|
|
 |
 I've been doing that for years Kate! 
|
|
 When teaching navigation on the water for sea kayaking I emphasise that they need to be aware of their surroundings and use clues other than just the compass. The problem with the sea is that it keeps moving! so it is important to be aware of the effect that the wind and tide are having on you. Also staring at the compass tends to lead to seasickness. One of the exercise I do is to get them to bob around in pairs with their eyes closed then without opening their eyes to point to the destination or departure point. Then repeat having taken note of the direction of the sun, wind, noises, smells (land really smells), waves, etc. Steve D
|
|
 I like getting lost, makes life interesting
|
|
Although I can navigate quite competently, my attitude has been described as 'Cavalier' on occasions. If the weather is reasonable I don't really care where I go so I will route find my own way up and use the GPS to see where I went when I get back home. If I am out with my daughter or with a group then I take it more seriously. other than that I just make it up as I go and head off in directions that look interesting. Steve D
|
|
Hmmm - thanks MK! Heard him on R4 this morn - interesting to think one can use the sound of the nearby motorway as an aid to navigation... I would have thought, too, that most people know the sun rises in the east etc? But the lichen stuff is more interesting. Has anyone seen his book? Any good?
|
|
 Well some of us genuinely can't remember if its the East or the West  In practice most navigation surely done by shapes of the hills and maps? Compasses when thats not helping/cloud down, GPS when truly stuck etc. Often enough (in England at least) you need the map to tell you where you're allowed to walk....
|
|
 i've been saved a large detour by noticing the lichen on trees and my shadow - the thought i should be going west and not north. one of the penalties of "new road" in the south east not on the map. it's fun watching for these things and also knowing where some indicators are not reliable (lichen/moss in a wood). after a while it all starts to come together subconsciously i think and you have times where you just know you're in the right direction. i have time for all this during my bimbles - especially the exploring alternative routes or destinations.
|
|
 <!--[if !mso]> <style> v\  {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\ {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\ {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--> forests, jungles and even heavy cloud cover.  Navigation by terrain, map and compass, sun and yes, even the stars when clear at night are dependable. Call me a dinosaur; but personally, I'm not a big fan of the GPS system; at least in places that I've been in over the years. If one only depends on a GPS I believe they're placing too much confidence in technology that can and will eventually fail them. If a person doesn't know how to navigate in any other way, it can lead to a whole lot of trouble for them. Dan s.
|
|
Let's try again. I've seen GPS's fail on more than one occasion in very deep cover i.e. forests, jungles and even heavy cloud cover. Navigation by terrain, map and compass, sun and yes, even stars when clear at night are dependable. Call me a dinosaur, but I'm not a big fan of GPS system(s); at least in places I've been in over the years. If one depends solely on a GPS, I believe they're placing too much confidence in a technology that can and will eventually fail them. If a person doesn't know how to navigate in any other way, it can lead to a whole lot of trouble for them. Dan S.
|
|
Let's try again. I've seen GPS's fail on more than one occasion in very deep cover i.e. forests, jungles and even heavy cloud cover. Navigation by terrain, map and compass, sun and yes, even stars when clear at night are dependable. <snip>Dan S.
True but I've had a compass fail on me as well on, more than one occasion, hence my insistence that my Sea Kayak trainees also use the MK1 eyeballs/ears and to assist in navigation. And I have watched students blindly follow a map and compass up a hill despite the fact that we have established the we should be going down. To me observation is the main key to successful navigation. The only time that a GPS has given me dud info for more than a few minutes is in built up cities Steve D
|
|
compases fail or point in the wrong direction and maps get destroyed/blown away/eaten too. both can get lost. that's why i carry spares. and a spare gps. and spare batteries. "that can and will eventually fail them" why? you happily use all sorts of electronic things without a second thought e.g. your vehicle. aircraft, ships and vehicles have used gps sucessfully for years. even the military have been known to drop their bombs in the right place using it.
|
|
|
|
|
Studying a map before you set out can save a whole load of heartache, not just the hills you intend being on but the vallys next to them and which way they head, any rivers or waterfalls etc. Then if you forget your map, gps goes flat and compass doesn't work (Skye)... you've still got a decent chance of finding the way home.
|
|
To me the GPS is just another tool in the box. The main use, as I said earlier is to log my walks. On a walk in the lakes this January I watched my mate try to retrieve her map from a barbed wire fence as it shredded in front of her eyes. To be fair handling a map with gloves on is a pain, and it was very windy. My two main failures with compasses are 1) managing to put a large torch just the otherside of the bulkhead in my sea kayak, couldn't work out why 'everyone else' was so far out on the bearing. 2) taking out my silva to see the north needle pointing at the sun and thinking 'that can't be right, not in this hemisphere anyway' the needle was completely de-magnetised. I've also had a silva lose its oil damping, still useable but surprisingly difficult to get the needle balanced. Steve D
|
|
compases fail or point in the wrong direction and maps get destroyed/blown away/eaten too. both can get lost. that's why i carry spares. and a spare gps. and spare batteries. "that can and will eventually fail them" why? you happily use all sorts of electronic things without a second thought e.g. your vehicle. aircraft, ships and vehicles have used gps sucessfully for years. even the military have been known to drop their bombs in the right place using it.
Every possible eventuality should be considered if at all possible if/when going on extended excursions. And you're right Parky relevant to your statement about spares etc. The more one has in his/her bag of tricks applicable to land navigation, the safer one will be. And all of the things mentioned so far in this thread can, and maybe should be part of that package. Good 'ol navigation by terrain association and a map is pretty easy when one gets the hang of it. And I think it allows one to enjoy the surroundings more while moving toward a destination. I never said I didn't use a GPS; I just said I didn't care for them. I own one but rarely use it. For me Parky, it's not the first thing I utilize; just a tool if absolutely needed---you know---if my land navigation skills fail me and I get lost because I may have looked at the grid squares on the map upside down. Dan S.
|
|
A book I have is called 'finding your way without map or compass'
apparently it's an old best seller in this field.
It's by Harold fatty.
I often use things around me to navigate. But do agree that in the UK a map or gps can be essential to check out rights of way.
I just happen to be typing this on my I-phone which has the memory map gps app on it. This is excellent for making notes on things along my route.
Oh, it's good for position finding too lol (using OS 1:25.000 maps)
forgot to say: the book above contains a fair bit on water navigation (like kayaking) with such things as clouds reflecting land mass underneath them, which would identify where an island was.
|
|
no problems daniel. i always react to "gps failing" type statements. map, terrain and other stuff is much, much more fun. now i can do it with a satmap.
|
|
Gotta say Parky, topographical satmaps are very cool though. Once upon a time I wouldn't have needed glasses to read them, or any map for that matter, but alas----well----these old eyes just ain't what they use to be. Dan S.
|
|
electronic zoom. a wonderful invention. the satmap 10 unit uses actual ordnance survey maps.
|
|
