Author Topic: difficult navigation places  (Read 2965 times)

lostme1

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #15 on: 14:38:38, 27/12/17 »

Forests I find tricky, somewhere like Epping Forest where there are loads of paths on the ground but few on the map, so it is hard to pick the right path but you can not just walk on a bearing either. Or a plantation where there are tracks which change quicker than you buy new maps but the paths disappear and again you can not follow your compass for the undergrowth.

Totally agree about woodlands. The only time when I had no idea of which way to go was when I went chestnut gathering and wandered off the paths in the search for the best chestnuts. When I finally looked up I realised the light was fading fast and I didn't know which way the car was. I had to just walk among the trees till I came to a path and chose a direction to go as I didn't recognise anything. There were so many paths, I could have gone round in a circle and not know it in the fading light.

My saviour in the end was a line of overhead cables that ran through the woods and I knew they would eventually cross a path from which I could find my way back. Mentally flipped a coin for left or right, got lucky and following the line I finally came to a point that I recognised and knew my route back the car.

This was in the days long before mobile phones etc and nobody knew where I was. I had gone out to an area I thought knew. An experience I don't want to repeat.  Try woodlands for a different expereince.



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Owen

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #16 on: 16:05:15, 27/12/17 »


Mid Wales and around Radnor Forrest can be quite a difference experience


Yes I remember that place well, back in my Army days they'd give us an eight figure grid reference of a tree (in a forest). Pinned to that tree would be the next grid reference of another tree. I think there were about ten to find to get all the way around, there was also a time limit and we weren't allowed to use any forest tracks or roads. Happy days.   

April

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #17 on: 18:38:15, 27/12/17 »
The North Pennines AONB is challenging.

Another vote for this area, difficult, pathless terrain in mist and bad weather

Yes, woodland areas and forests can be tricky, try Johnny Wood near Seatoller. The pixies who live there will trick your compass like magnetism  ;)

Also large department stores, how on earth do you get out of them once you are in them?
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Peter

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #18 on: 20:31:19, 27/12/17 »
A million years ago I had fell rescue training with the police. Their plan was simple enough and guaranteed it was difficult.
It is all done at night and in winter. Doesn't matter much then even if you have knowledge of the area.
Just get somebody to chuck you out of the back of a van on any fell. Focuses the mind wonderfully.
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Owen

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #19 on: 20:49:59, 27/12/17 »

Also large department stores, how on earth do you get out of them once you are in them?


You can't, don't you know all Ikea stores are a portal to hell. Once you've entered you're doomed. You'll be spending all eternity endlessly wandering along row after row of useless flat pack furniture for ever searching for the non existing exit.   

Rather be walking

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #20 on: 13:29:32, 28/12/17 »
The back of my garage  :D

Jon.
““The hardest part was coming to terms with the constant dispiriting discovery that there is always more hill.”
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ninthace

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #21 on: 15:05:56, 28/12/17 »
The back of my garage  :D

Jon.


Not as bad as the bottom of Mrs N's handbag. I have seen her put her arm in there up to the elbow in an effort to find something and on the outside it is only 8 inches deep.  When she clears it out, the accumulated junk has 4 times the volume of the handbag.  I daresn't say anything though - anyone who can control space-time to that extent would make a powerful enemy.  Heck - even Dr Who needs a Tardis to pull off such a feat!
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Peter

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #22 on: 15:16:54, 28/12/17 »

You can't, don't you know all Ikea stores are a portal to hell. Once you've entered you're doomed. You'll be spending all eternity endlessly wandering along row after row of useless flat pack furniture for ever searching for the non existing exit.


I'm going to confess, just before Christmas I 'popped back' into an Ikea to get something. I was truly lost. I know I waked by the same display more than once, and I'm sure some staff were giggling. I can get off a fell in the dark and fog, but Ikea? I'm not THAT good.
Peter
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Rather be walking

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #23 on: 15:18:42, 28/12/17 »

Not as bad as the bottom of Mrs N's handbag. I have seen her put her arm in there up to the elbow in an effort to find something and on the outside it is only 8 inches deep.  When she clears it out, the accumulated junk has 4 times the volume of the handbag.  I daresn't say anything though - anyone who can control space-time to that extent would make a powerful enemy.  Heck - even Dr Who needs a Tardis to pull off such a feat!

Sound like 'The Undetectable Extension Charm' used by Hermione Granger in Harry Potter.  8)  ;)

Jon.
““The hardest part was coming to terms with the constant dispiriting discovery that there is always more hill.”
― Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods

Peter

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #24 on: 15:29:17, 28/12/17 »

I would definitely choose to be misplaced in an open area than one with lots of obstacles. The top of Kinder in the mist can be hard walking but if you head in any direction you will hit the edge and can then follow it to a get off path.


And on his final post, if you want to test your navigation skills a couple of pints first sounds like the way to go.


Kinder is a very special place, and it comes to close to scaring me.  I treat it with great respect. Following the principles of 'emergency' navigation is almost impossible. I was unable to walk in a straight line for very far.
Peter
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Dyffryn Ardudwy

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #25 on: 17:21:01, 28/12/17 »
Central Carneddau ridge in Northern Snowdonia, you have height and an almost featureless terrain.

Its an area i know well, and is a magnificent area to test ones navigation skills, or lack of them.

Another benefit of the area, is that there are numerous parking areas, at every point of the compass, making it very accessible and in an emergency help is not that far away.
The Carneddau's main ridge tops the 3000ft contour for almost seven miles, and its the highest continuous land above 3000ft outside Scotland.

Its Northern sections are virtually all on easy grass, but navigation especially from Bera Mawr towards Foel Grach is incredibly challenging in bad conditions, as there are very few objects to take a bearing from.

Mid Wales, especially the Plymlimon region, is also a real challenge, but parking is limited.

Ive crossed the Carneddau in some really bad weather, and the exposure is incredible, but i tend to give them a wide birth when the mist is down

Due to its close proximity to the Irish Sea, it attracts some of the thickest mists anywhere in Snowdonia, but safesty is never far away, which is an important thing to take into account.
« Last Edit: 17:24:23, 28/12/17 by Dyffryn Ardudwy »

BuzyG

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Re: difficult navigation places
« Reply #26 on: 22:48:24, 28/12/17 »
Another recommendation for Dartmoor.  O0

 Even on a beautiful sunny clear day, if you don't know the area then Navigation requires concentration.  There are hundreds of Tors and the elevation does not change more than a few hundred metres, so they can all look very similar.  As for when the fog comes down and it's dark.  Well let's just say earlier this year, a group of us, all experienced navigators, who walk Dartmoor every week,  managed to get completely disorientated on a Tor we knew well.  then ended up following the walk leader the wrong way for over a mile, as he accidentally backtracked on his GPS route at 2 am in the morning. :-[

Today though it was heaven on earth solid covering of snow, as far as the eye could see, no wind and clear blue sky's.  O0

 

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