Jon
I start from the premise that a competent navigator has to be accurate and therefore it is incumbent on the authors of books on the subject to ensure that their facts are correct.
You cannot dismiss my correction to Lyle's statement that Landrangers do not depict rights of way in England and Wales as 'nitpicking'. It is a fundamental error of fact. It could mean that greenhorn navigators might refuse to use Landrangers because they have been told that they do not show rights of way.
Similarly, the date of the survey and subsequent revisions are far more important than the date of the edition of a map. The countryside in lowland areas is constantly changing. Rights of way are diverted and new paths created. Reservoirs are built and woodland felled. Map-readers can be surprised by a building that is not marked on the map creating fears that they have gone astray. But if the date of the survey and revisions are known, and the building looks new, it is possible to make an educated guess that the building was erected after the latest revision.
The bald statement that contours are the single most important feature on a map is nonsense! They are very important when navigating in upland areas, but are of little consequence when map reading in much of the English countryside. Have you ever tried navigating using contours on the Somerset Levels?
The most demanding conditions that I have encountered when navigating is a white-out in Scotland, so I'm not competent to judge the accuracy of Lyle's instructions for navigating in extreme locations such a deserts and the polar regions. But I can say that if he makes errors in parts of his book, how can I be sure that he has not made mistakes in the sections on which I'm not competent to judge?
You ask what navigation techniques are used in lowland countryside:
1 In much of the lowland areas of England and Wales you are restricted to following rights of way. There are areas of open access but they are, in general, quite small.
2 The rights of way (RoW) network is often very dense. I make an annual check on the condition of the RoWs in three rural parishes in North Bucks. Each parish has a network of between twelve and fifteen RoWs measuring a total of twenty miles for the three parishes.
3 The most significant feature for navigating is the field boundary (hedge, fence or wall) and, generally speaking, you map-read from field to field. Legs are usually from road to road. This sounds easy and it often is, but farmers sometimes grub hedges or put in new fences so the handrail of tick feature shown on the map may not be there.
4 RoWs are sometimes ploughed and the line of the path not restored. Walking over recently ploughed heavy clay is tougher than crossing any bog.
5 RoWs are not always visible on the ground and so careful work with map and compass may be required to follow them accurately. It is easy to be led astray by a tractor trail created by a farmer moving between fields.
6 Popular open access areas, especially if wooded, pose particular navigation problems. Well-meaning organizations such as the National Trust create waymarked trails that are not RoWs and are not always depicted on maps. The problem is made worse if the British Standard for waymarks is used. In addition, both walkers, mountain bikers, and courting couples seeking privacy can create numerous paths that can confuse the map-reader. In the past five years I must have descended Leith Hill in Surrey at least six times trying to follow the RoW, and every time I took a different route. It was only on the seventh occasion, when I used my GPS receiver, that I managed to follow the correct line of the RoW.
Let's all demand and salute accuracy!
Hugh
