Professional mountain leader Kate Worthington will be answering
your outdoor questions weekly on OM. Along with her husband Ross, Kate
runs RAW Adventures offering professional mountain leadership services.
She's generally found outdoors, toting a big pack... Ask a question
This week's question: Green
& Blacks, yummy chocolate and 1:25,000 Rights of Ways?
Pick up any OS 1:25,000 map for England and Wales
- Scotland
is different -
and you'll see the Ordnance Survey uses different
colours/markings
for different
routes - paths (black dotted lines), public rights of way (green
dotted/dashed lines), permitted paths (orange dotted/dashed
lines), tracks,
roads, etc, etc.
Next time you're poring over a map looking
for your next
adventure - or plotting a route to download onto the GPS - look
carefully at
the markings
you're intending to follow.
Look closely, and you'll see there are public rights of way
paths (PRoW) and
black paths in the same area, so what's the difference?
For
example, take a look
the Lake District's Scafell Pike. It looks pretty confusing with all
the
marked paths approaching and crossing the summit area, and
that's just the
map - minus the frequent zero visibility and endless boulders?!
The main mistake is to assume the PRoW paths are actually present on
the
ground. This isn't always the case. It's the black
paths that show where
there is an actual route trodden by feet (and visible through aerial
map
photography).
Take a closer look at the PRoW and you'll see
they sometimes
randomly track over ground that's not always pleasant walking, as
one PRoW
does on the NW approach to Scafell Pike from the head of
Piers Gill. The
black path on the map takes a route that is actually present on
the ground
and keeps away from more dangerous crags.
When I have been working in the area, I have been shown maps
where people
have plotted GPS routes using the green PRoWs only and have
subsequently
got confused when they end up crossing pathless ground. It's
just useful
to know the differences between these two map markings - enough
to make your
own route planning decisions. Be aware - those rogue PRoWs
are not always
what they seem!
Oh, and Green & Blacks dark orange chocolate is an all
time, hill time
favourite!
 |
RAW Adventures
is an exciting new company dedicated to providing well organised,
friendly and safe UK mountain events. We run Walking Weekends
for all abilities - keeping group sizes small for safety and
fun. We also organise larger scale Challenge Events for
charities and individuals wanting to raise money while doing something
that pushes you harder than usual!
Owned and operated by experienced and professional Mountain Leaders,
Kate and Ross Worthington, you are in safe hands for learning new
skills and broadening your own experience of the UK mountains. www.raw-adventures.co.uk |
