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Map and Compass - The Art of Navigation

Published by Cicerone

Author - Pete Hawkins.

Lonely Planet - Iceland

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Trail Testers Recommended 100%

ISBN 1-85284-394-2 £12.00 - Available from book sellers and outdoors shops

Cicerone Web Page

I have always liked maps and can spend many hours pouring over them taking in their wealth of features, whether or not I am planning a route, or just getting to know an area. We are very lucky in the UK to have the Ordnance Survey, who were originally set up to map the UK for the military and as such the quality of cartography is very good indeed and the fine detail of the 1:25000 maps gives the walker a pretty good idea of what they should expect to see on the ground. That is assuming that the person holding the map and hopefully a compass knows how to use them.

All too often I am walking in the mountains and come across folk who are lost. They often are clutching their maps but cannot seem to fathom where they are. This it seems is an all too common problem and one that Pete Hawkins in his excellent book Map and Compass goes a long way to redress.

Pete trained as a Geography teacher and taught in schools for a year before escaping to the

Peak National Park’s Environmental Centre for an outdoor job. Since then, as a navigation instructor he has taught both beginners how to read a map and compass and the more experienced how to hone their navigation skills. Today he runs the Silva-sponsored Map and Compass course in the Peak’s and leads walking holidays both home and abroad.

Over the years I have read a number of books about navigation. Some of them are very technical and others just skirt the surface, but this one combines the two, to offer the beginner and the experienced

navigator an enjoyable read. The book is well laid out with each section explaining how things work and then setting examples and finally a synopsis of what has been learnt.

If you are new to hill walking and have up to now relied upon guide books to find your way around, this book will help you to become a proficient navigator, with easy to understand, step by step, lessons. Pete explains in a logical fashion how to read an OS map correctly, to interpret the symbols, the scale and the grid system and then how to use your compass, to set bearings and to find your position.

By completing each section, the reader is able, at their own pace, to easily digest the information that is presented to them and to carry out the exercises until they become second nature.

At 152 pages the book is very comprehensive and includes 15 chapters on the map, compass, route planning, walking with a compass, how to take bearings and transfer them to your map, understanding and apply magnetic variation, walking in mist, ticking off features as you follow your route, timing, pacing and other techniques. There is also a basic chapter on GPS and on walking abroad and the differences between our OS maps and those that you will find in other countries.

In Chapter 7 for instance, the author explains the compass.

He does this by taking the reader around the compass, explaining the differences between different types of compass and which one is best for walking. He then explains what every part does, what the scales mean and how to use them. So by the end of the chapter, even if you have never held a compass before, you will have a pretty good idea what to look for and how to use it. I once attended a map and compass course on Dartmoor with a group of other people and the instructor demonstrated to us much of what is in Pete’s book. During the few hours we spent out on the moor, he attempted to help the beginners to grasp the basics of navigation. For some it was all too much, too quickly and they were having difficulty taking it all in. Had they first read this excellent book, they would already have understood the basics and would have benefited greatly from the instructor explaining these things to them on the ground, where it would all have made a lot of sense. As it was I felt some left the day as confused as when they arrived. For my part reviewing this book, I found it an enjoyable read. I liked the way the author explained each topic and instilled confidence to the reader, before proceeding to the next section.

I have a number of books on navigation and will add this one to my bookshelf to refer to and to read again - Ed