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Main Boards => Gear => Topic started by: Rob Goes Walking on 15:00:13, 24/04/19

Title: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 15:00:13, 24/04/19
At least while I learn to use a printed map to navigate I'm going to need to keep the map handy instead of in my backpack (and maybe after too depending on how it goes). While I can carry it in my hands, it would be nice to have somewhere convenient to stow it too. I can't find any walking trousers in my size with a map pocket. Does anyone have any good ideas where to stow it?
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: bricam2096 on 15:11:54, 24/04/19
why not get a map case? Clear plastic case that you can hang around your neck, and inside your jacket if you want. Means you can have your map open at the right bit instead of having to open/close it all the time. Compass can go in it too.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 15:15:42, 24/04/19
why not get a map case? Clear plastic case that you can hang around your neck, and inside your jacket if you want. Means you can have your map open at the right bit instead of having to open/close it all the time. Compass can go in it too.

Thank you while I've read about map cases I thought they were just to keep the map dry I didn't realise they had hanging potential too. I will get one.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Ridge on 15:29:30, 24/04/19
I love a map case, though they are often seen as old fashioned these days. They work better with the less bulky non-waterproof maps.
If it swinging about and flapping in the wind becomes annoying then put the cord over one of your arms as well as round your neck or tuck it in to your jacket or a strap of your rucksack.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: kinkyboots on 15:33:45, 24/04/19
You won't go far wrong with an Ortlieb map case - not cheap from about £15.75 upwards. I've had one for a few years now and it's still as good as new - got mine off eBay for just over £10.

Plenty of reviews available online.

https://www.cyclestore.co.uk/ortlieb_map_case_with_drawcord-ID_9560 (https://www.cyclestore.co.uk/ortlieb_map_case_with_drawcord-ID_9560)

(https://www.ortlieb.com/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/image/600x806/e9c3970ab036de70892d86c6d221abfe/m/a/mapcase_d13_1.jpg)

Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 15:40:00, 24/04/19
I love a map case, though they are often seen as old fashioned these days. They work better with the less bulky non-waterproof maps.
If it swinging about and flapping in the wind becomes annoying then put the cord over one of your arms as well as round your neck or tuck it in to your jacket or a strap of your rucksack.

I already own all waterproof maps and my navigation manual teaches you to mark them with a chinagraph pencil so I can't really use the non-plastic maps. I hope they still fit, after looking around it seems OS themselves sell the best one (https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/outdoorgear/map-cases/os-map-case.html).

Not bothered about it being old fashioned.

Thanks for the wind tip.

You won't go far wrong with an Ortlieb map case

Maybe this one is better then. I'll have to investigate further. Thanks.

Edit: I opted for the OS map case in the end as it is significantly bigger and I thought the extra size might better accommodate my weatherproof maps.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Owen on 16:18:45, 24/04/19
If it's a paper map then I use an ortlieb map case but I prefer waterproof maps. It really depends which trousers I've got on, one pair have a map pocket the others doesn't. But either in a side pocket of my rucksack if I can reach it or just tucked under the waist belt or stuffed down my shirt. It's really not an issue I'd bother about but never ever tied around my neck on a peice of string. That would really drive me mad very quickly.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 16:23:37, 24/04/19
I used map cases for a while but they were irritating.  Every so often you had to refold the map (that should not be a problem for you Rob - ou aren't going far enough) and they flapped about in the breeze unless you stuffed them under a strap.  Craghopper make trousers (not in your size though) with a thigh pocket big enough for a map and if it is colder any jacket worth its salt has a map pocket.  Personally I would invest in a colour printer and some plastic document wallets.  Then you can fold the map in 4 and stick it in a pocket. The walking map then becomes recyclable and the planning map stays pristine.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 16:27:29, 24/04/19
Thank you Owen I was hoping you'd answer. Two votes for Ortlieb - hopefully I haven't errored by opting for the OS map case instead (on account of it being bigger so I thought better able to accommodate the weatherproof maps).

I can tolerate things hanging round my neck but I have to admit I hadn't considered just stuffing it down the hip strap. Maybe this was £20 I didn't need to spend!

Ninthace, I tried printing an A4 map of my last walk and I found it didn't contain enough detail to be of any use nor did it have grid lines to orient the compass bezel to or take grid references from. I don't know what you do differently, it's obvious you don't do what I did.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: motorlaunch on 16:51:26, 24/04/19
Change the cord that comes with the mapcase for one that is long enough to allow the mapcase to be held down by your hipbelt or even moved around to be slid in between your rucksac and back when not required.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 16:58:13, 24/04/19
Change the cord that comes with the mapcase for one that is long enough to allow the mapcase to be held down by your hipbelt or even moved around to be slid in between your rucksac and back when not required.

Do you mean hang it on the hip belt or hang it round your neck with the long cord?
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 17:02:29, 24/04/19
Ninthace, I tried printing an A4 map of my last walk and I found it didn't contain enough detail to be of any use nor did it have grid lines to orient the compass bezel to or take grid references from. I don't know what you do differently, it's obvious you don't do what I did.
I print from the OS website with the map scale at either 1:25000 or 1:12500.  That has all the detail the map can provide plus grid lines.  Use Print Preview to check the output (useful for printing overlapping sheets).  The map is printed with gridlines on it automatically and your intended route is printed on the map (in my case as a thin red line). I print on both sides so even long routes don't eat many sheets.  Your Holme Fell route would fit on 2 sides of A4.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Owen on 17:08:12, 24/04/19


Ninthace, I tried printing an A4 map of my last walk and I found it didn't contain enough detail to be of any use nor did it have grid lines to orient the compass bezel to or take grid references from. I don't know what you do differently, it's obvious you don't do what I did.


This is ok for shorter walks not so good for longer one, I also do this when I go out in my kayak. I use memory map but I think you can do it off the tinternet. Prints just the same as the map although you sometime need to write the grid numbers on.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 17:12:24, 24/04/19
I print from the OS website with the map scale at either 1:25000 or 1:12500.

So that's what you do differently, I zoomed out to fit the whole route on one side of A4. Shame we didn't have this chat while the library was still open, I could have printed an area and begun practicing today (my knees are very nearly better today, 6 days later - I hope they get stronger).
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 17:18:52, 24/04/19
(http://i65.tinypic.com/289x64j.png)

 
for Lunedale Head route - one side of A4 at 1:12500
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: richardh1905 on 17:27:51, 24/04/19
I recall on one university mountaineering club meet in the Lakes many years ago, we ran down the slopes from Hindscarth towards Robinson into the teeth of a near gale; one of my friends had map case, compass, whistle and a football scarf around his neck - these got in such a tangle that he had to be cut free!
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: richardh1905 on 17:29:42, 24/04/19
In answer to your question, Rob, my GoreTex jacket has what they describe as a 'Napoleon pocket', which is big enough to take an OS map with ease.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: pdstsp on 17:40:16, 24/04/19
In answer to your question, Rob, my GoreTex jacket has what they describe as a 'Napoleon pocket', which is big enough to take an OS map with ease.


Ha - mine too - (the ME Lhotse club), but we don't all live in windy old Orkney - down here in the badlands of mainland UK we take our jackets off for a couple of walks a year  ;D


I hate map cases round my neck with a vengeance - I tend to carry the map in rucksack, using phone or gps as primary navigation.  When I relied fully on paper maps, I used to try to stuff them in cargo pockets, hang them off hip belts, never found a method I liked.  The advent of the OS app and the ability to print localised maps was such a relief.  Just like ninthace - I use document wallet which folds up small and fits in most pockets.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: fernman on 18:43:29, 24/04/19
My preference is for folding cases with D-rings on them so you can pass a cheap karabiner through one and clip it onto a rucksack shoulder strap. It then hangs on one side below your waist and can readily be unclipped when you want to study the contents.
I did have an allegedly waterproof camo one that I binned when my map got wet. The replacement is a Aqua-Quest 'The Trail' which is definitely waterproof. Manufactured in USA it is well-overpriced in this country for what it is, I paid £20 four years ago and I believe they're much more now.
The Aqua-Quest is a bad size for OS maps but not impossible if you don't mind folding them lots to fit them in.
However, it is ideal for A4 printed sheets which are my preference nowadays. As Owen said earlier, you need to add the grid numbers to them. Then when you are unsure of your exact location you can get your grid ref from a phone app and pinpoint your position on the map.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Mel on 19:48:02, 24/04/19
Before I invested in a map case I just used a couple of bulldog clips to hold the map folded to the area I wanted and tucked it in my rucksack's waist strap when not needed. 


Now I've got a waterproof map case which I tuck in my waist strap when not needed. 


Or, I do a screenshot print of bing maps ..... HOWEVER ... these are not to scale (so no good for measuring distance and pacing) but they do fold up and fit in your pocket. Great for printing in a size I can actually read without glasses though.







Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 20:00:02, 24/04/19
Or, I do a screenshot print of bing maps ..... HOWEVER ... these are not to scale (so no good for measuring distance and pacing) but they do fold up and fit in your pocket. Great for printing in a size I can actually read without glasses though.

Would they still work to locate yourself using bearings? I think so but am not sure.

Why not get OS maps and then you can print them off to scale? It's only £24 a year or £3 a month if you wanted to try it. Perhaps you don't need it though if Bing maps works.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Mel on 20:23:37, 24/04/19
Yes, they would work for taking bearings.


I'm happy with VR and buy the map tiles as and when I need them.  Bing maps prints works fine for my needs.  You are aware you can view the OS maps at 1:25k and 1:50k scale on Bing maps aren't you?  A screen print doesn't convert it to that pointless flat green map with a few roads on.



Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 20:31:58, 24/04/19
Yes, they would work for taking bearings.


I'm happy with VR and buy the map tiles as and when I need them.  Bing maps prints works fine for my needs.  You are aware you can view the OS maps at 1:25k and 1:50k scale on Bing maps aren't you?  A screen print doesn't convert it to that pointless flat green map with a few roads on.

I meant a subscription to Ordnance Survey's online mapping not ViewRanger's Premium mapping. I subscribed to them to access their aerial 3D view before I learnt ViewRanger can do almost as good a job with the premium account I already had with them.

https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

That mapping. I already paid for it or I would investigate using Bing. Does Bing print grid lines too?
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Mel on 20:41:16, 24/04/19
Yes, Bing prints out the gridlines, but I do it as a screenshot (pressing the print screen button on my computer and dumping it into a word document).


I'm fairly certain it's not possible to print the OS maps screen image using Bing's print function.


I let my OS subscription end after discovering VR.  I don't have VR premium either.  I have the free version and just buy the OS map tiles as needed (works out much cheaper per year for me than subscription to either OS or VR Premium).







Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Innominate Man on 23:53:37, 24/04/19
A couple of added considerations from me;
I used to take my own OS map (to work) and print off the section(s) I intended using for walks, thereby saving my map from weather damage and prolonging it's life. I would fold the A4s in half and insert them into one of those clear plastic wallets from stationers.
I found the half size = A5 was easier to stash in my jacket chest pocket.
A while later I realised you could buy an Ortleib map case of A5 size. Despite potential navigational shortcomings of doing this, I never found it a problem.


The only downside is, that over the years the clear Ortleib has discoloured and instead of being a clear plastic, I now have maps with a distinct sepia tinge!
I should hold my hand up and admit that my last map case was bought in about 2008/9 - so perhaps they are expected to discolour after so many years  ::)


It is probably time for me to buy another new one, although I do have the standard big size case which was shelved when I moved onto the smaller version. Perhaps I'll give that an airing.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: archaeoroutes on 12:58:28, 25/04/19
I just use a pocket. One of my criteria on buying walking clothes is to have a pocket suitable for a full OS map.
Map cases to me are annoying dangly things that whip round in the wind and add weight.

With the advent of modern printing that doesn't warp the scale at the edges of the map, and waterproof printer paper, I mostly print off what I need for the actual navigation, leaving the full OS map in the rucksack as a backup.
When teaching navigation, one of the key things I aim to get across is map contact. That means keeping where you are on the map in touch with where you are on the ground. Thumbing is a big part of this. So I would expect someone focussing on their nav to have the map in their hand the whole time, their thumb on the most recent place they confirmed their position, and the map orientated so the moment they lift their hand up it is the right way round. This is much easier with a printout due to wiehgt and size and ability to fold to a handy' size.


ETA: I use VR for most things, but have found the OS mapping site much easier for printing off maps to the correct scale. Once I have a pdf of a particular area I can use it again and again.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 13:07:44, 25/04/19
I just use a pocket. One of my criteria on buying walking clothes is to have a pocket suitable for a full OS map.

Not possible for me due to walking clothes manufacturers not selling in my size.


When teaching navigation, one of the key things I aim to get across is map contact. That means keeping where you are on the map in touch with where you are on the ground. Thumbing is a big part of this. So I would expect someone focussing on their nav to have the map in their hand the whole time, their thumb on the most recent place they confirmed their position, and the map orientated so the moment they lift their hand up it is the right way round. This is much easier with a printout due to wiehgt and size and ability to fold to a handy' size.

I thought I'd only have to practice thumbing for a while and then would be able to move on to having a rough idea where I am and using confirmation and relocation techniques to get a better fix. Is this not how you do it post thumbing stage as, as you say, you stow it in a pocket you don't thumb your location most of the time?
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 13:36:21, 25/04/19
My maps just arrived a day early! Rain is forecast so kind of ironically in an attempt to move away from digital aids I'm going to have to buy the book in e-format as well as my phone is waterproof and the paperback isn't. Now the only question is do I go practice later today or tomorrow (or both)?

Just a note I've got some very basic nav experience, ViewRanger isn't completely magic, I've still been collecting features and sometimes setting attack points or/and handrailing even if I didn't know what it was I was doing!

Also I noticed Mel in her blog calls what my book calls "collecting features", "handrailing", where as my book calls "handrailing" following a linear feature to an attack point. Is there some discrepancy in the use of the terms?
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: sussamb on 15:20:47, 25/04/19
Handrailing is when you follow a linear feature. A collecting feature is something that 'collects you'  so you may for example be following a track that hits a line of trees, the trees act as a collecting feature to confirm exactly where you are or may be used to indicate you've overshot where you were trying to get to, sometimes referred to as catching features.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 16:02:18, 25/04/19
Thanks sussamb that's what the book says, although it refers to collecting features as the technique of noting which collecting features you've passed to keep an idea of where you are (it suggests ticking them off on paper but that seems extreme to me seeing as this is something I was already mentally doing without knowing what it's called). After fighting with the OS map and realising you have to tear the cover off I've been practicing keeping the map orientated walking around my flat. Simple enough, if I can do it blind shouldn't be a problem with the terrain as a clue. Will be practicing the skills properly tomorrow!
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 16:31:24, 25/04/19
Thanks sussamb that's what the book says, although it refers to collecting features as the technique of noting which collecting features you've passed to keep an idea of where you are (it suggests ticking them off on paper but that seems extreme to me seeing as this is something I was already mentally doing without knowing what it's called). After fighting with the OS map and realising you have to tear the cover off I've been practicing keeping the map orientated walking around my flat. Simple enough, if I can do it blind shouldn't be a problem with the terrain as a clue. Will be practicing the skills properly tomorrow!

  If you are off to Kirkby Stephen - roughly the area you can play in is bounded by Kirby Hill and Hartley Hill to the N; the River Eden from Low Mill Bridge to Stenkrith Bridge to the W; Stenkrith Bridge to Podgill Viaduct to the end of the rwy line E of Hartley to the S; the W side of Hartley Village to the E.  It is not all public space but a lot of it is and it is criss-crossed by PROW, part of the fun will be finding out.  Below Stenkrith Bridge is a fun place.  There is even a minor cave/pot hole just downstream.
PS look out for the parrots.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Mel on 16:43:22, 25/04/19
Also I noticed Mel in her blog calls what my book calls "collecting features", "handrailing", where as my book calls "handrailing" following a linear feature to an attack point. Is there some discrepancy in the use of the terms?


Yes, sorry.  I use the terms interchangeably.  Handrailling = following a linear feature (eg. path or stream).  Collecting features = stuff I pass on the way.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 16:49:44, 25/04/19
I've bought the wrong compass  :tickedoff: . Made another thread about it to discuss what it is. Looks like I'm off to Penrith at the cost of an additional £5 in petrol to Go Outdoors in the morning to get a suitable one or maybe even have to wait for another from Amazon. Don't want to rush out and buy the wrong compass if I'm going to wish I bought a better one. This one will have to go back to Amazon at a £4 loss. Maybe I won't get to practice tomorrow.  :(
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: sussamb on 16:51:54, 25/04/19

Yes, sorry.  I use the terms interchangeably.  Handrailling = following a linear feature (eg. path or stream).  Collecting features = stuff I pass on the way.


Just to confuse things further those are more Checking features, but I think we all know what is what  O0
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 16:54:43, 25/04/19
I've bought the wrong compass  :tickedoff: . Made another thread about it to discuss what it is. Looks like I'm off to Penrith at the cost of an additional £5 in petrol to Go Outdoors in the morning to get a suitable one or maybe even have to wait for another from Amazon. Don't want to rush out and buy the wrong compass if I'm going to wish I bought a better one. This one will have to go back to Amazon at a £4 loss. Maybe I won't get to practice tomorrow.  :(
  See my reply - no need to go to Penrith
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 17:20:30, 25/04/19
  See my reply - no need to go to Penrith

Thanks ninthace, the Silva Expedition compass in Mad about Mountains looks acceptable albeit a bit pricey. Cheap compared to the compass my book recommends, the Suunto M3 Global.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 17:30:27, 25/04/19
Thanks ninthace, the Silva Expedition compass in Mad about Mountains looks acceptable albeit a bit pricey. Cheap compared to the compass my book recommends, the Suunto M3 Global.
Think of the time and petrol you will save.  They will have a selection of compasses in either shop I am sure.  Mad about has been there about 5 to 6 years, Eden Outdoors is a tiny shop that has been there since Pontius was having flying lessons, it's a one man shop.  I have shopped at both in the past.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: archaeoroutes on 21:45:27, 25/04/19
I thought I'd only have to practice thumbing for a while and then would be able to move on to having a rough idea where I am and using confirmation and relocation techniques to get a better fix. Is this not how you do it post thumbing stage as, as you say, you stow it in a pocket you don't thumb your location most of the time?
If I'm in an orienteering event or something else where detailed nav is key, then thumbing is still the way.


If just out in the hills for a walk where I want to go somewhere specific, then the next thing introduced in learning nav takes the fore - route stories. Study the next leg and work out the story. This will involve handrailing, checking features, collecting features. Along the path through the wood for ten minuted, left after the bridge, up the steep bit, stop when you reach the fence, it should take half an hour. Then the map goes away, only to come out if a checkpoint doesn't appear or you get there.


Then there's just wandering around exploring and knowing you can relocate when you want to.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 21:58:23, 25/04/19
If I'm in an orienteering event or something else where detailed nav is key, then thumbing is still the way.


If just out in the hills for a walk where I want to go somewhere specific, then the next thing introduced in learning nav takes the fore - route stories. Study the next leg and work out the story. This will involve handrailing, checking features, collecting features. Along the path through the wood for ten minuted, left after the bridge, up the steep bit, stop when you reach the fence, it should take half an hour. Then the map goes away, only to come out if a checkpoint doesn't appear or you get there.


Then there's just wandering around exploring and knowing you can relocate when you want to.

Thank you, this was the missing piece of the puzzle. My book didn't cover route stories. Now I just need to practice.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 23:17:44, 25/04/19
Thank you, this was the missing piece of the puzzle. My book didn't cover route stories. Now I just need to practice.
  The other thing I would add is never pass a feature you can't account for.  More often than not it is something you didn't notice when planning the next section of your route but it can save time and trouble as it can also be a sign you are going off route.  If you are walking with a gps or map with pre-plotted route this can be done very quickly.  Pressing on is a main cause of becoming temporarily geographically misplaced.
Although I walk with gps as standard these days, I still do "route stories" off the screen to save me having to look at it so often.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 23:57:16, 25/04/19
Another good tip although I like to think I'd have checked my position when that happened.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: fernman on 08:41:15, 26/04/19
I really didn't understand what was being talked about, with "route stories", I have never heard that term before.
Then I read the post again, and unless I'm mistaken I believe it's what I have been doing for years.
I can look at a map and fix bits at a time in my head. Cross this field, come to a small wood, go along it's right-hand side, turn right at a T-junction of paths at the far edge of the wood, reach a B-road, and then it's time to look at the map again.
I think it was born from my days on the road as a service engineer, when I could look at the A-Z street map and memorise the route to my next call.
A lot of the upland walking I've done in recent years has been fairly pathless, when I navigate by looking at features of the land such as streams, hills, valleys, blocks of forest, etc.
But when  I'm walking I still manage to go off course through sheer carelessness and inattention. I plod along so wrapped up in my own little world that sometimes I carry on past where I should have turned off, even if the instruction is tucked away in my brain.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 09:43:28, 26/04/19
fernman it's because you're an experienced navigator. You worked it out yourself, beginning as a service engineer. Just like I worked out handrailing, collecting features and sometimes attack points myself as a novice navigator by doing it without anyone telling me. My understanding of route stories is they can be visual like your fixing bits of map or more descriptive - the English words describing what features you will encounter and a little bit (probably increasing with practice) of visual map memory to back it up. Hopefully I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 10:25:07, 26/04/19
The term was new to me too fernman.  I learned to navigate in the mists of antiquity when as far as I know,  much of the modern jargon hadn’t been invented and Silva compasses had yet to be in common use. Oh the heady days of prismatic compasses!
When I was alive, we had linear features and handrailing had yet to become a verb.  Aiming off existed too, collecting points and attack points were described as “aim for” or “start from”  but most of it was just common sense that you picked up without ever knowing if it had a name.  My teachers were my dad and the scouts and your skills developed over time without much conscious effort.  Sometimes I think people overcomplicate stuff these days in an effort to make it seem simple - or am I becoming a grumpy old man?
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 10:39:57, 26/04/19
Sometimes I think people overcomplicate stuff these days in an effort to make it seem simple - or am I becoming a grumpy old man?

It's just a bit of jargon every field does it as someone learning it I'd say giving it a name was neither here nor there it was archaeoroutes description of what he does that was important. It's never yet occurred to me to do this beyond two locations without getting ViewRanger out, perhaps it would have in time.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: sussamb on 10:44:12, 26/04/19
Sometimes I think people overcomplicate stuff these days in an effort to make it seem simple - or am I becoming a grumpy old man?


Yes  ;D


I think you're right though, but it's the way all things have gone, there are guides for everything it seems now since I guess there is a demand for it.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: archaeoroutes on 21:25:51, 26/04/19
Sorry. I wasn't claiming that 'route stories' was a formal name. It's just what I call them when teaching. It helps students if they can hang a concept on a name.
Most experienced navigators probably do it subconsciously. Spelling it out helps people progress in that direction by making them think about what they expect to see (and recognise when they see something they shouldn't).


As the terrain differs, so can the story. On this bearing for 500m across the flat snowfield. Then 600m on that bearing, starting to descend halfway along. There should be a little lochan to your left. From there descend the... Etc.

Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Requiem on 21:38:19, 26/04/19
I almost always have those maps printed on plastic these days, so its always in a leg pocket on my trousers as it doesnt matter if it gets wet or not. Paper maps I still love using but they're relegated to the table at home to pore over when I'm planning a walk


R
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: ninthace on 21:44:59, 26/04/19
I almost always have those maps printed on plastic these days, so its always in a leg pocket on my trousers as it doesnt matter if it gets wet or not. Paper maps I still love using but they're relegated to the table at home to pore over when I'm planning a walk


R
I went through a phase of using Toughprint waterproof paper.  Trouble was my printer ink wasn't
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Jim Parkin on 21:51:52, 26/04/19
Do you mean hang it on the hip belt or hang it round your neck with the long cord?
I use a piece of shockcord looped on my rucsac strap and with the mapcase tied to the grab handle of my rucsac:
It works pretty well
(https://live.staticflickr.com/2671/33015278826_6f1d1d7ca9.jpg) (http://)Mapcase (https://flic.kr/p/SirWah) by jimmypippa (https://www.flickr.com/photos/33943813@N03/), on Flickr
Recently I have started using the harveys 1:40,000 ultramaps that are printed on thin plastic and a similar form facto to my phone when folded, so I just keep them in my trouser pocket.  They cover a reasonable area (three for the whole peak district) and are managable in wind due to their size
Review by Chris Townsend here:
http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2016/05/harvey-ultramaps-reviewed-for-tgo.html
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 22:15:33, 26/04/19
Thanks Jim for the map case info.

As for Harveys maps perhaps later I think the OS large scale maps are easier for learning from - maybe I'm wrong it's more of a hunch.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Requiem on 08:48:23, 27/04/19
I went through a phase of using Toughprint waterproof paper.  Trouble was my printer ink wasn't
Another thing I've seen people do mainly on ML or WGL training is laminate their maps - A5 seems to work really well
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Rob Goes Walking on 09:04:41, 27/04/19
Another thing I've seen people do mainly on ML or WGL training is laminate their maps - A5 seems to work really well

That's a really good idea I should have bought a laminator not OS maps. I have OS maps for now so I'll have to make do but this is something for the future.
Title: Re: Good place to keep your map
Post by: Jim Parkin on 20:58:46, 28/04/19
Thanks Jim for the map case info.

As for Harveys maps perhaps later I think the OS large scale maps are easier for learning from - maybe I'm wrong it's more of a hunch.
I'd say it depends.  OS Maps *still* feel more familiar, but those 1:40k ones (so slightly larger scale than landranger maps)  are pretty good.  I managed to hit Kinder Gates bang on from Fairbrook Naze, using the Central Peak one and a compass bearing a few weeks ago - I've only just got mine.  It also has some tracks marked that exist on the ground, but not on the OS 1:25k map.  I still tend to take the OS 1:25k map as well for daywalks, but am using it less once I get out of villages.