In truth, for one reason or another, I have not done a lot of walking lately. Things have to change – I do not intend to give up my hobby. I often like to walk alone but it is not wise to do so unless I know the terrain. My sense of direction is none existent and I really don’t want to end up in my survival bag. On one occasion whilst walking in Yorkshire I got in a mess with my map. I was on the wrong side of the river and couldn’t for the life of me understand how I had managed it. I looked for a bridge on the map but there wasn’t one for miles. Ten minutes later the truth dawned on me. All I had to do was turn around and walk in the other direction. Magically, the river was now on the right side of me. I need a GPS receiver – I have one in the car but it is no use on the open land – It would guide me back to the motorway.
I once tried to enroll on a map reading course but the classes were cancelled. Although enough people had shown an interest, they didn’t turn up on the day. I reckon they were all lost.
The picture below was taken near the Beacon Fell visitors centre.
12 comments:
I have a really great Rhino handheld GPS... it's pretty darn accurate too.. within about 20 feet or so (which actually means 40 foot diamter circle, which can be a pain if you are looking for something specific).
Definately cool to invest in... plus it includes downloadable street maps and such, which comes in relaly handy... and you can pre-program in stop points.
Walking is cool... never thought about buying a walking book for a county though... you must have big counties there.
Hi Fonzie
This map shows how England is divided up into counties. Each county has a number of towns, villages and maybe a couple of cities and lots of countryside. The book I bought gives full details of 40 quite lengthy countryside walks, in Lancashire. What does the word 'county' mean to you? How big are your counties?
I am going to look on the net for a handheld GPS. :-)
Hmm... good question... I believe kthat counties were more important way back when and were based upon population and voting rights. On the east coast, there are counties, cities, townships and towns... as you move west, they tend to simplify to just counties and incorporated cities. Also, the counties tend to get larger.
New Jersey is a pretty small state and has a number of counties in it. For reference This map shows New Jersey Counties. By the looks of it, the largest county, Burlington, is about half the size of Lancashire... but that's just by eyeballing it (it's about 40 odd km across the narrowest point of NJ).
Good luck on the GPS... I think they have some really cool software for higher end Palm Pilots (and other wireless handheld devices) that offer GPS abilities too.
Kat, go to Geocaching.com, it will give you something fun to do while using your GPS and walking.
I get as lost as you Kat. We can be away somewhere for a week and I still don't know my way back to where we're staying.
I can't do 'maffs' either and often wonder if there's a connection.
Fonzie
Many of our counties were set up long ago when England was divided into warring fractions - Explains why we don't always like to step over the boundaries. We each have our own accents. :-) In medieval England, Lancashire and a neighbouring county Yorkshire had a series of civil wars - The war of the Roses. Ours is a Red Rose. :-)
I use my Palm handheld in the car as a sat nav - I just need to attach the GPS receiver. For walking in the countryside however I am looking for one of these.
Thanks for that Wendy. I had noticed that you had already mentioned Geocaching on your blog -Sounds fun - I will look into it.
Morning-loves-it.
I am bloody hopeless when it comes to finding my way around but I think it is because I have never exercised my brain enough in that area. When moving about on a normal day to day basis I am usually thinking about something else rather than considering my relationship to everything else. I walk into mirrors and glass panels. :-)
Oddly, since using the GPS in the car I have found that I need to use it less and less. Having to think about where I am and where I want to go to and then watching and listening to my progress on the map have improved my attention span considerably.
Yeah, I have the Garmin Rino 120... it totally rocks. Actually used it today while driving to an obscure lake to meet friends so I could see the surrounding towns and roads and make sure I was on the right track. I had it on track path, so, on the way home, I could just follow my path there and get home. Worked great in the truck even going 70 mph... though, in some areas of poor satellite coverage, or when it wasn't near the window, the accuracy would drop to 150 feet... but hey... how accurate do you need to be when driving :)
I ate all the spam. I'm a spam 'ater. I have deleted a total of 7 spam messages from this post. One of them was as long as your arm. 4 of them were received within the first 10 minutes of posting.
No, I have never been to Last Drop Village but it is a good idea for a day out.
I've added it to the list of weekend trips out. I'll let you know when I have been.
Me! Me! I've been to the Last Drop loads of times for weddings and family do's. Not recently of course as I now live a goodly way away but I'm sure you know what I mean.
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