The joy of map reading.

There was a nice little article in the weekend paper about map reading , as in: map, compass, eyes and brain. Basically saying that people who use assorted electronic gadgetry miss out, they don't look and observe their surroundings, but rather wait to be told where they are and which way to go.

They see little about them, so fail to fully appreciate the landscape and country.

There's so much detail available on an OS map, if you know how and where to look for it, it also makes you use your brain as opposed to simply following instructions (from the Yanks satelites :mad: ).

How many of you are "traditionalists" and would never use a GPS and whatever else there is? And who uses anything going ?


I may change my tune if lost on the Rhinogs in thick clag next week :o

I LOVE map reading.

I read maps in bed :o

im very good with maps but not with a compass
its true its like map readin when findin your way round the country
i dare say i could go anywhere in the UK without a map cos ive drove so many miles, if someone says go to such and such i never really loo at the map much
you do take in more of wots round you

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Originally Posted by OneHillWonder

I LOVE map reading.

I read maps in bed :o

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cmon surely not one hill , are you serious
i read porn in bed , but only on a friday nite

map readin in bed
im worried about you :eek:

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Originally Posted by daz h

cmon surely not one hill , are you serious
i read porn in bed , but only on a friday nite

map readin in bed
im worried about you :eek:

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:D maybe it's why i am single?

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Originally Posted by OneHillWonder

:D maybe it's why i am single?

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honestly your kiddin yeah
not O/Survey maps in bed one hill

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Originally Posted by OneHillWonder

I read maps in bed :o

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I thought everyone did?

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Originally Posted by OneHillWonder

I read maps in bed :o

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Originally Posted by david

I thought everyone did?

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Originally Posted by daz h

i read porn in bed

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Maps count as porn. I have maps on my kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom walls.

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Originally Posted by Mud

Maps count as porn. I have maps on my kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom walls.

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Now I am really worried :eek:

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Originally Posted by hopey

Now I am really worried

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It's because I'm too cheap to buy proper pictures. I expect there'll be someone along later to confirm that.

Still a traditionalist, although I've got Memory Map on the PC. You still can't beat the satisfaction of unfolding an OS map (or four if it's the Lakes :)) across the living room floor and planning a route.

I love map and compass work, but i also sling a GPS in the bum bag to record where i have been how long etc, then download the info to memory map and log all my mileage, peaks etc to a log so that i have an ongoing record of my feeble efforts.

I don`t anticipate using the GPS for navigation but you never know i could stand on and break my compass one day.

I also read maps in bed:o

i keep lookin at this thread and keep thinkin about those 52 week supplements
THE JOY OF SEX
anyone remember it :)

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Originally Posted by OneHillWonder

I LOVE .... in bed :o

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Originally Posted by daz h

THE JOY OF SEX
anyone remember it :)

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http://content.answers.com/main/cont...-Joyofsezx.jpg

I note that this 30th Anniversary Edition coincides with my 30th anniversary.:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by daz h

im very good with maps but not with a compass

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Sort of know what you mean - on last year's LAMM I hardly used the compass, I found that I could navigate along quite easily using just the map and figuring out the features we were passing. It helped that there were lots of good "rail" features and the like.

We only had problems with two checkpoints, one on each day, and in both cases it was more a case of poor micro navigation rather than anything else. One was a reentrent in a field of peat hags, the other we miscounted the number of streams we had crossed and cut up too early (like nearly everyone else).

I have loads of maps at home from first edition OS facimilies to ridge maps of the Karakoram. Wouldn't describe them as porn though :rolleyes:

Maps are one of the true Hidden Gems in life....
so much there, the more you look...
the more you see... (crass but true)
I too have them by the bedside...
and even under the pillow, on the darkest of nights.
Eventually you fall right into them...
and find yourself able to absorb & imbibe..
the fine detail & alluring contours...
tangible in the extreme....
Maybe Navigation is the new Porn?!!
Perhaps we will see Cartographers in Court...

Never thought of the porn link, map reading just gets better :)

I too take maps to bed sometimes, thought it was a symptom of age :( , but I'm obviously not alone.

I purchased the Brecon Beacons map today - think I'll go downstairs and bring it up right now ;) .

I've also got this and a copy of this...

Neither are that good for navigating on the fells with though.

I've got a map on my bedroom wall. :o It was my Dad's - one of the old shaded relief OS maps of the Lakes. Had it for ages then saw the one at the Wasdale Head Inn and it gave me the idea to get it framed. My missus wasn't too chuffed about it. Maybe I should put it on the ceiling.

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Originally Posted by Mud

I've also got this and a copy of this...

Neither are that good for navigating on the fells with though.

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Both excellent...
Mapping the mind is mapping the heart..
The body just follows on..
"My" ancient linen backed 1"...
of The Peak District always makes
me thoughtful & happy...
so many cracks & creases...
somehow the detail always shines through..
+
I've a small & precious selection..
of Bartholomew's Revised "Half-Inch" Contoured, too...
blood runs quick when these are opened..

too much excitement,
time to boot out Miss Paws!

I love reading maps, l've been known to read one in bed at times.
First thing I do if I go anywhere new is get a map of the area.
I've never used a gps always map and compass, saying that I don't often use either in the lakes when I'm out no matter what the weather just follow features
:p

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Originally Posted by OneHillWonder

I LOVE map reading.

I read maps in bed :o

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Me too OneHill Wonder!

I have a large selection of OS maps, favourite reading place for me as to be toilet at home. I often spend long periods sat on the throne perusing over a map and re-tracking a route navigated earlier that day! Map reading is cool!! As mentioned, lots of detail on a map that you could easily miss on a days walk without one!

The wife thinks I'm weird!

I love maps - but it's rather irritating how out of date the OS maps are.

Paths are the obvious problem - there are loads of major paths not on maps, and lots that have moved (a real problem when going across fields and it's the wrong side of the wall), and loads of permissive paths that aren't shown.

But then there's woods that have been planted or felled, reservoirs built or drained.

I even noticed that one of the streams on Kinder is in the wrong place! (West of the woolpacks - compare it with aerial photography).

I traversed the White Mountains in Crete a few years ago. In the hut on day one we met a German who showed off his GPS with great enthusiasm. He had digitised the route into the device back home before the trip using the best map he could find. Unfortunately the maps of Crete are rather more schematic than our OS maps and the waypoints were hundreds of metres out of place on the ground due to the inaccuracy of the map. He followed the GPS religiously instead of the map and had a real epic in the maquis, ending up in the wrong valley and having to return to the hut. The hut warden said he was the only one ever to get so completely lost.

We met him after the event, and he was still in love with his GPS. I would have binned it.

Aha!

See LOADS of people read maps in bed daz so there :p

as for porn, well I don't know anything about porn so there :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Sinatra

I have a large selection of OS maps, favourite reading place for me as to be toilet at home. I often spend long periods sat on the throne perusing over a map and re-tracking a route navigated earlier that day! Map reading is cool!! As mentioned, lots of detail on a map that you could easily miss on a days walk without one!

The wife thinks I'm weird!

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Completely normal behaviour as far as I'm concerned :D .

When I first got into map reading I bought a fantastic book called Navigation for Walkers (Amazon Link to this Publication).

Its a cracking little book and it helped me master the art of map reading and using a compass.

Well worth a look at least!

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Originally Posted by Sinatra

When I first got into map reading I bought a fantastic book called Navigation for Walkers (Amazon Link to this Publication).

Its a cracking little book and it helped me master the art of map reading and using a compass.

Well worth a look at least!

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A cracking little book it is! I bought it just to get a taster of the compass side of things really but it was useful in general.

I made only my second visit to the Lake District last month and armed with my compass and all four maps that I'd spent time reading before hand it was great to see various fells in the flesh, so to speak.

Now, when I look at the maps, the memories of the views I saw come flooding back.

Great stuff!

Maps have always been and still are pieces of art. Pouring over them is similar to reading a book. I think it is a man thing though because the wife still can't read the atlas in the car to let me know which juncton I should use and I know many other men who have found similar translation problems with their female partners - female fell runners excluded obviously!

There are times when I get paid for drawing/creating maps :D

Don't go as far as reading a map in bed (unless bed = sleeping bag) but a good map beats Sat night telly. How sad's that? Nearly bought a 1:25k map of Denali yesterday, not because I've any realistic propsect of using it, not given snow conditions in May, but simply because it looked fantasic.

I love maps too.

I love the way that every last detail fails to correspond to any conceivable feature in the immediate (or, indeed, distant) vicinity.

I love the way hours of examination are followed by almost total absence of recall the moment the map is folded up.

I love the way a fully-opened map is, even in a mild breeze, the only foolproof method of achieving manned flight so far discovered.

I do, however, have just one modest improvement to suggest to maps; that being an automatically-operated, illuminated, mobile arrow, saying 'You are here' as is provided in places like the London underground tube stations. :)

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Originally Posted by Ady In Accy

Maps have always been and still are pieces of art. Pouring over them is similar to reading a book. I think it is a man thing though because the wife still can't read the atlas in the car to let me know which juncton I should use and I know many other men who have found similar translation problems with their female partners - female fell runners excluded obviously!

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Glad you said that last bit - there are some brilliant lady navigators out there!!

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Originally Posted by socks

Glad you said that last bit - there are some brilliant lady navigators out there!!

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Mind you some have problems with Rocky Knolls just like the rest of us!:D

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Originally Posted by Swoop

Mind you some have problems with Rocky Knolls just like the rest of us!:D

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Hey Up'!
Hope you are not suggesting my map was wrong.....???
That Rocky Knoll is well known for wandering in the the murky Kinder mist!!

What is it with knolls? They're so often the at the root of of problems and/or controversy, whether rocky or grassy...

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Originally Posted by daz h

im very good with maps but not with a compass

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Daz I've come to the conclusion that a compass is an instrument for establishing that you are lost. :confused:

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Originally Posted by bill

What is it with knolls? They're so often the at the root of of problems and/or controversy, whether rocky or grassy...

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I do believe that 're-entrants' often mark the beginning of the "WTFAW?" stage of many a mountain marathon.

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Originally Posted by Luv Shack

That Rocky Knoll is well known for wandering in the the murky Kinder mist!!

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That wasn't a rocky knoll, that was a sheep. It's hard to tell the difference in the mist :rolleyes: .

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That wasn't a rocky knoll, that was a sheep. It's hard to tell the difference in the mist

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Sheep-shaped knolls? New one to me, though have heard of ewe-shaped valleys...

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Originally Posted by david

That wasn't a rocky knoll.......

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A rocky knoll.............like Knoll Gallagher!