Why Navigation Is Worth Learning Properly

Every hillwalker starts somewhere, and almost everyone starts on a path. That is no bad thing — waymarked routes are a fine introduction to the hills. But the days you remember are often the ones where the path runs out: a broad heathery shoulder in the Cairngorms, a pathless traverse above a Lakeland cwm, a boggy Welsh col where the trod fades and the cloud comes down to meet you. Being able to find your way without following footprints is what turns a walk into a proper day out, and it is a skill you build in layers rather than learn overnight.

The good news is that the whole thing rests on a short list of foundations: map symbols, grid references, a bit of compass work, and plenty of practice on ground you already know. Master those and the rest follows naturally.

Start With the Map: Symbols, Scale and Contours

Before you touch a compass, get comfortable reading the map on its own. Spend an evening with a 1:25,000 map of an area you know well and trace a walk you have done. You will be surprised how much you missed.

• Scale: at 1:25,000, four centimetres on paper equals one kilometre on the ground. At 1:50,000 it is two centimetres to the kilometre, which is why bigger hills feel squeezed.
• Rights of way: dashed lines mark public footpaths; different dash patterns mark bridleways and byways. Learn the difference, because the ground often looks nothing like the line.
• Boundaries: solid black lines are walls; thinner lines with small ticks are fences. Both make superb handrails in poor visibility.
• Water and rock: blue lines and marsh symbols tell you where the wet ground is, while crag hachures warn you off steep ground.
• Contours: the interval is printed in the legend — usually 5 or 10 metres. Close together means steep, far apart means gentle, and a V pointing uphill means a re-entrant or stream valley.

Grid References in Six Figures

A grid reference is simply an address for a point on the map. Every map carries a two-letter prefix for the hundred-kilometre square, followed by numbers. The rule that saves beginners is this: eastings first, then northings — along the corridor, then up the stairs. The eastings are the vertical lines that increase to the right; the northings are the horizontal lines that increase upwards.

A four-figure reference, such as NN 45 78, puts you within a one-kilometre square. A six-figure reference, such as NN 452 781, narrows it to a hundred metres. You get those extra digits by dividing each square into tenths mentally. Most compass baseplates carry a romer scale that does the measuring for you, and an eight-figure reference (ten-metre precision) is useful for locating a specific crag or a vehicle in a large car park.

Practise by taking references for features you can actually see — a bridge, a summit cairn, a junction of walls — then walking to them and checking.

Your First Compass Skills

A baseplate compass has four parts worth knowing: the direction of travel arrow at the front, the rotating bezel with its degree markings, the orienting lines and arrow inside the housing, and the magnetic needle, whose red end points north.

Begin with the simplest and most useful trick: setting the map. Lay the compass flat on the map, align the orienting lines with the grid lines, and turn the whole map and compass together until the red needle sits inside the orienting arrow. Your map is now aligned with the ground in front of you. This alone prevents an enormous number of navigational blunders.

Next, learn to read a grid bearing. Point the direction of travel arrow at your destination, rotate the bezel until the orienting lines line up with the grid lines and the orienting arrow points to the top of the map, then read the number at the index line. That is a grid bearing. Check the map margin for the grid magnetic angle, which tells you how much to add or subtract so your bearing matches what the needle actually does on the hill. In much of Britain it is small at the moment, but always check rather than assume.

Walking on a Bearing Across Pathless Ground

Now the real work. Hold the compass flat at chest height, turn your body until the red needle sits neatly in the orienting arrow, and the direction of travel arrow will point the way. Look up, pick a feature in that direction — a boulder, a distant crag, a lone tree — walk to it, then repeat. Do not stare at the compass and stumble; use it to aim, then walk.

• Pacing: count double paces over a measured 100 metres on similar ground. Most adults take 60 to 75. Use it to walk a set distance on a bearing.
• Timing: allow roughly 4 km/h on easy ground, plus a minute for every 10 metres of ascent, then adjust for bog, scree and a heavy pack.
• Aiming off: deliberately aim to one side of your target so you meet a line feature — a stream, a wall, a track — and can follow it in.
• Back bearings: add or subtract 180 degrees to check you have come from where you think you have.

Practising for Poor Weather

Learn all of this in sunshine on familiar ground first. Then, on a day when you know the area well but the cloud is low, go out and deliberately navigate a short leg without looking at the view. Keep the map in a case, the compass on a cord around your neck, and a spare in your pack.

If you do lose your place, stop. Eat, drink, put on a layer, and resist the urge to keep walking. Take a bearing, identify a handrail, and navigate to it. That habit — stopping calmly rather than striding on hopefully — is what separates a minor wobble from a long night out.