Beginners' Basics - Route Planning

This article isn't about navigation - it's a huge subject on its own - so we're assuming you understand the basics of reading a map and taking a bearing. First, regardless of whether you're using a guide book, you need a proper map of the area you're planning to walk in.

The most commonly used walkers' maps are those produced by the Odnance Survey (OS) which are available in both 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 scales. The larger, 1:25,000 Explorer maps are arguably best when you need to pick out lowland detail, like navigating through buildings, fierlds or urban areas.

The 1:50,000 scale maps make it easier to see the overall lay of the land and, in winter conditions, when many features are obliterated by snow anyway, are arguably easier to use too. Other alternatives include Harvey's Maps, which give you a choice of 1:40,000 and 1:25,000 scales.

Whichever map you choose, make sure it covers the entire area you're planning to walk through.Along with your map, you need a compass which allows you to transfer bearings to and from the map.

Increasingly outdoors peopel are using electronic navigational aids like GPS and mapping software. These are great, but you still need the basic map and compass and the ability to use them. Our advice is to master conventional navigation techniques before moving onto more advanced options. Plus you can buy a lot of maps for the price of a GPS.

Remember, if your GPS fails, you still need to know how to take a bearing and relate your position to a map.

By the easest option when it comes to planning a route, is simply to use a guide book, or possibly a route downloaded from a web site. There are several advantages:

• you're taking advantage of someone else's local knowledge
  
• you should get some idea of the time, distance and difficulty of the route
  
• a good route description makes navigation easier.
  

It's not all pain free with guidebooks though. First, you should always use a book in conjunction with a map - it's all too easy to get horribly lost if you miss a turn. Sit down and relate the route in the book to the map so you have a good idea of where you are on the map.

Next, mileages and timings in guidebooks are just a guide. You may walk slower or faster than the 'average walker' most guidebook times are aimed at. Most are pessimistic, but some veer the other way. Until you've done a few walks from a book, you won't know, so err on the safe side at first.

The sketch maps some authors use are of dubious value, another reason always to use a proper map.

Finally, some guidebooks are really badly written in nasty, antiquated prose, reading them can spoil your day ;-)

Route-planning and the ability to read a map and relate it to the terrain go hand in hand, so we're assuming that you have basic map-reading abilities. If you haven't you need to acquire some.

If you can read a map, you're in a good position to plan a day on the hills. If the country was flat and paved, everything would be dead easy. Fortunately it's not and it's the bumps, lumps and changes of surface that make route-foinding skills crucial. If you're not sure what a map symbol means, check the key, which will tell you.

Paths and other rights of way are an obvious start in most areas, but don't assume that in wilder terrain, just because something's on the map, it'll be obvious on the ground too. In some cases, the path simply isn't physically there.

In areas where there is a right to roam - marked on the latest maps - you can stray from paths and simply walk on a bearing or follow geographical features, but make sure you're legal at all times.

If it helps, you can always mark the route on the map with pencil or highlighter pen to make things clearer. It's your map, and no-one is going to tell you off...

Once you've got an idea of the route you want to take, you need an idea of how feasible it is...

Okay, in the reference books, you sit down with the map, use cunning formulae to translate distance and climbing into time then draw out a route card with a detailed series of bearings. We'll tell you how to do that in a bit, but most experienced walkers use a more basic method.

At its simplest, you can get a rough idea of distances by knowing that each square on an OS map, and most others for that matter, equals a kilometre on the ground. Add up the number of squares you cross and you'll get an idea of the total distance involved.

Next, you need to make allowances for any climbing or descent on the route. You can calculate height gain and loss by tracing the route and counting the contour lines crossed. On a 1:50,000 Landranger, the thicker contour lines are spaced at 50 metre intervals, the thinner ones at 10 metre ones. The closer together the lines are, the steeper the slope. [image from Tracklogs]

Obviously what you find hard or easy will vary, but for most people, around 1000 metres of climbing is a do-able mountain day, 1500 will be pretty tough and more than that will be hard. You'll learn what's reasonable for you though.

The more climbing there is, the less the manageable overall distance for most people. Around ten miles and 1000 metres of climbing is a pretty decent mountain day for most people.

If that all sounds a bit haphazard and, to be honest, it is, there is a more accurate, or at least a more anal way of working it out in the form of Naismith's Rule, a formula which takes into account the distance and elevation of a route and churns out a rough time estimate for you.

The basic formula assumes a speed of 3 mph or 5 kph then adds an extra one minute per 10 metres of ascent. On top of that you need to make allowances for rest stops, surfaces and loads carried. For example, technical scrambling on rocky ground will be slower than walking up a straight grassy slope even if the overall height gain is the same.

If you want the security of even more formulae, check out Tranter's Corrections which make additional allowances for individual fitness levels, loads and conditions underfoot.

In reality, very few individual walkers use Naismith's Rule regularly, but it's not a bad starting point if you can be committed enough to use it.

We're not talking the formal cards used by organised groups in the hills, more a sort of navigating aide memoire to help you follow the route you've chosen on the hill.

Note the major features on your route such as tops, major path junctions and changes of direction and the distances and bearings between them. Use them in conjunction with the map as you go to help you stay on course.

You should also consider escape routes options to cut the route short should something go wrong. Some routes may not have any, but many will allow you to cut down into an ajoining valley for example, if necessary. Noting them on the card will help job your memory plus the act of compiling the card in the first place will help you to visualise your route in advance and should trigger alarm bells if you find that the route you're walking and the one you expected to walk don't match up...

Those are the basics, but there are plenty of other things to be aware of, here are a few:

Terrain Different surfaces are more time consuming to cross - boggy areas, for example, can be slow and tiring. Technical scrambling again can take much longer to cover than more forgiving ground, so you need to factor this in to your estimates.

Weather High winds can make a big difference to the ease of walking, as can rain and snow. In some conditions you may need to plan to avoid certain types of features. Sharp ridges in high crosswinds are often dangerous for example.

Winter Winter conditions with full snow cover can make an easy-ish summer scramble into a winter moutnaineering outing requiring technical skills with axe and crampons. Don't assume that because a route is fine in summer, it'll still be straighforward in winter.

Loads If you're backpacking with a heavy sac, you'll be moving considerably slower than a day walker particular on uphill sections. Again, you need to be aware of this and factor it in.

Rests No-one walks without stops, so allow time for drink, food and other rest stops and add them into the total time you've allowed for the route.

Daylight Hours Short winter days mean you run the risk of benightment if you bite off more than you can chew. Again, be conservative if you have limited daylight to deal with.

Leave a note on your car saying where you've gone and when you should be back or, if you're staying in a hostel or similar, leave a written note or route card with the same information. That way, if you're late back, someone should know.

As someone once said, it's not being lost that's the problem, it's not knowing that you're lost. Good planning means that you should be able to visualise your route and have an idea of what you should be seeing next.

If your plan says your should be climbing up a broad, grassy ridge and you find yourself dropping down a knife-edge ridge, for example, alarm bells should ring and you can retrace your steps to the last point where you definitely knew your location or use the map to work out where you've gone wrong.

And trust me, you will get lost at some point, the key is to realise it before you've wandered off into the wrong valley...

As we said earlier, many experienced walkers simply go for the quick and dirty approach to route planning. They'll scan the map, estimate roughly the height gain and distance involved then go by gut feel.

That's fine if you're experienced, but as a novice, taking a more structured approach is going to pay dividends, which is why you're best off checking distances and height gains and using those as a basis

 Of course, using a guidebook is going to make life easier, and there's nothing wrong with that at all, it's just that planning a day's walk off your own bat has a satisfaction all of its own. Enjoy.

Discuss this story

John Bailey

Is it me or is that a screen grab from multimap.

There's a red circle in exectly the same spot as if you enter "snowdon" into multimap.

Clicky linky.


Obviously OM might have the required written permission in which case I take it back.

Posted: 30/06/2005 at 22:01

captain paranoia

Well, that link has buggered everything, hasn't it?

Good job I printed it out yesterday...

Posted: 01/07/2005 at 13:18

Jon Doran

Yep it is easily confused with a screen grab from Multimap. If Multimap are really pissed off at us, I'm happy to take it down, it's there purely as a general illustration not as route information or anything else, which we obviously wouldn't do.

I've changed the link so it's clickable btw.

Posted: 01/07/2005 at 13:57

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