I Learned About Hiking From That.

[ninthace]

When I wore a light blue suit we had a flight safety magazine which regularly had an article entitled "I Learned About Flying From That" in which individuals could anonymously report incidents that they had survived so that others could learn from them.  I thought perhaps this forum might enjoy something similar.  Here is mine from this week.
 
When I first started laying down routes across Exmoor, I noticed that on the OS map there was an area to the south of the Badgworthy Water that that was devoid of rights of way and only had one footpath (black pecked line) that started in the middle of nowhere.  It struck me that if I could find a way through it, I could make a circular route linking the Badgworthy with the lane at Alderman's Barrow, linking to other routes to the east.  I had a look at GoogleEarth, Bing aerial maps and the OS mapping app aerial imagery and there seemed to be a network of paths and tracks through the area that could be used to return from Badgworthy Hill via East Pinford to Larkbarrow Cross (approx 6.5km).  I plotted the route carefully and produced a gps track but did not use it straight away as access to the return route required the fording of a substantial stream.


There it stayed until yesterday, when Mrs N said she fancied a walk that wasn't too long and did not involve too much up and down.  Given the long dry spell it seemed an ideal time to try the new route.  We made an early start to avoid the worst of the heat and at first all went well.  There were good tracks all the way from Alderman's Barrow to the bridge over the Badgworthy. From here, it was a brief walk west to find a point where we could ford the stream into Terra Incognita.  This came a bit sooner than I had planned but we soon found an ancient wall that we could walk along to get us back to our planned track. At this point things started to unravel. There was no path where I expecting one but we followed the gps track to a gate in a fence line where there should have been a good path leading us towards a second ford.  There wasn't.


We pushed on through deep rough grass until we got to the second ford were the path reappeared and then promptly disappeared as soon as we had climbed out of the stream valley.  The going got rough again but we continued on until we came across the footpath shown on the OS map.  This path lasted a couple of hundred metres, crossing another stream then setting off in a totally different direction to that shown on the map but at least it did head in roughly the right direction for us. We followed it for a while but it became apparent we were diverging from our intended route and the path was petering out so we set off bundu bashing again to get back on track but when arrived there was no sign of a path.


From here on it got worse.  The vegetation got higher and thicker, an expected track turned out to be a discontinuous ancient wall with bog on both sides and covered in waist high grass. The wall eventually ended at a fence line were there was supposed be a path but there was nothing but waist high lumpy grass and bog. By now going back was no longer an option so we pressed on hoping things would improve.  Our speed had dropped to less than 1kph and we were way behind schedule.  It was so rough that Mrs N, who eschews poles, was constantly loosing her footing and we were both utterly exhausted to the point we were both feeling sick. Luckily an overcast developed which blocked the worst of the sun and eventually we managed to break free and find a path that actually existed for the last 1.5km of moor.


Lessons learned
Don't be a clever dick.  If the OS maps says there aren't any paths there probably aren't.
If things start to fall apart, don't assume they will improve.  Had we turned back when it became apparent any paths were overgrown, we would have had a disappointment instead of a nightmare.
While the trick of using aerial imagery to find paths works in well walked areas, it doesn't necessarily work in wilder areas.
I had noticed that the aerial imagery was 8 years old so knew things might have changed but neglected that the picture had been taken in winter when the vegetation had died back.
Old walls look just like tracks from the air, damp linear features such as drains produce crop marks that look like paths.
Deep grass is more exhausting than you can possibly imagine to force your way through.
Animal paths are really useful in finding your way through bad going but the animals have other priorities regarding direction.
Mrs N is tougher than she makes out (although the subject of divorce was raised in the debrief)


Things we got right
We had enough water and sun block to cover an extended trip in hot weather.
We had the right clothes for the conditions.
By and large we resisted the temptation to stray too far off our intended track, which in hindsight would have been even worse.


Does anyone else want to share?

[barewirewalker]

Great story. I can sympathize, in the very early days of our walking I got Mrs BWW into the middle of a bog and I had no clear idea how to get out of it. It was fortunately the end of a dry spell, somewhat similar to this summer but not so extreme. We sat on one of the tussocks that had been hindering our progress so exhaustingly and I dragged out the map, more to give myself some thinking time. There was an interesting shaped crag on the skyline about 1/2 mile on the skyline, some degrees off the line we had been taking. I said more in desperation than fact, when reached that we would see the car on the other side of the ridge. Fortunately the ground became easier with our change of direction and when we crested the ridge by the rocks, our car was clearly visible 1/4 of a mile away.

Since then my map reading has improved, Mrs BWW has great faith in my ability, though I tend to gloss over the certain bits. But now, when things are about to get a bit extreme I say, "Fancy a bit of a trespass" or "We might be about to go off the straight and narrow". Surprisingly these bits often turn out to be the best parts of a walk and my 'game girl' is always up for the challenge.

I call your 'pecked line' grey paths, the 6" to the mile OS sheets your can access on the National Library of Scotland website often show additional detail to the OS map of today, the editions from the 1880's are snapshots in time of our countryside. People have been walking it for millennia, whereas landowners have been saying keep off or you can't go here for a few centuries.

There is a boggy bit of ground in a tract of land NW of Caersws, it is open access now but a right of way meanders it's way through this remote area, was this once a secret way through that bog? Nearby are the traces of paddocks marked by Scots pines. Was this a remote collecting area for drovers setting of for the markets of the middle ages?

[gunwharfman]

Yes, been there done that, all part of the 'pleasure' of hiking? My error last year was on the Glyndrw Way, I lost the trail and after much looking at my phone map and its satellite view I decided to take an easy short cut through ferns, down into a valley across a stream and up the other side to the correct path. What a mistake, short ferns at first but as I descended they became denser, taller and had much thicker and stronger stems, plus long grass as well. As I forced my way through this 'forest' it fought back, it didn't want me there and protested at every step, it was like someone grabbing my ankles every inch of the way to slow me down. The drag of the grass, the lumps and clods I tried to balance on, the effect on my feet and on my lower limbs was exhausting. By the time I got to the stream I was sweating, physically weak and cursing and kicking myself for making such a stupid move just to shave off half a mile from the normal path.

To get to the steam I had to go down a steep earthy bank on my bum, the earth was crumbly and Stone and I was immediately covered up to my waist in dusty muck. No problem crossing the stream but then the next problem, getting up the other steep bank which was also covered in a forest of ferns proved to be just as difficult but of course it was uphill this time. By the time I reached the proper footpath I was done in, sweating, itchy, my socks were covered in little prickly burrs and I felt like I'd been dragged through, as they say, 'a hedge backwards!'.

Took me well over an hour to get myself sorted out and to have a rest.

I wanted and easy route, I trusted what I think I saw on the map, what I think I saw on the satellite photo and what I wanted to believe anyway. Easy, down one slope, then up the other! Big mistake, it ruined my day and by the time I got moving again  it also started to rain hard.

[pleb]

http://www.walkingforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=21207.0
Try reading the opening post of this TR, about becoming separated into 2 groups, etc.

[Owen]

A few years ago a friend and I set out to climb a hill in the Trossachs, our route went up through a wooded area and then out onto open hillside. We followed a valley up to the col at it's head then turned right and followed the ridge which lead to the summit. At this point north was on our LEFT and south on our right, the ridge was more or less straight all the way. The weather was very misty from the col onwards so no view. Some way before the top we stopped for a rest and something to eat, then we got up and set off again. On and on we went but still no summit trig point. We checked the map (no GPS back then) but couldn't see any landmarks to fix our position. Then I checked the compass and realized north was now on our RIGHT. Somehow when we'd gotten up we'd managed to head off 180 degrees out and were now heading back down the ridge.

[bricam2096]

Somehow when we'd gotten up we'd managed to head off 180 degrees out and were now heading back down the ridge.

Something I try to do when it's misty and I stop for a break is to leave my pack a few metres further onwards and just remove any food/drink that I might want. Then, when I set off again I know that I have to head in that direction.

[sussamb]

That's a very good tip, I will pinch that idea 

[gunwharfman]

Bricam, what a good idea! In thick fog etc, could be life saving.

[Jac]

Bricam, what a good idea! In thick fog etc, could be life saving.

Unless you can't find your pack in the thick fog

[ninthace]

I run on instruments, gps or compass, when vis is bad; more reliable than senses. Another tip is never to ignore something you can’t account for such as: forks in the path, unexpected fences or walls, should you be ascending or descending and so on. If I stop, I usually have a glance at the heading as I set off again just to double check the line, especially in open ground.

[Doddy]

I have spent several months on the Appalachian Trail in the US. Often you go off on a side trail to a shelter or water supply; returning to the junction it was possible to get turned around, or at least wonder which was the correct way, and go north when you should go south or vice versa. I asked others for sure-fire way of returning correctly; which is if you turned left into the side trail you should turn left at the junction to go the correct way. Obvious if you think about it.
I did pick up another tip if wild camped; that was to make twig or stone arrow at the tent site with the correct direction for the next morning. I still do it wherever I am. A compass direction works of course -if you can remember it for sure the next morning :-)
If you leave your pack to climb a hill and have GPS get grid ref for you pack. Err I learnt that the hard way.

[fernman]

I did pick up another tip if wild camped; that was to make twig or stone arrow at the tent site with the correct direction for the next morning. I still do it wherever I am. A compass direction works of course -if you can remember it for sure the next morning :-)
If you leave your pack to climb a hill and have GPS get grid ref for you pack. Err I learnt that the hard way.

From experience, I can say that isn't guaranteed to work. I once wild camped a few hundred metres from a small lake where a path started that was to be my route the next day, and I took the precaution of setting my compass on a bearing from my tent to the lake. There was thick hill fog in the morning, and even though I walked confidently with the compass I still managed to miss both the lake and the path.

[sussamb]

Unfortunately in poor vis you can drift sideways without knowing but all you do know is you're still pointing the right way.  It's why you need to aim off so no matter whether you drift left or right you always hit something linear like a lake and know which way to turn 

[happyhiker]

I used the stone marker idea when walking in Ibiza. Much or the walk was through a forest. There were many paths and junctions. Some "paths" were in fact dries stream beds. We suffered vicious bramble type plants for getting it wrong!


There was one junction of paths which we used on both outward and return journeys. To be sure we recognised it, I made my initials out of pebbles, hoping no-one would kick them around. They didn't and so we successfully identified the junction.

[barewirewalker]

Last week we did a walk in south Cheshire, just over the border from Shropshire. Mrs BWW remembered a walk we had done a few years ago, near Marbury, an interesting mix of canal side and lowland countryside. I opened up MM, intending to take a printout of our original route but noticed a 2 1/2 mile length of the South Cheshire way offset from and parallel to the canal by about  half a mile.  Why do the same walk, when and intriguing circuit jumps out of the map at you from a glance.

Google Earth showed an ideal parking place and as it was midweek there was no competition. Our outward destination was Wrenbury cum Frith. About half way there we met another walker, he was using a guide book and no map. We started talking, he grumbling about the way marks, which at the time of year are often obscured by vegetation. A glance at his guide booked revealed that he was doing exactly the same route as we were, but clockwise. I listened to his complaints about farmers, but in the same breath he said, "If I lived in such a beautiful place, perhaps I would not want people walking through it". Foregoing a lecture on sharing the countryside, I did point out that that he was one of the farmers customers and that they should be thankful that people had the opportunity to see their food in the making.
Before we parted, after a pleasant exchange of conversation, I pointed out the Combermere Obelisk, on the skyline south of us. I mentioned that the other side of the ridge was Combermere, perhaps the largest of the Cheshire / Shropshire meres, though sadly within a private 'park'. Though his guide book had yielded a walk past the obelisk, he had not realised that the mere was such an important feature.

Mrs BWW usually walks with small binoculars within easy reach, this habit has resulted in her having an uncanny knack of picking up waymarks, at a distance, as I usually tell of the features we are walking towards. We reached Wrenbury and were refreshed with ice cream, sitting in chairs outside the village shop. Mrs BWW started a conversation about our meeting saying, "I can't understand why that walker was missing so many of the waymarks, they were very good."

Perhaps it is the difference of walking from written text and not being more in tune with the terrain, which the map helps develop.