TR: Skiddaw

Judith said:

We started by heading east to pick up the Allerdale Ramble.

Doh! West!

Judith

The message <[email hidden]>
from Judith <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

We started by heading east to pick up the Allerdale Ramble.

Quoted message said:

Doh! West!

That's what relying on a gps to do your navigation for you does to your
navigational skills. :-)

--
Roger Chapman
Nearest Marilyn still to be visited - Great Orme.
89 miles as the crow flies,
considerably more as the walker drives.

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:25:49 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

We started by heading east to pick up the Allerdale Ramble.

Quoted message said:

Doh! West!

That's what relying on a gps to do your navigation for you does to your
navigational skills. :-)

I think I should write L and R on the back of my hands; I'm always
getting them mixed up!

As for the GPS, I'm trying to pluck up the courage to go on a walk
WITHOUT it. In the good old days, I'm sure I used to triangulate
prominent landmarks to work out my position. Nowadays I just look at
the box of tricks.

Judith

Judith said:

As for the GPS, I'm trying to pluck up the courage to go on a walk
WITHOUT it. In the good old days, I'm sure I used to triangulate
prominent landmarks to work out my position. Nowadays I just look at
the box of tricks.

No need to do anything as extreme as leaving it at home. Just take it with
you, switch it on to record a track, but don't look at it! Just stick it in
a pouch or pocket and forget about it. Do all your navigating the old way.

This has two advantages. The first is that when you get back you can study
your track to see just how good your trad nav was, and secondly, if you
really do mess up and get completely lost you can use the GPS as a backup.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/

Judith said:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:25:49 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>We started by heading east to pick up the Allerdale Ramble.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Doh! West!

Quoted message said:

That's what relying on a gps to do your navigation for you does to your
navigational skills. :-)

I think I should write L and R on the back of my hands; I'm always
getting them mixed up!

As for the GPS, I'm trying to pluck up the courage to go on a walk
WITHOUT it. In the good old days, I'm sure I used to triangulate
prominent landmarks to work out my position. Nowadays I just look at
the box of tricks.

Judith

Judith

Good walk, enjoyed your TR. Are you sure you're not turning into a
bagger??

Cheers David.

214Fells said:

Judith said:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:25:49 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

> >We started by heading east to pick up the Allerdale Ramble.

Quoted message said:

> Doh! West!

Quoted message said:

Good walk, enjoyed your TR. Are you sure you're not turning into a
bagger??

I've told you before she is a bagger. Just not of hills....

.....yet. :-)
--
Phil Cook, last hill: Angletarn Pikes via Beda Fell.
http://www.p-t-cook.freeserve.co.uk/May07/martin9.htm

Phil Cook said:

Quoted message said:

Good walk, enjoyed your TR. Are you sure you're not turning into a
bagger??

I've told you before she is a bagger.

I'm a Hopper, not a Bagger!

On a more serious note, I have learned over the last few years that I
probably could get to the top of any UK hilly thing (apart from the
InnPin) as it's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the
other until I get there. I used to think that it was best to give up
as soon as I got out of breath!

Judith

Judith said:

Phil Cook said:

Quoted message said:

Good walk, enjoyed your TR. Are you sure you're not turning into a
bagger??

I've told you before she is a bagger.

I'm a Hopper, not a Bagger!

A rose by any other name. It's ticking a list isn't it?
--
Phil Cook, last hill: Angletarn Pikes via Beda Fell.
http://www.p-t-cook.freeserve.co.uk/May07/martin9.htm

Judith said:

The climb up from Carl Side was the most difficult part of the route
as the path is a mix of slate scree and gritty stuff that can slip
under your foot. It was also very sleep and tiring on the knees.
Towards the top, I caught sight of the trig point through the mist but
then it disappeared, but a quick compass check confirmed that I was
heading in the right direction on the flat top.

I've tried to go up the natural course of the valley on the right hand
side as well as the route you describe start is nicer but very very
steep at the end I suppose what goes up goes up.

You've missed out the best bit of skiddaw though longside edge
although a full traverse of skiddaw would have been longer.
--
Gwyn. [email hidden]
Remove rem if replying
note return address is your own computer;-)

Judith said:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:25:49 +0100, Roger <[email hidden]>
wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>We started by heading east to pick up the Allerdale Ramble.

Quoted message said:

Doh! West!

That's what relying on a gps to do your navigation for you does to your
navigational skills. :-)

Quoted message said:

I think I should write L and R on the back of my hands; I'm always
getting them mixed up!

Quoted message said:

As for the GPS, I'm trying to pluck up the courage to go on a walk
WITHOUT it. In the good old days, I'm sure I used to triangulate
prominent landmarks to work out my position. Nowadays I just look at
the box of tricks.

I discovered that the hard way when visiting Greenwich for the first
time. I dutifully waypointed the station as I emerged from it, and set
off. On my return the GPS had a fit and stopped working. In fact all
it needed was a good smack and having its batteries pulled out for a
few minutes, then left alone switched on under the open sky to sulk
for about twenty minutes to pull itself together, but at the time I
didn't know that, and I had a plane to catch which required not
wasting time.

(At the time I guessed that the GPS had had a fit because I'd walked
it over zero longitude, but that turned out to be a coincidence. It
ahd another fit like that a few years later, and this time I knew what
to do.)

I discovered that since carrying the GPS around as a navigational aid
I'd stopped doing the usual looking around now and then for
orientation landmarks when I was in a strange place, and I was in fact
LOST. Well, I would have been if hadn't been carrying an A-Z as backup
:-)

Since then I've made a point of keeping up the old visual landmark
spotting as well as the GPS clicking.

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Chris Malcolm said:

Since then I've made a point of keeping up the old visual landmark
spotting as well as the GPS clicking.

My technique is to use the GPS as a high-tech compass in /combination/
with the relevant map. Part of the /fun/ (maybe the wrong word) is
exactly as you state above, translating the map representation to the
'real' world.

Regards David.

Gwyn g@ said:

Judith said:

The climb up from Carl Side was the most difficult part of the route
as the path is a mix of slate scree and gritty stuff that can slip
under your foot. It was also very sleep and tiring on the knees.
Towards the top, I caught sight of the trig point through the mist but
then it disappeared, but a quick compass check confirmed that I was
heading in the right direction on the flat top.

I've tried to go up the natural course of the valley on the right hand
side as well as the route you describe start is nicer but very very
steep at the end I suppose what goes up goes up.

You've missed out the best bit of skiddaw though longside edge
although a full traverse of skiddaw would have been longer.

Not a great fan of Skiddaw, usually stop at Little Man !
Ascending through Applethwaite, by the side of the Gill and then up
Howgill Tongue is a quiet "interesting" way up.
Softer ways down, easier on the knees, include Lonscale Fell or over
Sale How and via Skiddaw House.

There probably is no better varied route than take the bus to the
Ravenstone Hotel, go up Longside Edge, Carl Side to Skiddaw then
descend via Sale How, Skiddaw House and the Cumbria way back to
Keswick. This is steep going up and gentle ,if long, coming down.
Robert

214Fells said:

Chris Malcolm said:

Since then I've made a point of keeping up the old visual landmark
spotting as well as the GPS clicking.

My technique is to use the GPS as a high-tech compass in /combination/
with the relevant map. Part of the /fun/ (maybe the wrong word) is
exactly as you state above, translating the map representation to the
'real' world.

I've always used a GPS to relate to the real world, but *without* the use of
a map. As I've pointed out in the past, my study of the map during the
plotting of the route familiarises me with the topographical layout of the
area (especially with the aid of the 3D views in Anquet, Memory Map and with
my flight sim), so with the use of a few well chosen (off-route) waypoints
to represent peaks and cols in the area, these landmarks are usually
sufficient to remind me of the 3D topography.

Before I got my mapping GPS I used to use the map view as a kind of
"join-the-dots" puzzle. It was easy to see how the peaks and cols connected
together from the waypoints alone (having studied the map previously). If
visibility was good I'd always make a point of identifying each feature in
the real world to relate to my "dot map". If visiblity was zero I'd still
use the dot map to visualise the shape of the terrain around me and where I
was in it, even if I couldn't see it. A quick check of the nearest waypoints
screen would tell me how far away I was from each feature and in what
direction.

Note also that I used to mark the altitude on every waypoint so that I could
also visualise their height relative to my current height.

Since getting a map GPS this is less important, although I still like to
mark major landmarks in the vicinity. Now that I have contour lines on the
GPS it's easy to visualise the shape of the terrain without a map, even if I
haven't checked the map beforehand (although I always do before visiting a
new area).

But no matter how you do it, I've always believed that it's important to
have an understanding of the shape of the topography and of where you are in
it. I've always liked to internally visualise the three-dimensional shape of
the terrain, long before computer software was available to do this.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
Latest Blog Post: A Photo or a Snap?
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/

Chris Malcolm said:

I discovered that since carrying the GPS around as a navigational aid
I'd stopped doing the usual looking around now and then for
orientation landmarks when I was in a strange place, and I was in fact
LOST. Well, I would have been if hadn't been carrying an A-Z as backup
:-)

Ah, London, a great place for practicing your navigation skills! You can't
get lost if you've got an A-Z! :-)

Prior to moving to London (for a brief period) and driving mini-cabs, I
memorised many of the road numbers, which made logical sense. Unfortunately,
my passengers didn't have a clue what the road numbers were, and navigated
by landmarks instead. So someone might tell me to "turn right at the bingo
hall" for example, which left me stumped because I didn't know any of the
landmarks!

I then got hold of a really useful map that marked the locations of
prominent pubs! Only then I'd find myself with some tee-totaler passengers
who preferred to navigate by churches instead! Aargh! I just couldn't win!

Probably the most fun bit was negotiating the insanely complex one way
systems in central London, particularly since the directions would often
change from day to day to maintain traffic flow as a result of accidents or
roadworks. That's why I had a car compass stuck onto the windscreen. After
coming out of one of these one way systems I'd often be totally disoriented,
but a quick look at the compass would put usually me back on track.

GPS? Pah! I bet it's easy to drive around London nowadays with one of
those...

....is it?

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
Latest Blog Post: A Photo or a Snap?
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/

Judith said:

On a more serious note, I have learned over the last few years that I
probably could get to the top of any UK hilly thing (apart from the
InnPin) as it's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the
other until I get there.

Yep, that's the usual technique.

Quoted message said:

I used to think that it was best to give up
as soon as I got out of breath!

I believe it's called exercise! :-)

I actually find it much easier (although "easier" is probably not the right
word) to push myself harder to get to a summit than to push myself to do a
few more sets of weights, or cycle for a bit longer on my exercise bike.
Probably because with the latter I'm not actually going anywhere and there's
no visual reward for getting there.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
Latest Blog Post: A Photo or a Snap?
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/

Quoted message said:

Judith said:

On a more serious note, I have learned over the last few years that I
probably could get to the top of any UK hilly thing (apart from the
InnPin) as it's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the
other until I get there.

Talking of putting one foot in front of t'other... where's this TGO TR
got to, young lady?

--
Fran
To email me see 'from' in headers; use your net know-how to find the
domain, and put my real name in front thereof.

Fran said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On a more serious note, I have learned over the last few years that I
probably could get to the top of any UK hilly thing (apart from the
InnPin) as it's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the
other until I get there.

Talking of putting one foot in front of t'other... where's this TGO TR
got to, young lady?

Yeah yeah yeah whatever.

I am away from home for the 3rd consecutive weekend. I am unlikely to
ever finish the website but will endeavour to cut and paste the text
into a usenet post. Dunno when!

Judith

Judith said...

Quoted message said:

Fran said:

Quoted message said:

> On a more serious note, I have learned over the last few years that I
> probably could get to the top of any UK hilly thing (apart from the
> InnPin) as it's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the
> other until I get there.

Talking of putting one foot in front of t'other... where's this TGO TR
got to, young lady?

Yeah yeah yeah whatever.

I am away from home for the 3rd consecutive weekend.

Ooh, you little stop-out you!

Quoted message said:

I am unlikely to
ever finish the website but will endeavour to cut and paste the text
into a usenet post. Dunno when!

Well, really. Tsk. Standards are obviously slipping... muttermutter
can't get the trip reporters these days mumble mutter mutter grumble...

--
Fran
To email me see 'from' in headers; use your net know-how to find the
domain, and put my real name in front thereof.