DOT – a line – under the numbers. Turn the housing slightly and you should see the line underneath; this is a great help in reading bearings accurately.

Scale

Some kind of ruler on the base plate is very useful. You can measure distances and thereby calculate how long a particular section of your walk will take. Some compasses use a millimetre scale, others have a scale converted for 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 maps. Such scales are not essential, although they do save on the mental maths.

Magnifying lens

Although not essential, the small lens does help if you are struggling to see the detail of a complicated section of map. Don’t be afraid (or too vain) to use it; it really does help.

Other features

The basic compass in Figure 6.1 represents the workhorse of the compass world. It has all the necessary features with none of the extras, and it will cost around £20. Spend more and you’ll get more features, the most useful of which is probably a series of Romers for 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:40,000 maps (see Figure 6.3). As you saw in Chapter 2, it is possible to read a grid reference from eye or using the millimetre scale on the base plate, so the addition of a Romer isn’t essential; it just means that you are saved the mental maths again.

Figure 6.3 Romers on a compass; here we have three scales: 1:50,000, 1:25,000 and 1:40,000

Another useful add-on, found on more expensive compasses, is silicon feet on the underside of the base plate. These help prevent the compass from slipping on the map, which is especially useful when taking a bearing in the wet.

Other additions include circles and triangles punched out of the base plate – useful if you start the sport of orienteering – and luminous blobs to help you see important parts of the compass in low-light conditions.

What kind of compass?

So far, we’ve looked at the features your compass should have. Let’s now explore the range of compasses available.

Marching compass

This kind of compass is the pride of many an old soldier; with it he could walk in any direction commanded of him. A marching compass lacks the features required to take a bearing from the map, and it has limited use today (Figure 6.4).

Figure 6.4 A marching compass

Figures 6.5a & 6.5b Wrist compasses – perfect for helping you to quickly orientate your map

Wrist compass

At first glance these might look like a child’s toy rather than a serious piece of navigational equipment. They sit on the wrist and essentially do nothing other than show you where north is (Figures 6.5a and 6.5b). For those who struggle to orientate the map, a wrist compass can make a big difference. You can quickly see where north is and turn your map around accordingly. I say all it does is point north; however, you can use your thumb as the DOT arrow: line the edge of it along the path you wish to follow and then turn yourself, map and compass around until the red end of the compass points north, then follow your thumb!

Thumb compass

As we saw in the last chapter, thumb compasses are conventionally a tool used by orienteers. They are simple, no-twiddle compasses. The needle is usually plastic (with a small magnet attached underneath). This means the needle settles much quicker than a normal needle. As I mentioned before, speed is of the essence for the orienteer. The drawback with thumb compasses is the price; because they are a niche product, they don’t come cheap (Figure 6.6).

Figure 6.6 Thumb compass

Protractor compass

This is the name given to the compass illustrated in Figure 6.7, otherwise known as a base plate compass. The addition of the base plate means a compass bearing can be calculated. Protractor compasses come in many sizes and cost various prices.

Figure 6.7 Protractor compass

Sighting compass

These represent the next step-up in the compass world, and if used correctly will enable you to follow more accurate bearings. If you intend to navigate across mountain and moorland, this kind of compass should be a serious consideration (Figure 6.8). It is more accurate because it’s held up at eye level (Figure 6.8b), rather than down at the belly button.

Figure 6.8a Sighting compass

Bearings can be taken from the map in the same way as when using a protractor compass. The increased accuracy comes when using the compass on the hill. By folding the mirrored lid over the top of the compass housing, you can accurately line up the compass housing and the needle and use the sighting nick on the lid to sight to a feature on your bearing (see Chapter 7).

Figure 6.8b A sighting compass is more accurate than a protractor compass as it is held up at eye level

Figure 6.9a Prismatic compass

Prismatic compass

A clever adaptation of the protractor compass is the prismatic compass. This has a small lens in the compass housing (A) opposite a window on its side (B). Once you have read your compass bearing in the conventional way, look through the window and in the lens you’ll see the compass dial. Turning yourself round until the bearing shows, you’ll be able to line up ground features along your bearing very accurately (see Figures 6.9a & 6.9b).

Figure 6.9b Using a prismatic compass

Home or abroad?

Large numbers of walkers now regularly take walking holidays abroad. Adding a compass to your rucksack is a good idea in theory – but beware. A compass bought in the UK, for example, will not work in New Zealand.

If you were to take a bar magnet and suspend it from a string at its centre, it wouldn’t lie horizontally. Take your magnet round the world and the angle at which the magnet lies will change, depending on the way the magnetic field ‘emerges’ from the ground at the point at which you are standing. If you substitute your bar magnet for your compass, the result will be the same for the needle.

Therein lies the problem. A northern hemisphere compass is balanced so it lies more or less horizontally in the northern hemisphere; take it to the southern hemisphere and it won’t be balanced. The needle will scrape around the compass housing, and it will not show an accurate reading.

To compensate for this Silva, for example, produce compasses balanced for three magnetic regions: Magnetic North, Magnetic Equator and Magnetic South (see Figure 6.10). Look on the underside of your compass to see what zone your Silva compass is built for (Figure 6.11).

Figure 6.10 If you don’t have a global compass, you’ll need to buy a compass balanced to the zone you’re walking in

Figure 6.11 The MN denotes that this compass needle is balanced for Silva’s magnetic north zone

An alternative is to buy a compass that can be used globally. The different manufacturers choose to tackle this issue in different ways, from deeper compass housings to tiny bar magnets set within a plastic needle that can swing through the required angle changes (Figure 6.12).

Figure 6.12 The Silva Expedition Global compass: the needle is built to balance correctly around the globe

CHAPTER 7

Taking a bearing from the map

Now that we have looked at the different compasses available, how they work and how they can be employed simply, it’s time to take your compass skills up a notch. A quick comparison between the length of Chapter 5 and this one will reveal that accurate bearings are more complicated and require more explanation. Let’s start by clarifying a few terms.

What is a bearing?

Figure 7.1 shows a simple map. You are at A and want to navigate to B. The bearing is the angle (x degrees) between North, A (where you are) and B (where you want to go).

It is obviously possible to use a school protractor to measure the angle but remember: the base plate compass is also called a protractor compass. Figures 7.2a–7.2c show how to read that same angle in three simple steps using a compass.

Figure 7.1 The bearing is the angle NAB

Figure 7.2a Place the edge of the compass between A and B with the DOT arrow pointing in the direction you want to go (towards B)

Figure 7.2b Turn the compass housing round until the housing arrow points north and the orienting lines are parallel to the vertical grid lines on the map

Figure 7.2c Read the compass bearing (109 degrees) off against the DOT arrow

Choosing where you wish to go next isn’t as simple as dropping your finger on the map and taking a bearing to it. You know where you are, so select the next point carefully. Check the terrain you’ll be heading over; is it steep? Does it cross rivers or multiple streams or pass through thick woodland? Check the length of the section too, as a very long section can be hard to navigate accurately. Sometimes picking a few shorter navigation legs is easier than negotiating a long one over difficult terrain.

Note In Chapter 5 we placed our compass on our map and turned ourselves round to line the top of the needle to the top of the map. However, when you’re taking a detailed bearing on a map, ignore the needle for now. You’ll notice in the next few diagrams I’ve omitted the needle.

As simple as it is, there are a couple of things that can go wrong. First of all, you could have the DOT arrow pointing in the wrong direction; secondly, the housing arrow may be pointing south. If you make one of these errors, your compass bearing will be 180 degrees out. Do both and your bearing will actually be correct (but I don’t recommend you adopt this method as a habit!).

Accuracy

Accuracy with this sort of bearing is important; if it wasn’t then you might as well stick to Chapter 5! If you are to navigate successfully around the hills, every opportunity should to be taken to eliminate errors. In the above example a number of things could go wrong, resulting in an inaccurate reading.

You could take your bearing from the name of the feature on the map rather than the feature itself.

You could place the compass roughly between the two features rather than exactly. (Sometimes it’s easier to use one of the two lines on the base plate that run parallel to the long edges, rather than use the compass edge – Figure 7.3.)

Figure 7.3 Using the parallel lines on the base plate can sometimes make it easier to line the compass accurately between the two points

You might not have the orienting lines exactly parallel to the vertical grid lines; just a fraction out will produce an error of a degree or two. If you can’t see any vertical grid lines through the compass housing, move the compass slightly (but still between the two features) until you can.

You may not read your bearing accurately against the DOT arrow: 30 degrees is different to 31 degrees. It’s possible to read your bearing to an accuracy of 0.5 degrees.

Different types of bearing

You have placed your compass on the map and taken a bearing between two points; this is called a map or grid bearing. In order to walk on this bearing, you will need to convert it into a magnetic bearing. Before we can do this, we need to consider north or – to be more precise – the three norths.

The first north is the one around which the earth rotates – the North Pole. This is also called True North.

The second is the north to which the vertical grid lines point – Grid North. British maps are all drawn with this artificial National Grid system (see Chapter 2). Some countries ‘simplify’ matters by drawing their maps with a grid that coincides with True North. The OS’s explanation for using the National Grid rather than True North is simple: the earth sometimes wobbles on its axis, and so the location of True North varies. Align maps to a made-up north and a wobbly earth won’t be a problem. (The difference made by a wobbly earth is likely to be miniscule so far as walkers are concerned, but maps are not drawn solely for our purposes – engineers and surveyors, for example, work to finer levels of accuracy than walkers.)

The third north is the one your compass needle points to – Magnetic North. If you thought a wobbly earth was bad enough, how about this: Magnetic North is moving. It currently lies in north-eastern Canada and is moving east by approximately one-sixth of a degree or 10’ every year.

Magnetic variation

The difference between Magnetic North and Grid North (or True North if you are using a map whose grid is aligned that way) is the magnetic variation or MV. Because Magnetic North is moving, and because the angle between Magnetic North and where you are changes depending on where you are on earth, MV varies in both time and place (see Figure 7.4).

What this means for the outdoor user is an interesting question. In the UK, at the moment of writing (2019), the MV is between 1°30’ W and 0°30’ E. A standard Silva compass is made to a tolerance of ± 1 degree. This makes a very credible argument for essentially ignoring it. However, should you decide to nip across to California for a walking holiday and forget to make adjustments for an MV of 13°30’ – you will soon become bear food!

Figure 7.4 MV varies according to your location

I’ve been teaching people to navigate for over 30 years so have become used to going through the intricacies of adjusting for MV before walking on a bearing, so I do admit to feeling slightly uneasy about not currently teaching it at all on my courses. However, for the sake of completeness, and for those who live or walk abroad, I’ll cover it here.

First of all, we need to find out what the MV is. The simplest way is to look at an up-to-date map and it should tell you in the key. The following information is printed on my most recent OS Explorer Dark Peak Map (dated 2015).

At the centre of the E and W sheets True North is 0°15’ and 0°03’ west of Grid North, respectively.

Magnetic North is estimated at 2°40’ and 2°34’ west of Grid North, respectively, for July 2011. Annual change is approximately 10’ east.

This relies on you having an up-to-date map to hand – and the information itself being up to date! A second method involves a trip to www.nearby.org.uk. This handy website allows you to input a grid reference (among other things); then by following the MV Link, you will eventually be taken to a page on the British Geological Society’s website that will specify the MV for the location.

If you want an MV value for somewhere other than the UK, you can either look on the key of the relevant map or use the World Magnetic Model Calculator of the British Geological Society (BGS) at www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/models_compass/home.html. (I also like the American equivalent: www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/calculators/magcalc.shtml.) You’ll have to enter the latitude and longitude (www.latlong.net) and a few other variables and make sure you have the declination (another name for the MV) option checked.

Having arrived at a figure for the MV – let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you have a figure of 5°40’ west of Grid North for your location – what do you do with it? First of all, round off the MV to the nearest half a degree, i.e. 5°30’, then remember the following saying:

From Grid to Mag, add

From Mag to Grid, get rid.

Taking the first line, which applies when you have taken a bearing on the map and now want to walk on it, to convert a grid bearing into a magnetic bearing, you would have to add 5°30’ on to the grid bearing. So, returning to the example in Figures 7.2a–7.2c, the grid bearing is 109°; therefore, the magnetic bearing would be 114°30’ (109° plus 5°30’).

Where Magnetic North is east of Grid North, as it is in California, there is another phrase to learn:

Grandma Sucks Easily (a mnemonic for Grid Subtract East).

So, with an MV of 13°30’ East, you would subtract this from the bearing (109°), leaving a magnetic bearing of 95°30’. (I’ll consider the second half of the saying in the next chapter.)

If you take a bearing on a map drawn to True North, you will still need to adjust the bearing to account for the MV (the variation between True North and Magnetic North). A map drawn to Magnetic North (most orienteering maps, for example, use Magnetic North as the north reference) will not require adjustment, but it does need to be up to date.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

On the BGS website – as well as the World Magnetic Model Calculator – there is a Grid Magnetic Angle Calculator. Enter a grid reference from the British National Grid, and this will give you the MV for that location.

Take a few of your old maps off the shelf, locate the grid reference for the centre of the map (or centres if the map is doubled-sided) and enter those figures into the Grid Magnetic Angle Calculator. Compare the result with the figure printed on your map. If you use the map often, note down the new MV on the key so you don’t forget it.

Using the World Magnetic Calculator, enter some latitude and longitude figures for places around the world and see how the MV varies.

Walking on a bearing

After that lengthy discussion on MV let’s get back to the business in hand, namely, doing something useful with the bearing you’ve just taken.

At the beginning of the chapter we used our compass to calculate the bearing in Figure 7.2 – 109°. After adjusting your compass for the current MV, it’s now time to walk on a bearing.

Before we do, let’s revisit what we mean by a bearing: it is the angle between north, where you are located and where you want to go. In order to get there, you must follow your bearing exactly. There are a number of important stages to consider.

Stage 1 Holding your compass correctly

I have already emphasised the need for accuracy, and at this stage, once again, it is vital. If you hold your compass incorrectly, you are going to make it more difficult to follow your bearing accurately. Remember, the compass needle is balanced, so first of all it needs to be level. Make sure you are looking along the DOT arrow.

By holding the compass correctly (see Figure 7.5), and by rotating your whole body when you line up the needle and the housing arrow (see Figure 7.6), you will ensure that your nose, toes and DOT arrow are all pointing in the right direction.

Figure 7.5 Hold your compass correctly (by standing behind it)

Figure 7.6 Turn yourself (and the compass) until the red end of the needle coincides with the housing arrow

Stage 2 Looking along your bearing

Having positioned yourself correctly, look along the DOT arrow and look for an object that lies along the bearing. The object may be the feature you are navigating to or, more likely, an intermediate point. It is the latter situation that requires care.

Remember that the bearing is the angle between north, where you are and where you want to go. Trace an imaginary line across the landscape from the end of your DOT arrow. Start by looking at the pivot point of your compass needle and look along the DOT arrow, continuing along the imaginary line until you can see something obvious lying exactly along your bearing. Walk to this feature; it might be a rock or prominent piece of vegetation. Repeat the exercise until you reach your destination.

I emphasise ‘exactly’ because choosing a point that lies just off your imaginary line isn’t good enough. If you were to do this a number of times over this section of your walk, you would drift away from your intended target. Remember, accuracy is vital!

Figure 7.7 If you choose an object to site to that is beyond the point you’re walking to, then you must walk in a dead straight line!

When training navigators, I am often asked how far ahead one should choose an intermediate point. It is possible to choose a point beyond the one you’re walking to, such as an object on the skyline, but only choose this option if you can be certain of walking in an exact straight line (see Figure 7.7).

How far ahead you choose an intermediate feature depends on visibility, terrain and vegetation. If the mist is down, you will be restricted to short distances; otherwise, choose something no more than 40 to 50 metres away. Too far and you may lose sight of the point as you get nearer to it. The more you practise, the more you can refine this advice to suit the way you navigate.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Stand in the middle of an area of featureless land; it may be a park, heath or moorland. Turn your compass to a random bearing and, lining up the needle and housing arrow, look along the DOT arrow and look for a feature along your bearing. Walk to it. Try two or three sections and see how you get on. Does the feature disappear when you get nearer? Was it easy to find the feature? (Or does one blade of grass look similar to another?!)

I believe that if you can navigate on relatively featureless terrain, such as the UK’s Pennines or Dartmoor, then working your way around mountainous areas, where there are far more obvious physical features on which to ‘hang’ your navigation, is easy by comparison.

Stage 3 Walking on your bearing

Finally, comes the easy bit. Once you have located a feature to walk to, put your compass away and, concentrating on the feature, walk to it. When you arrive at the intermediate location, take out your compass and repeat the exercise (line up needle and arrow and look along the DOT arrow and so on) until you reach your goal.

Let me emphasise the need to put your compass away when walking on the bearing. Apart from distracting you from where you are putting your feet, it is easy to think you are walking on a bearing when holding the compass in your hand and actually walking in a different direction. Try it. Line up your needle and housing arrow and then, rather than walking in the direction shown by the DOT arrow, walk at right angles to it! You’ll still be able to keep your needle and arrow aligned. One additional advantage of not staring at your compass all the time is that you can concentrate on the ground you’re walking over.

There are a number of additional techniques you can employ (see Chapter 8), but in the meantime it’s time to practise what you have learnt.

Figure 7.8 Measure the bearing between each of the dots

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Measure the bearing between each of the points of the map in Figure 7.8 (use the dot marking the location, not the letter). Compare your readings with the answers in Appendix A. Did you notice that the difference between A–B and B–A is 180°?

Next, take your 1:25,000 map to an area you know well. On open ground (a local park, open access land or any of the permanent orienteering courses dotted around the country, where you can walk without having to stick to footpaths), take a bearing from one identifiable point to another and walk to it. It doesn’t have to be too far – the map extract in Figure 7.9 shows a number of identifiable points. Be strict with yourself (take care with the terrain) and walk in the direction indicated by the DOT arrow. Did you reach the feature or did you miss it? Repeat the exercise using different features until you begin to hit the object spot on. Did you remember to add the MV if applicable?

Figure 7.9 Orienteering maps are great for practice as the locations are never far apart

Taking a bearing on a walk

Taking a bearing sitting at a table is easy but try doing it while out walking and you may find it hard to find something flat on which to rest your map and compass. In order to keep the compass edge steady and align the two features accurately, you’ll probably need to find a firm object to lean on.

Navigating with a GPS

GPS devices come in all shapes and sizes and can be either standalone units or incorporated into your phone. Covering all available models in a book like this isn’t possible, nor is it possible to provide you with a detailed, definitive guide to using your particular device; that’s what the user manual is for!

I can provide a quick reminder, though, of what a GPS unit actually does. Circulating in near orbit are a growing number of satellites emitting low-power radio signals. Your GPS device picks up these signals and calculates the difference between when the signal is sent and when the device picks it up. Using this data, your GPS device can tell where the satellite is, and using data from three or more satellites, it can also calculate where it is itself. Remembering the computer adage of garbage in – garbage out, there will be instances when your location will be incorrectly displayed if the signal quality is compromised by trees, high cliffs or by the owners of the satellites themselves. Generally, though, the accuracy of GPS devices is getting better and better.

So, a GPS device can identify where it (and presumably you) is. In order to navigate with it, you need to know where you are going. How you achieve this depends on how you plan your walk. If you pre-plan and have it written down on a route card (Chapter 10), then it’s a simple case of entering the next grid reference as your next location and asking the GPS to get you there. If you are more free-spirited and make it up as you go along (I suppose you can’t go off-route then), you will need to identify the next location from your paper map (which you will always have with you – won’t you?! Even if you’re planning on navigating with the GPS all day) or from the on-screen mapping.

Remember, a GPS can’t read a map, though; it works in straight lines. Once you have found your next location and entered it into your device, it would be prudent to check the terrain on your map between where you are and where you’re going (Figure 7.10). Let me explain.

Figure 7.10 A GPS will send you on the direct route between A and B; checking the terrain on the map might reveal a more preferable route

The steps involved in adding your next location to your GPS will vary depending on which device you’re using, and, personally I don’t find them as easy to use as a compass. However, there is one thing that a GPS can do that a compass bearing cannot.

Following a compass bearing accurately, as we’ve seen, requires you to follow the theoretical straight line between where you are and where you are going as precisely as you can. By straying too far off that line, it’s easy to miss your target. You can guard against this happening by also referring to your map, ticking off features as you pass them and making a note of how far you’ve walked and for how long (Chapter 9); the more accurate you are the better.

There will be instances where your bearing crosses impassable terrain, such as deep bog or a tarn. There are two approaches you can use to accurately negotiate such obstructions: if you’re walking with a companion, you could ask then to walk around the object until they are back in line with your bearing. Instruct them to remain there while you walk round to them, then resume your accurate bearings.

The second method is more time-consuming – boxing. Make a note of the bearing you’re walking on, then add 90 degrees on to it and walk to the edge of the object, counting the number of paces you take. Next, subtract that 90 degrees and walk forward until you have passed the object. Then subtract 90 degrees again and pace out the same distance you walked sideways. You should be back on your original bearing now; however, remember to set your compass to the original bearing again before proceeding.

A GPS, because it always knows where it is, will constantly update the bearing as you progress, so wander off-line to avoid a big bog, for example, and the GPS will still be able to tell you how to reach your destination.

CHAPTER 8

Taking a bearing from the ground

In Chapter 7 we took a bearing from the map and applied it to the ground. This is probably the way you’ll usually do it, but there are occasions when you need to take a bearing from the ground and apply it back to the map; for example, you may want to identify a particular mountain, or you may need to identify a feature to check your location.

In Figure 8.1 we know where a particular feature (a church) is, but we’re not sure which path junction we’re at. Start by pointing the DOT arrow at the church. This may be harder than it seems; holding a pencil or piece of grass against the end of the compass (see Figure 8.2) can help you line up the feature.

Figure 8.1 Taking a bearing from the ground; you can identify the church but are not sure which path junction you are at

Figure 8.2 Holding a stem or pencil, against the DOT arrow can help you line up the feature you are trying to sight to

The next stage is to turn your compass housing, so the red end of the needle and the housing arrow coincide. Read the bearing off where the DOT arrow meets the compass housing. This is the magnetic bearing between north, where you are and the feature you are trying to identify.

Do you remember the saying from Chapter 7? ‘From grid to mag, add; from mag to grid, get rid.’ Assuming that Magnetic North is west of Grid North, the second half of the saying now comes into play. Using the MV for the Peak District used in Chapter 7, you will need to subtract 1.5 degrees from the magnetic bearing. So, if the bearing is 45°, we will get a grid bearing of 43.5°. Remember, if Magnetic North is east of Grid North, you do the opposite of the rhyme – i.e. instead of ‘getting rid’ you’ll need to add the MV on to the bearing. If we were in California, the resultant grid bearing would be 45° plus 13°30’ = 58°30’. (In reality, I’d not bother altering the compass when the MV is as small as it is in the UK at the moment.)

That was the easy part! The next stage requires a bit of concentration.

Figure 8.1 illustrates how to do it. Place a finger or pencil on the location you have sighted to and put the edge of the compass against the point. Rotate your compass around this point until the housing arrow is pointing to the top of the map and the orienting lines are parallel to the vertical grid lines.

The final stage is to ensure that the edge of your compass still passes through your known location, then follow this edge (or draw a faint pencil line) until it hits the feature you are trying to locate. Taking the example shown in Figure 8.1, we have identified which path junction we are at.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Take your map to a familiar location that has some identifiable features around and about – at this stage it is probably better if you know what they are. Take a magnetic bearing on the first feature and see if, after going through the above steps, your pencil line passes through the feature on the map (or at least close enough for you to say definitely that is the chosen feature).

Try it for the other locally identifiable features; the more you practise, the better you’ll become at pointing the DOT arrow at the feature in question.

The next stage is to go an area with which you are less familiar and try the exercise again.

Problems

After trying this technique, you’ll have probably come up with a few practical difficulties.

The first difficulty is lining up the DOT arrow with the feature. Using the pencil as a sighting marker will help, but if several of you do the same exercise, you’ll probably notice that everybody’s bearings are different. The more obvious the feature, the fewer the discrepancies, but so long as you are happy you are pointing your DOT arrow at the feature, then your pencil line should pass through the correct feature on the map.

The second problem you may encounter is that the feature may be further away on the map than the length of your base plate. Extend the base plate edge by using a pencil or a piece of straight vegetation.

The third problem arises from simply employing the technique. With your map balanced on your knee, or the ground, the actual process of accurately turning your compass around the location you’ve sighted to is tricky. Practice makes perfect.

You can use your compass to check you’re intending to walk on the correct path. Figure 8.3 shows a path junction. You know which path on the map you want to walk along, but you just need to check that you don’t take the wrong one on the ground.

Point the compass along one of the paths on the ground and turn the compass housing so the red end of the needle coincides with the housing arrow. Now place the compass along the line of one of the paths on the map, then place it along the other path. When the housing arrow points to the top of the map, that is the path you identified on the ground. If this is indeed the path you want to take, walk along it, otherwise take the other one.

Figure 8.3 Use your compass to determine the correct path to take

Let’s look at another technique that involves using the map and compass together to check your location. You’ve been walking along a path, map and compass in your pocket, enjoying the view. After a while you realise you’re not exactly sure where you are on the path. Time to do a resection!

Resection

A resection involves taking three ground bearings and applying them back to the map. In contrast to the previous example, this time you know the names (and locations) of three features around you, but not your location. These three features should, ideally, be roughly equally spaced around you so that if you were to draw a triangle between them, you would be somewhere in the centre of that triangle (Figure 8.4).

Figure 8.4 Use three known features to give you a rough indication of your location

Take a magnetic bearing as you did before, using the first of the three known features, subtract the MV and place the compass on the map. Turn the compass round the feature on the map, again ensuring the housing arrow is pointing north and the orienting lines are parallel to the vertical grid lines. Once again, draw a faint pencil line on your map along the edge of the compass.

Repeat this process for the other two locations. Ideally, the three lines join at one point – this is your location. More likely the three lines will make a small triangle – the triangle of error. You will be somewhere inside this triangle (Figure 8.5).

So, what now? You know you are somewhere inside the triangle of error, but where exactly? The next stage in relocating yourself is to navigate from this vague position to a known or fixed point. This, ideally, would be on a linear feature like a wall for stream with an identifiable point on a wall junction or a side stream flowing in. From the centre of the triangle take a bearing on the map to one side of the feature. After adding on the MV, follow this bearing until you hit it. Turn and follow the feature until you reach the junction. You are now back at a known location and can carry on your walk from this point (see also Chapter 9).

Figure 8.5 Use ground bearings to produce a triangle of error – you are located somewhere inside the triangle

Carrying out a resection isn’t an exact science by any means but having the technique at your disposal can be useful at times. Try it for yourself and see how you get on.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Go to a known location and find three known features around you. Go through the resection process and see how close the triangle of error places you to your known location. Try this a few times to cement the technique and then try it again at an unknown location. Then try relocating yourself to a linear feature.

Using technology

Stop any GPS bearing walker and they’ll probably tell you that they use their GPS to give them a grid reference should they become locationally challenged. It is an expensive tool just for that purpose but hey, who am I to judge? Leaving that aside, it’s what GPS devices do when you switch them on: show you your location. Likewise, mapping apps on smartphones quickly show you your location, so some of the techniques mentioned above are more easily achieved by a GPS device.

However you relocate, it is important that you don’t immediately assume you, or your device, is correct. Once you think you’re in a particular place, check that the map and the ground are saying the same thing. Locate nearby features on the map; are they where they should be on the ground? As you continue to walk to your next location, are features appearing on the ground as you expect? If not, you may not be where you, or your device, thought you were.

CHAPTER 9

Walking with map and compass

Perhaps, inevitably, when someone learns a new skill, they are keen to try to use it all the time, and novice navigators are no exception. Throughout this book I’ve emphasised the need to keep practising, and rightly so; but it is possible to lose sight of why you started walking in the first place. I do it because I enjoy the freedom, the landscape and the companionship. I also do it because I enjoy navigating successfully in new and exciting places, but that isn’t my main raison d’être.

The more you develop your navigational skills, the more you will begin to understand that you don’t need to use them constantly. There will be times when you can sail forth unhindered by poor weather or tricky navigational decisions, where only an occasional glance at the map is required. However, there are also times when you’ll need to pull out all your navigational skills to ensure you get off the hills safely and quickly. This chapter will look at some of the skills necessary for effective navigation.

Back bearings

In Chapter 7 we looked at how to take bearings and follow them by tracing an imaginary line across the hillside until you reach your destination. If you’ve been practising, you’ll realise that it’s quite tricky to do this in certain terrain, and that it’s very easy to drift off this imaginary line.

One way of helping to reduce this tendency is to use back bearings. Figure 9.1 shows what your compass housing will look like when you are tracing your imaginary line across the hillside on a bearing: the red end of the needle is in the housing arrow.

Start to walk on your bearing, and before you lose sight of your departure point turn around and line the white end of the needle up with the housing arrow (Figure 9.2).

Now, the DOT arrow will not be pointing in the direction you are heading, but back to your original departure point. No real surprises; you’ve lined the housing arrow up with the south end of the needle rather than the north end, so it will be pointing in the opposite direction. If the DOT arrow does not point towards your exact departure point when you take a back bearing, you will need to move until it does.

Figure 9.1 A normal bearing has the red end of the compass aligned with the housing arrow

Figure 9.2 back bearing aligns the white end of the needle with the housing arrow – therefore, the DOT arrow will point to your departure point

This is a useful and quick technique to ensure you haven’t strayed off-line (which is very easy to do, especially if you are going uphill or, even worse, across a slope). However, it does have its limitations. Only use back bearings if you can see your original departure point. Because of the difficulties in spotting intermediate features, you are likely to compound errors if you do a back bearing to these points. Keep looking back at your departure point, and just before you lose sight of it take a back bearing. From that point you are on your own. You have no way of checking that what you are doing is right until you reach your next destination.

Timing

As an individual, you will probably walk at a fairly constant pace on a given terrain, and, therefore, you can calculate how long it will take you to walk a set distance. In Chapter 10 the idea of route cards will be introduced; these enable you to pre-plan a walk and calculate how long the walk will take. Route cards use a formula called Naismith’s rule, which can be used to calculate how long it will take to walk an entire route. The same formula works for individual sections of a walk.

Naismith’s rule starts with the assumption that you walk at the same speed all the time, unless you are going uphill. We’ll consider that assumption later, but for the moment let’s look at the formula.

Time taken = 4km/hr + 1min for every 10m climbed Therefore, a 2km section ascending 60m = 36min (30min/2km plus 6min/ascent)

Looking more closely at this formula and how to make it work for you, let’s start with the walking rate. I have found that 4km/hr is a fairly typical speed for a walking group of average fitness. When I am walking on my own, I tend to walk faster, and if I’m out with the grandchildren, I walk at a much slower rate, maybe 2km/hr, or slower!

What about different terrain? Walking on rough stony ground slows me down as I search for safe places to put my feet. Firm, vegetationless peat, on the other hand, is easy walking, and I sail along quicker. You need to adjust the formula to suit you and your circumstances.

The climbing element of the formula is also up for debate. Some people seem to climb at the same rate as they walk on the flat. Some struggle going downhill as well as up – so why not add 1min for every 10m of descent? You know your own strengths and weaknesses so adapt the formula to suit your circumstances.

Remember, Naismith’s rule is only a guide. If you’ve got 2km to walk with 60m of ascent, the chances of you arriving at your destination in exactly 36min is very unlikely. Instead, as the clock ticks closer to 36min, you should begin to look for the feature you are heading for.

I also adapt the figures to make the maths easy: see Figure 9.3.

Use the table on the Navigation Aid as a quick reference to the distance you’ll walk at different speeds.

Figure 9.3

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Over the next few walks use a stopwatch to time how long you take. Try to remember to stop it when you pause for coffee breaks and lunch. After a few trips calculate your own version of Naismith’s rule.

On your next walk measure the distance between two points on the flat and time how long it takes you to walk between them. Does Naismith’s rule work for you over shorter distances? Now try the same going uphill and downhill.

As we’re on timing, we ought to mention GPSs. We’ll come to the multitude of information that you’ll see on-screen in a later chapter, but if you’re navigating between two points, you’ll often be presented with an estimated time of arrival. This doesn’t use a pre-calculated pace that we have to use when manually pacing; rather it takes your current speed over the ground and works out how long it’ll take you to reach your destination. Speed up and the time will decrease; slow down and the time will increase.

Pacing

In a similar way to timing, pacing is a way of estimating how far along a certain section of the walk you are. Work out how many paces you take to walk a set distance. Access to a running track makes life easier, otherwise you need to find a way of measuring out 100m. Pace out the distance, making sure you walk as naturally as possible. Rather than counting every step, count double steps (see Figure 9.4) – count every time the right foot (or left, if you prefer) hits the ground. This ensures the number of paces is kept low and manageable. Try this a few times and calculate the average.

So, how can you employ pacing? Let’s use an example: you’re walking along an upland path and the mist drops. You’re at an identifiable point and know that the path to the valley bottom is 300m away. Pace out 300m and – as with timing a section – start looking out for the descent path as you get towards the end of your count.

Pacing is remarkably accurate on good terrain, although it becomes less so in wet conditions, snow or over rough vegetation. Only care and attention will help you cope in the first two situations, but pacing known distances over different terrain will give you figures for each. Note them down on the table on your Navigation Aid and keep it handy when out walking. I pace 66 double paces to a normal 100m; on deep heather I’m down to 60 paces as I take longer strides over the lumps. Going uphill, my pacing varies but generally speaking I add 10% to my level pacing figure.

Figure 9.4 Using a double pace keeps the numbers manageable

Pacing is a useful technique, especially if you’re using it with timing, and it can be employed quite accurately. However, there are drawbacks. First of all, concentration is essential (some walkers carry a string of beads to help them count multiples of 100m) and as such, having a conversation with your companions is difficult. Silence is, of course, an important element of any walk, but if you’re navigating in poor conditions, your friends may also need some words of encouragement and advice.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Once you have calculated your paces per 100m, on your next walk measure the distance between objects, from a wall to a wall, for example. Calculate the number of paces and walk it. How close to your flat pacing count were you? Try the same on different terrain, and uphill, making a note of the number of double paces taken.

Next, go to an area with open access and navigate to an identifiable location. Using a thin pencil, mark three points on the map that don’t coincide with features marked on the map. Don’t place these too far apart; 150m or so should be adequate. Take a bearing from your starting point to one of the points and measure the distance. Follow the bearing, pacing the right distance. Stop, take a bearing from this point to the next and pace the distance. Do the same at the next two points, and you should end up back at your original starting point. How far away from it were you? Rub out the three marks and repeat, maybe choosing longer distances between points. With practice you should improve your accuracy.

Repeat the whole process, but time the legs rather than pace them this time. Which is more accurate?

Aiming off

In Chapter 8 I introduced the idea of relocating yourself by doing a resection. You’ll recall that once you arrived at a triangle of error, I suggested aiming for an identifiable point on a linear feature, such as a stream junction, by deliberately aiming to one side of it. This technique, known as aiming off, can also be used in other circumstances when you are expecting a difficult navigation leg. Perhaps the terrain is tricky underfoot, or maybe you are heading across a slope. In both these circumstances there is a chance that the accuracy of your navigation may diminish, so, taking this into account, aim to miss the feature deliberately.

To do this you must be heading for a point on a linear feature, like a stream or a footpath junction. Instead of taking a bearing to the exact point you want to reach, take a bearing to one side of that point (Figure 9.5). You don’t have to be too far away – remember that 4mm on the 1:25,000 map is equivalent to 100m on the ground – but not too close either.

Figure 9.5 Aiming off – deliberately aiming to miss your destination, in certain circumstances, increases your chance of finding it!

When you reach the linear feature, walk along it until you arrive at the point you wanted to get to. This is a simple technique, but one that is extremely useful when accuracy is important.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Find a good piece of open access land where you can wander freely without having to stick to footpaths. From a known location find another point that lies on a linear feature. Take a bearing to near that point (no more than 1cm away on the map) and walk on the bearing. If you aimed to the left of the point turn right on reaching the linear feature, and vice versa.

Try it again on more difficult terrain: on rough ground and sloping hillsides.

PRACTICAL GPS EXERCISE

1. Plan yourself a route. Enter the waypoints into your GPS, giving each a sensible name or, at least, sequential numbers. Then head for them there hills! At your starting point find the first waypoint, use the ‘go-to’ function on your GPS and set off. Once there, head for the next waypoint and so on, until you’ve completed your first GPS walk. Don’t forget to take your map, and make sure you continually refer back to it, so you know precisely where you are on your walk. Don’t forget to analyse the walk at the end. Was it successful? Did you see the features you were hoping to? Did the GPS behave? And did you identify any little oddities with the GPS that you need to sort out before your next walk?

2. Take your GPS out on to the hill with a companion and ask them to identify features on the ground to which you can navigate. If they keep the destinations secret, and you can correctly navigate to each feature by GPS, you’re doing well.

CHAPTER 10

Route planning

The techniques described in Chapter 9 are designed to help you navigate accurately and provide you with checks to ensure you stay on course. Pre-planning your route will also make life easier, by giving you the opportunity to make difficult navigational decisions in advance and in comfort.

The route card

Figure 10.1 shows a sample route card, a copy of which can be downloaded – in two formats – from both Cicerone (www.cicerone.co.uk/891) and from the author’s website www.silvanavigationschool.com: a fixed pdf version (best for printing out and filling in manually) and a spreadsheet version (ideal for saving electronically as it calculates the Naismith sums as you enter the details). See Figure 10.2a for a completed route card and Figure 10.2.b for the map of the route.

Using route cards is important for a number of reasons:

First, the practice enables you to keep a record of the routes you have walked, when you did them and who you were with. It also means that if you want to do the walk again, you have a ready-made route. This is especially useful if you keep a computer record of the cards, too; amending any details on the card on-screen is a lot easier than updating a paper version.

Second, having invested a little time in pre-planning your route, you are now free from having to make tricky navigational decisions while on the walk; it’s all there in front of you. If you’re leading a group, handing out a copy of the route card will show them that the walk has been properly planned, and you have thought about their needs (especially if you also mark on breaks). It may even encourage them to follow the route on a map and get them interested in navigation, too.

Third, if you leave a copy of the route card with a responsible person (information centre staff, B&B owner and so on) and you haven’t returned from your walk at the estimated time, the rescue services will have something to go on when looking for you. Note Remember to pick up the card at the end of the walk, or at least call through and tell the relevant person that you are back safely.

Figure 10.1 An example of a route card

Looking at the card in detail, across the top are three very useful boxes: date, group members and contact details. The date is important not only as a personal record of when you walked the route, but also from a safety point of view: it prevents a search being carried out long after you’ve finished the walk. Group members (the names if you can – or at least the number in the group) is important if it comes to a search. It’s common for rescue teams to arrive at a scene to discover there are many more people in a group than they thought. They might have planned the rescue differently if they’d known in advance.

In the age of the almost ubiquitous mobile phone, the contact details element has become even more important. Mobiles do not work on every hill, but it is surprising how many do get signals; I’ve received some calls in some strange locations! If the rescue authorities can speak to you in person, decisions can be made more rapidly. (This links to how you should react in the event of an accident when out walking, something every walker should think about, but which is outside the scope of this book.) You should also consider including your home phone number or the number of someone you can trust at home.

The first two columns relate to the different navigational legs into which you break down your walk. Most walks divide up neatly into different sections. If your walk involves a series of bearings across tricky terrain, you should perhaps consider using these as the basis of your route sections. Note the grid reference of the start and finish of the section in each box, along with either the name or a description of the point. Not only will this make finding it on the map easier, it also helps a rescue team; in an emergency names are much more memorable than grid references.

The Magnetic Bearing column is next, which obviously shows the magnetic bearing for that particular leg. Make sure you also note the MV for the date of your walk on the card. When you come back to the walk in a few years’ time, the MV will have changed and so will your magnetic bearings. It is also worth noting that not every leg will require a magnetic bearing. The more you use route cards, the more you will realise when a bearing is necessary and when they are unnecessary.

Next, we have the Height Climbed and Distance columns. Remember Naismith? Count the contours you will cross when walking uphill (and downhill if you are slow doing that too, noting whether your map has 5m or 10m contours) and measure the distance of the leg. Fill in the appropriate columns – if you are using the spreadsheet version, the Time Taken column will be calculated automatically (using the 4km/hr formula).

The last column is, in many ways, the most important one, even if it is the least used. Here, note down any decisions you made when planning the route, especially those where you had a route choice. Remind yourself of the decision you made and the reason why. Add a note for your fellow walkers to inform them when you plan to stop for a coffee or for lunch, or to indicate where toilets are located.

The box headed Alternative Route(s) is worthy of a bit of debate. This is often referred to as Escape Routes or Bad Weather Routes, neither of which I like. In planning a walk, especially a remote one, you definitely need to think about how you’d get off the hill in an emergency. If you were to fill in a box headed Escape Routes, where do you plan escapes from: the furthest point from civilisation, halfway round or at the end of each navigation leg? You could spend longer planning the escape routes than walking the route itself!

Likewise, the heading Bad Weather Routes implies that you should get off the hill when the weather is poor; if we did that in Britain – we’d rarely go for a walk! With your increased navigational confidence borne from reading this book, attending a course and practising, you should be able to follow a route in bad weather.

I prefer Alternative Route, but rarely fill it in. When I’m pre-planning a multi-day hike, I would take into consideration the possible alternative routes, for example, lower-level routes in high mountains. Walking in poor weather for a day is OK, but not for every day of a two-week holiday. On a normal one-day walk I leave this box blank.

Figure 10.2a A completed route card

Figure 10.2b Map extract to accompany the completed route card

The Total Time Taken and Total Distance boxes will fill themselves in if you are using the spreadsheet version of the route card, giving you an idea, obviously, of the time and length of your walk. If you know that 16km is your limit, don’t plan to cover 25km! Be wary of the time taken figure – this covers just the walking element and doesn’t take into account stopping and staring at the view, pausing to take a breath or photograph, or food and drink stops.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Using the route card templates available on the author’s website, www.silvanavigationschool.com, thoroughly plan your next walk. Use the route card the next time you go out. How useful was it in terms of helping your navigation? What changes should you employ next time? Did using a route card mean that you felt restrained by the planned route or did you consider departing from it when weather, energy levels or other circumstances intervened?

You may find that the first few occasions you fill in route cards take a long time. As ever, practice makes perfect and your speed will improve rapidly, as will your accuracy.

Route planning online

A host of on and offline mapping tools are available to help you plan routes; there are too many to list here and certainly too many to give individual instructions for. Some require you to open an account, some will offer free accounts and some have extra functionality for a monthly or yearly fee.

Whichever tool you choose for your on-screen planning, make sure it uses either an OS or Harvey base map, as you’ll be using these while out on the hill, and they show the rights of way network.

On-screen planning is a quick and effective way of planning routes, enabling you to try out various routes, so you end up with one of the right length, elevation gain and profile.

Advanced navigation with GPS

When you fire up your GPS, you’ll be presented with a mass of on-screen data. Figure 10.3 below explains some of the terms you might come across.

Figure 10.3

All this might seem a touch overwhelming when all you want is a simple walk in the countryside. The ETA will tell you how long, based on your current speed, it will take to reach your next location; it will vary according to your speed over different terrains. Because it is a dynamic figure, based on your speed and the distance to your destination, it doesn’t actually matter what speed you are walking at, whereas Naismith’s rule assumes you are walking at a set speed for a particular leg, something we obviously don’t do in reality.

Tracing your route

GPSs have the ability not only to tell you where you should be going but also to record where you have been. This could, of course, end up being the same, but it doesn’t have to be. You might have planned your route and entered the waypoints ahead of time. You then embark on the walk and at one particular point decide that you want to explore an interesting little valley you see off-route. You set off, have a look round and then decide to continue on your route, using the screen info on the GPS to get you back on route. At the completion of the walk, your planned route and the course you’ve walked will, of course, be different.

The ability of the GPS to record your walked route is an important one. Mountain Rescue teams use GPSs to record where they’ve searched, so they can check that no areas have been missed, and many people download their walked routes on to their digital mapping software (of which more later) to store their route for future use.

One oft-cited use of a GPS for ‘consumer’ purposes is the ability, if things get tricky, to retrace your route back to the start – sometimes called backtracking. Different GPS units require different steps to enable this to happen, and you should consult your user manual to work out how to do this.

Once you’ve worked out how to do this, you may discover you don’t need to study the GPS too closely as you’ll recognise the route you took. However, let’s take a step back here and just consider how many times in our long and illustrious walking careers we’ve ever had to retrace our steps? I can only think of two occasions when I’ve gone back over a short section of a route when someone left something behind, but to retrace the entire route? Never.

What is more likely is that you reach a point on the walk where you feel it is unlikely you will complete your planned route. It is at this point that you need to make a decision about the route to take. The chances of you going back the way you came, as I have just mentioned, are slim but adapting your pre-planned route to one that is more realistic is highly likely.

Study the map carefully and decide on a suitable route.

Identify a few key locations on this new route and enter their grid references into your GPS as new waypoints.

a. Either set up your new waypoints as a new route, activate it and then walk the route or b. Set your GPS to find the next waypoint, walk to it and then choose the next waypoint, etc., until you reach your destination.

If your GPS also has OS mapping on-screen, I would still advise you to study your route on a paper map first – even the largest screen doesn’t have a big enough display to enable you to weigh up all the possible options. Of course, you can zoom out to see a larger area of map, but this comes at the cost of display clarity, something you need when deciding upon the best route. Use the map and then transfer your route to your GPS.

Figure 10.4a–10.4d screen grabs from a Satmap GPS. Zoom in for more on-screen clarity and detail or out for a greater overview but less visible detail

Figures 10.4a–10.4d illustrate how it’s possible to zoom in and out of your map on-screen but with either a loss of clarity or map area.

Downloading routes

Many websites offering the opportunity for you to download routes on to your GPS are available. (A search on ‘GPS routes download walking’ shows up 1.44 million on Google, for example.) Some of these are paid-for services, others are currently free or have free samples available.

Finding a suitable route that fulfils all your needs is going to be a challenge then, but once you have, there’s normally a fairly involved process to get your chosen route on to the GPS. This process isn’t for the faint-hearted, but your ownership of a GPS assumes you are probably reasonably technical.

Some websites give you access to databases of waypoints, including mountain summits, as well as downloadable routes. Again, the steps to get them on to your GPS are many and varied. Some sites require extra software to convert the information into data your GPS can read, others only work on certain makes of GPS. Some websites are listed in Appendix B but keeping up to date with this information in a printed book is impossible.

Let’s pause again and reflect. I have strong feelings about using guidebooks and magazine routes. They are a great source of information written by people who know the area and so, as a starting point for your exploration of a location, they are a great resource. However, to stick slavishly to the routes on offer in guidebooks always strikes me as a strange way of proceeding. I always adapt the routes on offer to suit my own needs of time and distance and places I want to see. I transfer the route on to a map and then work from there, adding in or removing sections accordingly.

The same criticism – and more – can be levelled at folk who download routes on to their GPS and then follow them to the letter. Why greater criticism? Well, the reasons are two-fold: first, by entering the data straight on to your GPS, you are not looking at the route on the map and so are unable to customise the route yourself. By all means run through the above exercise to see the process in action but don’t make this a habit. My second criticism comes back to the old computer warning of GIGO – garbage in garbage out. Blindly following someone else’s route without checking it first is not a good idea. Guidebooks are written by experts; website routes aren’t necessarily researched to the same level of detail. Even if they are accurate, the route may not suit your needs: it might be too long or too hard. In short, you’re the one doing the walk, so take responsibility and don’t rely on a third party without careful checks.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Identify one of the many GPS route websites. Download a route on to your GPS and follow it. How was it? Was it easy to follow? Was it as satisfying as planning the route yourself? Did you know where you were during the walk? Did you feel that the GPS was too much in charge of your destiny? What would have happened if the GPS had failed on you? Would you have been able to complete the route or get yourself off the hill at least?

Using your GPS abroad

Using your GPS abroad should be a straightforward process. I’d always advise using it in conjunction with a map and the appropriate compass for your geographical location. Remember Figure 6.10.

The only adjustment you might have to make is resetting the grid system of the GPS. If you have set up your unit in England, Scotland or Wales correctly, then it should be set for OSGB or British Grid. You may need to change this to match the grid system in use in the country you’re in. You might see the correct system in your list on the GPS, or your local map may indicate which grid system it uses.

You’re then free to use your GPS as you would in this country, but as you are using a non-British map, you need to check it carefully for accuracy. Sadly, few countries have maps as good as ours.

CHAPTER 11

Night and bad weather navigation

Hopefully, most of your walking will be done in good weather and during the hours of daylight, but as you develop your navigational skills, you may be tempted to go out in poorer weather or after dark. Sometimes, things might go pear-shaped and you will have no choice but to navigate in tricky conditions. This chapter covers a few useful techniques (which can be practised in good weather) for such times.

Night navigation

The techniques you use in bad weather or in the dark are similar to those you’d use in daylight, but you do need to apply more discipline to your navigation. One of the greatest temptations as night falls is to whip out the torch. There will obviously come a point when this is necessary, but it is remarkable how long it is possible to navigate, even to read your map and compass, without resorting to it. By avoiding the glare of a torch, you can keep your eyes tuned to the gathering gloom; you’ll spot features and underfoot conditions far more easily this way. When you do have to switch on, try to keep one eye covered as you read your compass and map. If you do this, you’ll still have one night-adjusted eye. Staring at a GPS screen will likewise affect your night vision. Some head torches come with a red-light option, which allows you to see the map while still retaining your night vision.

If you can see the stars, you have many millions of possible features to line up along your bearings – assuming you can recognise the same star again. The only problem is that stars move. Do not use the same one as a sighting point for longer than 10 minutes, or you’ll be dragged away from your bearing.

Slightly better is to use a feature, or silhouette, on the horizon, but re-read the warning in Chapter 7 (and see Figure 7.7) about the need for great accuracy when choosing an object to sight to beyond your intended destination. There are occasions when you’ll find navigating at night easier as you have less to distract you from your bearing. By carefully employing your torch, you can make this even easier. Once you have taken the bearing from the map and added the MV, switch on your torch and direct its beam along the DOT arrow and beyond. The beam will light up the features on the bearing and not those just offline. Once you have spotted a recognisable feature, keep your torch trained on it as you walk towards it.

It goes without saying that a head torch is almost essential. It looks where you look and leaves your hands free to cope with the map and compass.

Route choice

If you’ve ever tried navigating after dark, you will discover that it is very difficult to negotiate an intricate course. It is possible, of course, but it may be sensible to alter your route to a simpler one. You might, for example, forgo the opportunity to navigate on compass bearings from point to point and head for a broad path instead.

The same goes for bad weather, especially as some of the techniques I’ll introduce, although they are accurate, also slow you down. Always have an eye on your final goal; walking is supposed to be fun, but it won’t be if your 5hr stroll turns into a 10hr epic.

Timing and pacing

We discussed these techniques in Chapter 9, but don’t forget them when darkness falls. They will help you estimate distances and give you an indication of when you are nearing your destination.

Leapfrogging

If there is one technique that stands out among the rest for accuracy it is leapfrogging. I’ve used this on many occasions and never failed to be impressed.

To use leapfrogging you must be with at least one other person, who should also have a compass and know how to use it. (I am amazed how many people I meet who rely on their partner or walking friends to navigate; everyone who walks on the hill should learn the basics at least.)

Figure 11.1 Leapfrogging – send a colleague off on the line indicated by the DOT arrow. They can check your work with a back bearing

Take your bearing in the usual way, making sure you add the MV. Ensure your partner has the same bearing on their compass. If you both get different readings, check again until you get the same. Now comes the easy part. Rather than looking along the DOT arrow for a feature to walk to, you are going to use your friend. Send them off in the direction indicated by the DOT arrow (Figure 11.1). They don’t have to walk exactly along the line; indeed, they may not be able to if they encounter a bog or rough terrain en route.

After a suitable distance your partner will stop and turn around. Look along the DOT arrow and check whether your partner is on your bearing. If not, move them back and forth until they’re on the line. They can now check your work by doing a back bearing; their DOT arrow should be pointing back at you. If you both agree, you walk forwards, making sure your partner doesn’t move. Continue this process until you reach your ultimate destination.

This is an almost infallible bad-weather technique, so long as you both stay disciplined. You can add to it by getting the front marker to pace the distance they walk – you could do the leg in multiples of 50m, for example, or they could walk ahead for 1min at a time.

I mentioned earlier that navigating in bad weather or light will be a slower process than in daylight, and I hope you can see why leapfrogging is slower. You are in effect walking each leg of the route twice, and if you have to employ this technique, you may need to think about altering your route. If you only leapfrog for a small part of your walk, you’ll be a few minutes behind, but nothing serious. If you’re doing it all day, then you’re going to be very late!

Figure 11.2 You can employ most of the good-visibility techniques in mist or darkness – but more care (and time) is needed

If the mist descends

There will be times when you are walking along quite happily towards a feature. You can see it, and you’re strolling merrily along, enjoying a pleasant chat with your companions. Next time you look up the mists are rolling in. What do you do? You know roughly where you are, but not precisely enough to be able to take a bearing from the map. You know where you are heading, but you don’t have enough time to do a resection and your destination is disappearing rapidly.

The answer is simple: take out your compass and point the DOT arrow at the feature you are heading towards or at least an easily identifiable feature nearby. Turn the compass housing so that the housing arrow coincides with the red end of the needle. You now have the magnetic bearing for between where you are and the feature you are heading for.

Figure 11.3 Taking a ground bearing in misty conditions

Finally, looking along the DOT arrow, locate an intermediate feature that isn’t obscured by mist and walk towards it, as you would if you were following a conventional bearing. And that’s it. No need to use the map, no need to add or subtract anything (see Figure 11.3), just walk.

Navigating in bad weather and at night can be a very rewarding experience if you employ some sensible precautions and think carefully about what you are doing. Rushed, panicky decisions are easily made but can have serious consequences; stick to what you know and use clear, simple techniques to get yourself to safety.

GPS devices are designed to work in all weathers and conditions, so navigating with these in poor weather or at night is essentially the same; although, as I said earlier, be aware of losing your night vision when looking at the illuminated screen. Mobile phones are a bit more prone to weather, but I would advise against using these as your principal navigation tool anyway. Phones on the hill are for one thing and one thing only – to make phone calls in case of problems. You don’t want to be left with little or no power having spent the day using it as a navigation tool.

PRACTICAL EXERCISES

First of all, relax; most of the techniques described in this chapter can be practised in good weather and in daylight!

Now working with a friend, each plan a route then swap over and follows theirs. Try both routes again as the light is failing or even after dark. Use timing and pacing. How close were you to it? Try it a few times – getting any better?

Consult the weather forecast and try to choose a good, clear evening. Plan to stay out after dark (remember to tell someone what you are doing). You don’t have to choose a complex bit of terrain, or make the navigation too involved, but simply give yourself the experience of walking after dark. Take your head torch and do a few simple navigational legs. Were they as simple in the dark as in the day?

If you have a permanent orienteering course near where you live (contact the British Orienteering Club for details: www.britishorienteering.org.uk) try one of their courses. You don’t have to run, but you can use the course to interpret the ground and match it to the map. Now try it again, if you can, as darkness falls. Did you have to change your strategy?

If you can get hold of a large-scale map of a piece of parkland or open access land, such as an orienteering map (I’ve mentioned permanent orienteering courses before), plan a short navigational route. Better still, get a friend to plan one too; swap over and try to follow their route. Now try it again after dark. Use timing and pacing as well as bearings to maintain accuracy. You can practise night navigation anywhere using this exercise.

CHAPTER 12

Technology – GPS and computer mapping

Since this book first came out in 2007, the number of devices that use GPS has increased enormously. Keeping up to date with all the changes in a book is now nigh-on impossible. The reign of the single-use handheld GPS receiver that walkers used to stumble about on the hill with has gone, and mobile phones and bike computers are as likely to be seen on the hill today as GPS receivers.

That said, it is important to have an understanding of GPS receivers and their limitations.

Let’s go back to the beginning. From the late 1970s onwards, the Americans launched 24 satellites that emitted a weak radio signal giving the time and the satellite’s location. In order to read these signals all you needed was a GPS receiver that would process the information from initially six satellites (now up to 12, with modern receivers).

GPS was developed for American military uses. As such the satellites were programmed to send out a random error that limited the accuracy of the location to within 100m. When America was involved in military conflict, this selective availability (SA) was switched off so their bombers could, presumably, bomb more accurately.

In 2000 SA was permanently switched off; suddenly, our GPS receivers were accurate to within 15m. This coincided with a sharp reduction in the price of receivers and, as a result, GPS was far more in evidence on the hills and mountains of the world.

The next stage in the development of GPS comprised the introduction of a whole series of ground stations that sent out their own signals, adding to the accuracy of the satellite signal. Using a suitably enabled receiver, accuracy has improved to 2–3m. The American system is called WAAS, and the European system is known as EGNOS.

Since 2006 the Europeans have been sending up their own satellites called Galileo. The Russians also have their own system, as does China, as, I’m sure, many other nations do, and if the current 2019 Brexit stories are true, the UK will be developing its own network, too.

The result will be a complex network of satellites covering the whole globe, some of which may interact with each other, while others won’t, but all, essentially, will be doing the same thing: helping us to locate ourselves with a high degree of accuracy.

Note For the sake of simplicity any reference to GPS should also be taken to include the Russian and European systems.

GPS and the walker

A GPS receiver, in whatever form it comes, has a myriad of wonderful functions, many of which are of immense benefit to the hill-goer. It can provide an accurate location, average speed, current speed, bearing, altitude, time…I could go on. Safe to say, there is more than enough information to satisfy the needs of even the keenest walker.

Figure 12.1a–12.1d A selection of info screens to ‘navigate’ on a Satmap Active 12 GPS

The problem lies not in the supply of that information but in its interpretation. The history of GPS use has shown that many GPS users assume that because they are being told to head off in such and such a direction that is all they need to know. Not true. No GPS receiver, even the ones that display OS or Harvey mapping, can interpret the landscape for you. It doesn’t know whether it is sending you over a cliff or through a grassy meadow.

Another problem associated with any electronic device is battery life, as well as its ability to withstand water. Battery life has improved dramatically over the years, but even now it is essential to carry a spare set or a power pack if you’re using a rechargeable mobile device; if batteries are running low, you can guarantee you’ll need your receiver just when they fail.

Those who know me will tell you that when it comes to navigation on the hill, I am firmly old school, and I would prefer everyone to use a map and compass rather than rely on technology. I do accept there are others who don’t share my Luddite view, but I will not be swayed from my firm belief that when out on the hills with your GPS, it is essential that you also carry a map and compass.

It is also important that you are able to use your map and compass competently, without the aid of your GPS, before you begin to interpret the information the GPS is giving you. Then, if the GPS tells you to go in a certain direction, you can look at the map and check whether you agree that it is the best direction to take.

What all GPS receivers do well is record where you have walked; they will store every little twist and turn. The better units also allow you to download this information on to your computer; it can then be stored for later reuse or viewed graphically. Better still, if you own any digital mapping software, you can download your route into the programs and see where you walked.

In reverse you can draw a walk on to your digital map and upload it on to your GPS; this is an easy way of completing a route card but it can lead to inflexibility. The GPS won’t know that you’re just nipping off-route to check something and will be constantly feeding you information to get you back on to your planned route. And, unlike a route card, you can’t easily leave a digital route with a responsible person just if case of an emergency!

Advantages

Disadvantages

Increasingly more accurate

Reliance on technology

Ability to obtain a quick location fix

Battery life, especially if GPS is the devices primary function

Provides user with lots of useful information

Information overload

Ability to upload and download routes, etc. from a computer

Temptation to ignore, or leave behind, the map and compass

Ability to display OS and Harvey maps at different scales

Cost of buying into a GPS receiver system and keeping it up to date

Records information

Digital mapping

Again, in the intervening 12 years since this book was first published there have been many changes in the availability and use of digital mapping. Gone now is the necessity to run a specific program on your computer, which involved the expense of buying digital copies of your desired maps. To be honest, I still use the RouteBuddy program on my Mac if I’m working out or reviewing a route; and when teaching, I frequently load the equivalent app on my phone or iPad. Being offline, I’m not dependent on being somewhere that has a mobile or Wi-Fi signal.

If you haven’t already bought into such programs, and don’t need that guarantee of having access to mapping when out of signal, then there are many online versions you can use; some are specific to mobile devices, while others are available via browsers, too. The OS themselves have developed their own system, which for a small annual subscription gives you access to the complete 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 network of maps. You can download map tiles so you can use them offline, but checking you have the correct tiles for the area you want to explore isn’t straightforward. A tile isn’t the same size as a paper map, so when out in the wilds you may find yourself missing a vital piece of mapping – another reason to carry the paper version.

There are also open-source (free) pieces of map software and maps online that work regardless of the type of computer you have, for example, www.openstreetmap.org and its sister site www.opencyclemap.org; they also allow you to alter and update the base map. They aren’t as detailed as an OS or Harvey map, but they can give you an idea of the topography, especially if you’re in an area of the world where you can’t get hold of decent paper mapping.

CHAPTER 13

Where now?

Throughout this book I have provided many practical indoor and outdoor exercises with the aim of helping you to develop your navigation skills as you learn. As someone who has been teaching map and compass skills for over 30 years, I have always favoured a practical hands-on approach. You can, of course, learn just from the book, but it is far easier and more fun to consolidate that information by going on a course.

Details of my courses can be found at www.silvanavigationschool.com. The two-day courses follow the structured syllabus developed by the National Navigation Award Scheme (www.nnas.org.uk) and take you through from bronze level (getting to grips with the map and simple compass work), through to silver (using compasses in more detail) to the gold level, which pulls it all together as well as encouraging a high degree of contour work and micro navigation.

On-going practice

You may have read this book merely to top up slightly rusty skills and now feel confident to use your skills to the full again.

In order to remove the rust permanently why not set aside a couple of walking weekends a year just to practise your map and compass work? Of course, the better your navigation skills, the more extreme the weather and terrain that can be enjoyed. However, always ensure you plan appropriately for your capabilities and always tell someone where you are going.

Why not have a go at orienteering? Although the public face of this sport may look a bit athletic and fast for most of us, orienteering events can be enjoyed at your own pace. You can compete against yourself rather than the other competitors. Details of local events and permanently set-up courses can be found on the British Orienteering Federation website www.britishorienteering.org.uk.

Other sports that test good navigational skills include cycle orienteering (www.bmbo.org.uk) and orienteering on horseback, also known as Trec GB (www.trecgb.com). Although these require extra abilities (including a hard backside), the basic navigation requirements are the same.

However you keep your skills up to scratch, don’t forget the reason you learnt them in the first place. I see it often on my weekend courses; once my course members have acquired the skills, they hang on to them like a dog with a bone. Remember – there will be plenty of times out on the hills when you don’t need to constantly refer to the map or take bearings with your compass; you can simply relax and enjoy your surroundings. Use your skills appropriately and, above all – enjoy your walking.

APPENDIX A

Answers to questions

Figure 2.17, Six- and eight-figure grid reference answers

Figure 7.8, Bearing answers

Assuming that a bearing is taken between every point on the diagram: A–B, A–C, A–D... A–K; B–A, B–C, B–D and so on.

APPENDIX B

Useful contacts and addresses

For map and compass courses run by the author and sponsored by Silva visit
www.silvanavigationschool.com
Other map and compass courses that follow the NNAS syllabus are available from the National Navigation Award Scheme
www.nnas.org.uk

Digital mapping companies

Memory-Map
www.memory-map.co.uk

Anquet Maps
www.anquet.com

RouteBuddy
www.routebuddy.com

OpenStreetMap
www.openstreetmap.org

OpenCycleMap
www.opencyclemap.org

Ordnance Survey Maps
osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Home countries rural agencies

Natural England
Tel 0845 600 3078
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Countryside Council for Wales
Tel 08451 306 229

naturalresources.wales/days-out/the-countryside-codes/?lang=en

Scottish Natural Heritage
Tel 01463 725000
www.nature.scot

Department of Agriculture,
Environment and Rural Affairs
(Northern Ireland)
Tel 0300 200 7852
www.daera-ni.gov.uk

Other useful addresses

Silva UK
silva.se

British Mountaineering Council
www.thebmc.co.uk

The Ramblers
www.ramblers.org.uk

British Orienteering
www.britishorienteering.org.uk

British Mountain Bike Orienteering
www.bmbo.org.uk

Trec GB
www.trecgb.com

British Geological Survey Magnetic Variation Calculator
www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/models_compass/home.html

A website that translates virtually any locational reference, including latitude and longitude, grid references and post codes, into other locational references
www.nearby.org.uk

To calculate variations of latitude and longitude for your location visit
www.latlong.net

GPS manufacturers

Garmin
www.garmin.com

Ordnance Survey
www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Satmap
www.satmap.com

Some GPS route websites

Phil’s GPS Mountain Resources
www.haroldstreet.org.uk

Go4awalk
www.go4awalk.com

Walkingworld
www.walkingworld.com

Live for the Outdoors
www.livefortheoutdoors.com

GrabYourBoots
www.grabyourboots.com

APPENDIX C

Further reading

Map and Compass: A comprehensive guide to navigation, Pete Hawkins (Cicerone, 2018)

Hillwalking, Steve Long (Mountain Leader Training, 2004)

Mountain Weather: A practical guide for hillwalkers and climbers in the British Isles, David Pedgley (Cicerone, 2006 – out of print)

The Hillwalker’s Guide to Mountaineering: Essential skills for Britain’s classic routes, Terry Adby and Stuart Johnston (Cicerone, 2003 – out of print)

The Hillwalker’s Manual, Bill Birkett (Cicerone, 2002 – out of print)

Teaching Navigation – Practical ideas for outdoor tutors, Nigel Williams (NNAS 2018)

APPENDIX D

Navigational aid

With the printed version of this book comes a free navigational aid.

The navigation aid is also available as a free download from the author’s website www.silvanavigationschool.com, should you lose the cover mount, and from Cicerone www.cicerone.co.uk along with the route cards mentioned in Chapter 10. If you download the navigation aid, ideally it should be printed out at actual size – not all printers do this automatically or even very well – on an acetate sheet.

Scales

There are three scales: 1:25,000, 1:40,000 and 1:50,000. If you wish to calculate the distance in metres or kilometres between two points on a map, make sure you use the appropriate scale. If your map is of a different scale, use the millimetre scale and convert it into metres or kilometres.

Romers

The three Romers are used to calculate grid references (see Figure 2.16). Place the corner of the appropriate Romer on the location you want a grid reference for. Read the numbers off, first against the vertical grid line and then the horizontal line. (Remember, if the grid line runs between two of the Romer numbers, use the lower of the two.)

Timing chart

The timing chart gives you a breakdown of the time it will take you to walk different distances at four different speeds. For example, if you walk at 5km/hr and want to know how long it will take you to walk 400m, it will take you just short of 5 minutes. (See Timing in Chapter 9 for further details.)

Pacing chart

The pacing chart allows you to fill in the number of paces you take to cover different distances on varying terrains. Measure 100m on a good level surface and count the number of double paces it takes (see Pacing in Chapter 9). Do this a few times and take an average. Fill in the ‘Normal Terrain’ column. Then, when you encounter rough ground or slippery/muddy conditions, do the same. The last two columns can be used to add your own terrain type, depending on where you walk frequently.

LISTING OF CICERONE GUIDES

Scotland

Ben Nevis and Glen Coe

Cycle Touring in Northern Scotland

Cycling in the Hebrides

Great Mountain Days in Scotland

Mountain Biking in Southern and Central Scotland

Mountain Biking in West and North West Scotland

Not the West Highland Way

Scotland

Scotland's Best Small Mountains

Scotland's Mountain Ridges

Skye's Cuillin Ridge Traverse

The Borders Abbeys Way

The Great Glen Way

The Great Glen Way Map Booklet

The Hebridean Way

The Hebrides

The Isle of Mull

The Isle of Skye

The Skye Trail

The Southern Upland Way

The Speyside Way

The Speyside Way Map Booklet

The West Highland Way

Walking Ben Lawers, Rannoch and Atholl

Walking in the Cairngorms

Walking in the Pentland Hills

Walking in the Scottish Borders

Walking in the Southern Uplands

Walking in Torridon

Walking Loch Lomond and the Trossachs

Walking on Arran

Walking on Harris and Lewis

Walking on Jura, Islay and Colonsay

Walking on Rum and the Small Isles

Walking on the Orkney and Shetland Isles

Walking on Uist and Barra

Walking the Cape Wrath Trail

Walking the Corbetts Vol 1 South of the Great Glen

Walking the Corbetts Vol 2 North of the Great Glen

Walking the Galloway Hills

Walking the Munros Vol 1 - Southern, Central and Western Highlands

Walking the Munros Vol 2 - Northern Highlands and the Cairngorms

West Highland Way Map Booklet

Winter Climbs Ben Nevis and Glen Coe

Winter Climbs in the Cairngorms

Northern England Trails

Hadrian's Wall Path

Hadrian's Wall Path Map Booklet

Pennine Way Map Booklet

The Coast to Coast Map Booklet

The Coast to Coast Walk

The Dales Way Map Booklet

The Pennine Way

Walking the Dales Way

Walking the Tour of the Lake District

Lake District

Coniston Old Man

Cycling in the Lake District

Great Mountain Days in the Lake District

Joss Naylor's Lakes, Meres and Waters of the Lake District

Lake District Winter Climbs

Lake District: High Level and Fell Walks

Lake District: Low Level and Lake Walks

Mountain Biking in the Lake District

Outdoor Adventures with Children - Lake District

Scafell Pike

Scrambles in the Lake District - North

Scrambles in the Lake District - South

The Cumbria Way

Trail and Fell Running in the Lake District

Walking the Lake District Fells - Borrowdale

Walking the Lake District Fells - Buttermere

Walking the Lake District Fells - Coniston

Walking the Lake District Fells - Keswick

Walking the Lake District Fells - Langdale

Walking the Lake District Fells - Mardale and the Far East

Walking the Lake District Fells - Patterdale

Walking the Lake District Fells - Wasdale

North West England and The Isle of Man

Cycling the Pennine Bridleway

Cycling the Reivers Route

Cycling the Way of the Roses

Hadrian's Cycleway

Isle of Man Coastal Path

The Lancashire Cycleway

The Lune Valley and Howgills

Walking in Cumbria's Eden Valley

Walking in Lancashire

Walking in the Forest of Bowland and Pendle

Walking on the Isle of Man

Walking on the West Pennine Moors

Walks in Silverdale and Arnside

North East England, Yorkshire Dales and Pennines

Cycling in the Yorkshire Dales

Great Mountain Days in the Pennines

Mountain Biking in the Yorkshire Dales

St Oswald's Way and St Cuthbert's Way

The Cleveland Way and the Yorkshire Wolds Way

The Cleveland Way Map Booklet

The North York Moors

The Reivers Way

The Teesdale Way

Trail and Fell Running in the Yorkshire Dales

Walking in County Durham

Walking in Northumberland

Walking in the North Pennines

Walking in the Yorkshire Dales: North and East

Walking in the Yorkshire Dales: South and West

Wales and Welsh Borders

Cycle Touring in Wales

Cycling Lon Las Cymru

Glyndwr's Way

Great Mountain Days in Snowdonia

Hillwalking in Shropshire

Hillwalking in Wales - Vol 1

Hillwalking in Wales - Vol 2

Mountain Walking in Snowdonia

Offa's Dyke Map Booklet

Offa's Dyke Path

Pembrokeshire Coast Path Map Booklet

Ridges of Snowdonia

Scrambles in Snowdonia

Snowdonia: 30 Low-level and easy walks - North

Snowdonia: 30 Low-level and easy walks - South

The Cambrian Way

The Ceredigion and Snowdonia Coast Paths

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path

The Severn Way

The Snowdonia Way

The Wales Coast Path

The Wye Valley Walk

Walking in Carmarthenshire

Walking in Pembrokeshire

Walking in the Forest of Dean

Walking in the Wye Valley

Walking on Gower

Walking on the Brecon Beacons

Walking the Shropshire Way

Derbyshire, Peak District and Midlands

Cycling in the Peak District

Dark Peak Walks

Scrambles in the Dark Peak

Walking in Derbyshire

Walking in the Peak District - White Peak East

Walking in the Peak District - White Peak West

Southern England

20 Classic Sportive Rides in South East England

20 Classic Sportive Rides in South West England

Cycling in the Cotswolds

Mountain Biking on the North Downs

Mountain Biking on the South Downs

North Downs Way Map Booklet

South West Coast Path Map Booklet - Vol 1: Minehead to St Ives

South West Coast Path Map Booklet - Vol 2: St Ives to Plymouth

South West Coast Path Map Booklet - Vol 3: Plymouth to Poole

Suffolk Coast and Heath Walks

The Cotswold Way

The Cotswold Way Map Booklet

The Great Stones Way

The Kennet and Avon Canal

The Lea Valley Walk

The North Downs Way

The Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast path

The Pilgrims' Way

The Ridgeway Map Booklet

The Ridgeway National Trail

The South Downs Way

The South Downs Way Map Booklet

The Thames Path

The Thames Path Map Booklet

The Two Moors Way

Two Moors Way Map Booklet

Walking Hampshire's Test Way

Walking in Cornwall

Walking in Essex

Walking in Kent

Walking in London

Walking in Norfolk

Walking in the Chilterns

Walking in the Cotswolds

Walking in the Isles of Scilly

Walking in the New Forest

Walking in the North Wessex Downs

Walking on Dartmoor

Walking on Guernsey

Walking on Jersey

Walking on the Isle of Wight

Walking the Jurassic Coast

Walking the South West Coast Path

Walks in the South Downs National Park

British Isles Challenges, Collections and Activities

The Big Rounds

The Book of the Bivvy

The Book of the Bothy

The C2C Cycle Route

The Mountains of England and Wales: Vol 1 Wales

The Mountains of England and Wales: Vol 2 England

The National Trails

Walking The End to End Trail

UK Cycling

Cycling Land's End to John o' Groats

Alps cross-border routes

100 Hut Walks in the Alps

Alpine Ski Mountaineering Vol 1 - Western Alps

Alpine Ski Mountaineering Vol 2 - Central and Eastern Alps

Chamonix to Zermatt

The Karnischer Hohenweg

The Tour of the Bernina

Tour of Monte Rosa

Tour of the Matterhorn

Trail Running - Chamonix and the Mont Blanc region

Trekking in the Alps

Trekking in the Silvretta and Ratikon Alps

Trekking Munich to Venice

Trekking the Tour of Mont Blanc

Walking in the Alps

Pyrenees and France/Spain cross-border routes

Shorter Treks in the Pyrenees

The GR10 Trail

The GR11 Trail

The Pyrenean Haute Route

The Pyrenees

Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees

Austria

Innsbruck Mountain Adventures

The Adlerweg

Trekking in Austria's Hohe Tauern

Trekking in the Stubai Alps

Trekking in the Zillertal Alps

Walking in Austria

Walking in the Salzkammergut: the Austrian Lake District

Switzerland

Switzerland's Jura Crest Trail

The Swiss Alpine Pass Route - Via Alpina Route 1

The Swiss Alps

Tour of the Jungfrau Region

Walking in the Bernese Oberland

Walking in the Engadine - Switzerland

Walking in the Valais

Walking in Zermatt and Saas-Fee

France

Chamonix Mountain Adventures

Cycle Touring in France

Cycling London to Paris

Cycling the Canal de la Garonne

Cycling the Canal du Midi

Mont Blanc Walks

Mountain Adventures in the Maurienne

Short Treks on Corsica

The GR20 Corsica

The GR5 Trail

The GR5 Trail - Vosges and Jura

The Grand Traverse of the Massif Central

The Loire Cycle Route

The Moselle Cycle Route

The River Rhone Cycle Route

The Way of St James - Le Puy to the Pyrenees

Tour of the Queyras

Trekking in the Vanoise

Trekking the Cathar Way

Trekking the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail

Vanoise Ski Touring

Via Ferratas of the French Alps

Walking in Provence - East

Walking in Provence - West

Walking in the Auvergne

Walking in the Brianconnais

Walking in the Dordogne

Walking in the Haute Savoie: North

Walking in the Haute Savoie: South

Walking on Corsica

Germany

Hiking and Cycling in the Black Forest

The Danube Cycleway Volume 1

The Rhine Cycle Route

The Westweg

Walking in the Bavarian Alps

Iceland and Greenland

Trekking in Greenland - The Arctic Circle Trail

Walking and Trekking in Iceland

Ireland

The Wild Atlantic Way and Western Ireland

Walking the Wicklow Way

Italy

Alta Via 1 - Trekking in the Dolomites

Italy's Sibillini National Park

Shorter Walks in the Dolomites

Ski Touring and Snowshoeing in the Dolomites

The Way of St Francis

Trekking in the Apennines

Trekking in the Dolomites

Trekking the Giants' Trail: Alta Via 1 through the Italian Pennine Alps

Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites Volume 1

Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites: Vol 2

Walking and Trekking in the Gran Paradiso

Walking in Abruzzo

Walking in Italy's Cinque Terre

Walking in Italy's Stelvio National Park

Walking in Sicily

Walking in the Dolomites

Walking in Tuscany

Walking in Umbria

Walking Lake Como and Maggiore

Walking Lake Garda and Iseo

Walking on the Amalfi Coast

Walking the Via Francigena pilgrim route - Part 2

Walking the Via Francigena pilgrim route - Part 3

Walks and Treks in the Maritime Alps

Belgium and Luxembourg

The GR5 Trail - Benelux and Lorraine

Walking in the Ardennes

Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Finland

Hiking in Norway - South

Trekking the Kungsleden

Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria

The Danube Cycleway Volume 2

The High Tatras

The Mountains of Romania

Walking in Bulgaria's National Parks

Walking in Hungary

Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo

Mountain Biking in Slovenia

The Islands of Croatia

The Julian Alps of Slovenia

The Mountains of Montenegro

The Peaks of the Balkans Trail

The Slovene Mountain Trail

Walking in Slovenia: The Karavanke

Walks and Treks in Croatia

Spain

Camino de Santiago: Camino Frances

Coastal Walks in Andalucia

Cycling the Camino de Santiago

Mountain Walking in Mallorca

Mountain Walking in Southern Catalunya

Spain's Sendero Historico: The GR1

The Andalucian Coast to Coast Walk

The Camino del Norte and Camino Primitivo

The Camino Ingles and Ruta do Mar

The Mountains of Nerja

The Mountains of Ronda and Grazalema

The Sierras of Extremadura

Trekking in Mallorca

Trekking in the Canary Islands

Trekking the GR7 in Andalucia

Walking and Trekking in the Sierra Nevada

Walking in Andalucia

Walking in Menorca

Walking in the Cordillera Cantabrica

Walking on Gran Canaria

Walking on La Gomera and El Hierro

Walking on La Palma

Walking on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura

Walking on Tenerife

Walking on the Costa Blanca

Walking the Camino dos Faros

Portugal

Portugal's Rota Vicentina

The Camino Portugues

Walking in Portugal

Walking in the Algarve

Walking on Madeira

Walking on the Azores

Greece

The High Mountains of Crete

Trekking in Greece

Walking and Trekking in Zagori

Walking and Trekking on Corfu

Walking on the Greek Islands - the Cyclades

Cyprus

Walking in Cyprus

Malta

Walking on Malta

International Challenges, Collections and Activities

Canyoning in the Alps

Europe's High Points

European Cycling

Cycling the Ruta Via de la Plata

The Elbe Cycle Route

Morocco

The High Atlas

Walks and Scrambles in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas

Tanzania

Kilimanjaro

South Africa

Walking in the Drakensberg

Tajikistan

Trekking in Tajikistan

Japan

Hiking and Trekking in the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji

Japan's Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage

Jordan

Treks and Climbs in Wadi Rum, Jordan

Nepal

Annapurna

Everest: A Trekker's Guide

Trekking in the Himalaya

Bhutan

Trekking in Bhutan

India

Trekking in Ladakh

North America: USA and Canada

The John Muir Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail

South America: Argentina, Chile and Peru

Aconcagua and the Southern Andes

Hiking and Biking Peru's Inca Trails

Torres del Paine

New Zealand & Australia

Hiking the Overland Track

Techniques

Fastpacking

Geocaching in the UK

Map and Compass

Outdoor Photography

Polar Exploration

The Mountain Hut Book

Mini Guides

Alpine Flowers

Navigation

Pocket First Aid and Wilderness Medicine

Snow

Mountain Literature

8000 metres

A Walk in the Clouds

Abode of the Gods

Fifty Years of Adventure

The Pennine Way - the Path, the People, the Journey

Unjustifiable Risk?