Walking for beginners – developing map reading and compass skills

Map reading skills are essential if you want to walk alone, plan routes or take responsibility for leading a walk © Ordnance Survey

Although I still lacked the courage to step away from the country lanes and on to the wide open spaces of Dartmoor, the knowledge and confidence to take that step was fast approaching.  In fact, walking those roads, always with a map, allowed me to discover villages, village pubs and places that I would have missed had I been walking the remoter parts of Dartmoor National Park.  In addition, I began to recognise also, that those very same pubs and villages were linked off-road by public footpaths and bridleways, which led me naturally to the idea of getting off the tarmac, away from traffic and into the open countryside, which is where I really wanted to be.

So, I had recognised that to get beyond the country lanes, I needed to be able to read and use a map, in most cases this would be an Ordnance Survey map. I had to be able to think about and plan a route; this gave me an understanding of the distances and time involved to complete the walk. It also allowed me to identify where the pubs were, which for some reason, I still think is important and to pick out features such as viewpoints and landscape features that I might like to visit.  Finally, with a route plan, I could tell people where I was going, which in the event of something going wrong, would at least give anyone searching for me, an idea of where to start looking.

How are you going to develop your skills, where will you go and how will you find your way there and back again?  You may find it helpful to go on a map reading and navigation course; those skills are easier to learn than you might think, but like all skills, they demand practice.  The National Navigation Award Scheme website www.nnas.org.uk is a good place to start.  On their website you will find a list of trainers and course providers.  A short training course really is as good a place as any to learn the basics of map and compass work.

A liquid filled walking compass

Now that you have your new knowledge and skills under your belt and one of those skills should be how to complete a route plan, do just that, plan a walk and get out there and walk it.  An example of a route plan can be found here www.scoutingresources.org.uk

When it comes to choosing a place to walk, we in the UK really are spoilt for choice.  We have access to protected landscapes, known as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  In addition, we have the National Trails; the best known of these is probably the Pennine Way.  They all provide great places to walk as a novice, as well as an experienced and skilled hill walker or mountaineer; something for everyone in fact.

Here in Northumberland, we have the Northumberland Coast and North Pennines AONB; the Northumberland National Park and Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site.  Each of these landscapes offer great walking, ideal places to test and develop your walking skills and different and big enough to always be a place you want to go back to time and again.

You can find out more about the UK’s protected landscapes and the National Trails at:

www.nationalparks.gov.uk for National Parks

www.aonb.org.uk for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

www.nationaltrails.co.uk for the National Trail network

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