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The great outdoors

Here you can find advice on camping, outdoor activities and walking in the UK and abroad.

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Original poster

What type of walker are you?

26 replies

SunshineOutdoors · 24/03/2012 21:50

Do you like to follow a prescribed route i.e.out of a book where there's a map and instructions or a follow the wooden signs with the red arrows type walk?

Or do you like to get to an area and explore it in your own way, deciding what you want to do and for how long when you're there?

I tend to seek out the former but I suspect I might get a lot more out of throwing away the book sometimes and doing the latter.

Sometimes I feel like my head's in the book or looking out for that next gate/bend in the road where the next set of instructions start rather than enjoying the beautiful place I'm walking in?

So what type of walker are you? And what do you think's best?

OP posts:

Original poster

SunshineOutdoors · 24/03/2012 21:52

Don't know why my fourth paragraph was a question. Makes it sound like that annoying inflection thing? Where you make your voice go up at the end of a sentence? Even when you're not asking a question?

Sorry.

OP posts:

UnChartered · 24/03/2012 21:53

i'm a 'point my nose and see where it goes' walker - or in other words a mountain rescue team's nightmare

i'm crap at map-reading, have no sense of direction but a great sense of adventure

luckily, DH can read a map written on a postage stamp and i am also very trusting

InAnyOtherSoil · 24/03/2012 22:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EssieW · 24/03/2012 22:01

I'm a follow the route in guidebook or the most obvious one. Like to get to a summit otherwise I feel slightly short changed. I think following a route/having a destination/needing to do the whole route is probably very annoying for the rest of the family and has led me to pushing it a bit too much with the children.

I remember getting very frustrated with two friends who were happy to chill out at Llyn Ogwen for an afternoon. This was ages ago and I think I'm slightly better now but I was incredibly annoyed that we were not going up to the summits.

purpleroses · 24/03/2012 22:53

I prefer a map to instructions. Instructions are only any good if you stay with them, if you lose them your're stuffed, and it's quite nice just to see what you find on the route.

I take a map and mark all over it with highlighter pen, and give it to DS to teach him to read it. But also carry a GPS at the bottom of my rucksack as insurance just in case we go badly wrong. Find it gives me more confidence to take a bearing or go somewhere off route.

GrimmaTheNome · 25/03/2012 21:32

A bit of everything. DH is very good at looking at a map and spotting how to put a good walk together, but we use books too. Always walk with an OS map not just following instructions! Though nowadays, it may or may not be an actual big foldy-out map - DH's xmas and birthday presents a year or two ago was MemoryMap software. Basically its OS maps online - 2.5 inches for national parks, 1inch for the rest of the country I think - he has it loaded on his ipad, PC and iphone. So he can plan a route lying in bed, print off relevant pages to carry, and then have his iphone with GPS so we can check where we are if needbe.

Original poster

SunshineOutdoors · 26/03/2012 11:39

Hmmm, so there is a middle ground.... Take a map and maybe have a rough plan, but wander about where you want and use the map as and when. Genius! Why didn't I think of it before. This is going to be my new walking style. I think I'll get far more out of where I am, and feel a lot less nerdy too!

OP posts:

Ragwort · 26/03/2012 11:42

I tend to stick to the same, familiar route as I like to walk fast and get 'aerobic' exercise. DH loves following maps and guidebooks and enjoys ranting and raving if a footpath is inaccessible; he then gets in touch with the council to complain and even tracks down obscure offices where you can view footpath maps and footpath legislation he is a right bore can you tell I prefer walking alone .

throckenholt · 26/03/2012 11:45

I am a get a map and see where looks interesting and try that kind of walker. I don't tend to like organised routes.

UniS · 27/03/2012 21:44

I'm a log the letterboxes we are aiming to find in the GPS, look at the map to get an idea for teh area, head out and take it from there. If its an area I know pretty well I'll carry on on GPS alone if the fog rolls in.
If it snows we will consider the chicken shoot options and take one before DS is toooo cold.
Ditto if it's so windy DS can't stay on his feet.

Sometimes I log a walk someone else has put together, sometimes just a random bunch of boxes that in a given area I wish to explore. Either way with poking about under, over and around rocks we move at about 1 mile an hour with a 6 yr old in tow.

Lilymaid · 27/03/2012 21:46

DH organises long walks. I cut them down to a smaller length and ensure that there is a tea shop or pub somewhere along the way.

smalltown · 27/03/2012 21:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bronze · 27/03/2012 21:51

I'm a bit of everything but as these days I always have at least one child with me I tend to use geocaches because it keeps them interested.

madwomanintheattic · 27/03/2012 21:52

i love maps. i can pore over them for hours. i own a fair few guidebooks, but have never to my knowledge actually followed a route from any of them...

i used to teach navigation for d of e back in ye olden days, though. and do my own met from the shipping forecast for fun, so i'm a bit odd... i've also never used a gps in my life, but it's on my list of things to do.

i tend to plan a likely looking route using a map, and alter it as and when.

dh and i used to sit on mountain tops and take back bearings for fun.

throckenholt · 28/03/2012 08:12

madwoman - all perfectly normal activities in my book . Although I don't often get to the top of mountains and don't usually take back bearings I can understand why you might want to.

lazydog · 28/03/2012 08:32

OP "Don't know why my fourth paragraph was a question. Makes it sound like that annoying inflection thing? Where you make your voice go up at the end of a sentence? Even when you're not asking a question?

Sorry."

Don't worry - madwoman and I are well used to that over here

In answer to your question - a bit of both... I'm definitely more cautious now about going too far off the beaten track because if anything happened, it's likely that not a soul would ever find you (I already live in a remote area, so wandering into the wilderness is seriously not wise, without making sure that people know your plans!) but equally I don't like religiously following maps when I'm walking. I tend to follow routes that have been recommended and described by others, with basic instructions, but than I'm not a serious, long distance hiker...

EndoplasmicReticulum · 28/03/2012 16:19

Pre-children I used to go out with a map. This was not always successful as I have no sense of direction.

Now I'm always after caches, so I follow my GPS!

madwomanintheattic · 28/03/2012 16:23

Ooo, hello lazy!

Yeeeeeeees. Current location means braving gps is moving steadily higher up the list of required skills... as is ignoring inflection...

Original poster

SunshineOutdoors · 28/03/2012 16:45

Sorry to sound thick, but can someone explain geocaches to me?

Are you two on the other side of the world, madwoman and lazy ?

OP posts:

EndoplasmicReticulum · 28/03/2012 18:25

Sunshine - I've seen it described as "nerds in the woods looking for tupperware". Go on the geocaching website and find out where one is. Put co-ordinates into GPS. Follow co-ordinates, find geocache. Which is usually tupperware, in a hole. Sign log to prove you've been there.

UniS · 28/03/2012 20:28

Unless your in Devon, England, on Dartmoor. At which point the Tupperware is probably called a letterbox, will contain a rubber stamp and a log book. You take an impression of teh stamp, leave an impression of your personal stamp in the log book an hide the box in same place for next boxer to find.

Nerds on a moor looking for tupperware??

maybe

lazydog · 29/03/2012 07:12

SunshineOutdoors - Yes, we're both in the Canadian Rockies. It's absolutely stunning here (I'm going to try and post a pic of the view from my garden - I've not tried posting pics on here before, so don't hold your breath!) but the downside is that if you ever did get lost it's far further between towns/villages...plus you've got bears and cougars to worry about!

madwoman - Our boys were 2.5 and 5 when we moved here and I have absolutely no problem with them picking up the Canadian accent, but hearing them end every statement with that upward infection really makes my teeth itch!!!

lazydog · 29/03/2012 07:14

infection ???

inflection

Original poster

SunshineOutdoors · 29/03/2012 07:42

Wow lazydog you live in a postcard! That is breathtakingly stunning. What an amazing view to wake up to every morning. I'm very jealous, as I look out of the window in my crappy 70s housing estate. You must feel very proud when you look out of the window. I'm currently trying to begin the process of moving somewhere I love (York, which only 15 miles down the road, mind) as I want a lovely feeling when I look out of the window. Your view is on a whole other level though

OP posts:

lazydog · 30/03/2012 00:15

Thanks I love it here but the remoteness would drive most people insane, I think. I love the peace but is an almighty pain to have to drive >3hrs to get to the nearest city, or 2hrs minimum if you have an sort of medical investigation needed (the 3 drs here are great, but they're "only" GPs!) and it's often further than that. My husband is currently waiting to hear when he has to go for his first appointment for investigation into some knee damage and that'll be closer to 4hrs drive, each way, just to have it looked at! Also, it's no picture postcard at present - we are experiencing the melt - aka "Poo Soup" (the downside of living on a hobby farm where it's too damn cold or snowing too heavily to clean up after them, for a large part of the year!) This only lasts for a couple of weeks, but it's so grim!

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