An important and fun part of any trip out into the hills or any walk is the planning. Unless you are using a published walk by someone else whether it’s from a book, magazine, website, or app. Then following on from the planning when you are actually out on the route you have the fun activity of navigating the route.

This post is all about the tools I use for both planning my routes and whilst out on the hill.

“Not all who wander are lost”, J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Riddle of Strider”, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

And yes I’m taking an often used select quote from LoTR. Why wouldn’t I being a massive Tolkien fan. The big surprise is that it’s not in the posts title. But I think that’d be stepping over some imaginary line and too tacky and predictable.

The most obvious place to start is with a map. I’m refreshing my maps (not all of them at once obviously, just the ones in areas I will be walking in initially) with new OS Maps. These now come with digital download codes! So going to the OS website you can redeem the code to get the map as a download in the official OS app. I love this. I don’t have to subscribe to their service, and I can browse the map on my iOS devices at work or home. So at the moment I’ve not used the OS app in anger to plan a route. I’ve also not looked at alternatives (which I assume will cost money as well). Thoughts on the OS app will be the subject of a future post I’m sure. In the meantime this is a great little bonus to buying the map. My preference is the 1:50k Landranger but I also get the 1:25k Explorer as and when I think it’s more appropriate. Although I do like the Harvey water resistant hiker maps at 1:40k for areas like the Lakes or Brecon Beacons.

I actually splashed out on a new compass, and got the Silva Compass 5. This is a feature rich compass. It has the all the standard stuff you expect on a compass such as romas, rulers, magnifying lens, etc. However it also has luminous markings, a detachable distance lanyard with scales to measure longer distances, and a built in permanent adjuster for magnetic declination. It comes with a Slope card that helps assess avalanche risk, slopes and extra distance.

Being able to navigate especially in poor weather conditions is an important skill to have. One of those skills to aid this is pacing. To aid in keeping an accurate count of my paces taken I got some Coopers Bay Pace Count Beads.

Both the compass and pace count beads will be kept on the belt in an old Satmap gps case I have for easy access and safe keeping.

My routes and notes will be written in a Rite in the Rain Waterproof Paper Universal Pocket Top Wire Bound Spiral Notebook. Obviously the size and being waterproof is a big factor in getting this particular notebook. Having rulers and measurement conversion tables on the inside back cover is a handy addition.

I will be keeping the notepad in a Rite in the Rain Weatherproof Cordura Fabric Notebook Cover (I have a spare one of these if anyone wants one, first person to comment/contact me gets it). This will also have pens, pencils, the Silva slope card, timing card, and protractor in.

The Clear Half Round Shape Plastic 0-360 Degrees Protractor Map Reading Measuring Tool is the degree version of the mills one I have. Mainly used in planning and saving me have to convert between mills and degrees for bearings.

The map needs protecting from the elements and to do this I have an Aquapac Small Waterproof Map Case.

Being lazy and not wanting to do any maths I got a Navigators Timing Card from ShavenRaspberry.com. Handy when planning to get a rough idea of how long the route might take. But even handier on the trail when needing to work out timings for a leg of the route or even a route adjustment quickly.

Garmin eTrex 32x gps. I needed a new gps. I’ve not been able to locate my old Satmap gps. Now even though I have this its main use will be to give me a precise location to confirm on my map that I am where I think I am. And possibly have a digital copy of the route on it. But to do that will need me to use mapping software of some kind. And I’ve not spent any time investigating current options, especially for the iPad.

My iPhone! If I’m using this for navigation then things have gone pretty pear shaped. Somehow I’ve lost all of the above.

A rant!

But these two gadgets bring me onto a rant about outdoors YouTubers. Maybe I’m watching the wrong ones. But you very rarely see them use a map and compass. Instead you do see them use their mobile device with some sort of navigation/map app. Giving the impression that’s all you need, and that’s all they are using.

Since the appearance of affordable (subjective I know) gps technology for the public the critism has always been that technology fails. So you don’t rely on it solely. You need a map and compass. And just importantly know how to use them.

It’s a valid point.

Yes technology improves. Battery life increases, etc.

However if something happens to the phone/gps, gets dropped, wet, battery dies, or some other unfortunate event. You are stuffed. Depending when this happens it could be dangerously so.

Yes maps and compasses also have weaknesses.

I’m a fan of a belt and braces approach. Use the map and compass as your main navigation tool, and have the gps/phone as your backup. Use them as a tool alongside the map. Just don’t rely on them being your main or sole navigation tool.

But this isn’t what these YouTubers show. You see no map. No compass. You see them using just their phone. So not even a dedicated gps. You don’t even see any disclaimer telling people not to use just a phone etc. Which I think is shocking.

What do you think of my navigation toolkit or my rant? Let me know in the comments below.

It was my birthday Tuesday.

My aunt and uncle generously gave me an Amazon voucher as a present that was put towards getting a Silva Compass 5.

I’m a gadget geek. But when heading out into the amazingly beautiful British hills you can’t rely on those gadgets for navigation.

Yes technology has not stood still in the years since I was last out in the wilds.

Yet it should never be your only way to find your way around.

I did already have a Silva compass. It’s been in “hibernation” under the stairs.

But. And there is always a but. I really liked the look of this new model.

I liked the wider variety of romers on it, luminous markings, built-in adjuster for magnetic declination (including permanent local adjustment), a clinometer for measuring slope angle. Plus! its lanyard can act as a detachable scale that works like a ruler. And it comes with a slope card.

However it doesn’t matter how fancy your compass is, if you don’t know how to use it then it’s a fancy expensive paperweight.

So YouTube has been my refresher on the core skills. But they need to be practiced enough times they become second nature again.

I also got a British Army protractor!

I already had one of these too!

There is a reason I bought a second. I’ve had the first one all my life, or it’s been in the family all my life. Which currently is 56 years.

The first one was my dad’s. It’s the one he had while as a para.

I consider that one a family heirloom that is kept safe and not to be used.

But why buy this new one?

I want to be better at planning my routes and making notes before hand. Which includes adding bearings.

The drawback of this military compass is its in mills. When I want degrees. So a bit of maths is required to convert between the two. It’s not an easy bit of maths either. By that I mean multiplying or dividing by an easy number like the conversion between metres and feet. Something you can do quickly and roughly in your head. The conversion between mills and degrees is a small decimal number. A calculator is definitely needed.

Why don’t I just get a US Army protractor clone that uses degrees? It’s that dad thing. Dad used one. Even now 26 years after dad’s death doing something like this somehow feels like it’s keeping his memory alive.

Although I do seem to be quoting dad a lot lately at work! The quote being “size doesn’t matter when they are on the floor”. Nico and Loki prove this everyday playing mum up while she is lying down. And it’s in relation to them it’s mainly said.

I do like regaling folks with tales of how two little dogs play mum up.

Right time to close off this post. See you in the next one.

Ok second time writing this post, because the Jetpack app that I use to write my posts decided instead of publishing my words it’d just throw them away into the ether and lose 40 minutes of work!

With my planned return to the wilds of the UK after such a long hiatus from them. I’m using this time to reassess my “philosophy” or approach to the outdoors.

Part of this reassessment has involved my thinking on kit. And naturally new bits have been arriving. How I’ve missed this.

So this post is a catch up on some of the stuff that has dropped through my letter box recently. It’s not all of it. But I’m sure I’ll talk about the stuff not mentioned in other posts.

First up is the SOTO Thermolite cook set. Unusual for me this is not titanium, it aluminium! I know a major shock. It’s not like I needed a new cook set. But I did like the look of this when I saw it on a YouTube video. I like it comes with a pot cozy. It is a 750ml handless pot that comes with a small pot gripper that I might also use with other pots. It’s definitely smaller than the Trangia pot gripper I have. The lid is multi use and can be used to drink from the pot, and strain liquids. I like this set a lot.

Next is the 18cm diameter iBasingo Titanium Non-Stick Frying Pan. Can you believe I didn’t have a specific frying pan in all the pots etc I have? You could get the Trangia. You could buy/add the Trangia Multi Disc for 27 Series Cookers to this. That is 18cm diameter as well. Something I might do in the future. I believe this frying pan has a capacity of about 900ml. It should be able to fit the small tortilla wraps UK supermarkets sell. And looks ideal for one person. To go along with this I got a Tala Silicone Mini Spatula so I don’t ruin the non-stick surface. It’s about 6 or 7 inches long, light. Perfect for my needs.

Ok did I need another stove? Technically the answer would be no. But this Goshawk OP-100 looks pretty cool. It’s a bit of an alternative to the Trangia as far as I see it. It has this swirling flame (yes I’ll be doing a video) that looks cool. It comes with a sealing cap. So fuel can be left in it. It did come with a handy little stuff sack.

I got two Vargo Alcohol Fuel Bottles. They are expensive for what they are. Pretty sure paying for the Vargo name. But I do like the fuel measurement marks on the bottles.

Finally in this post is the Pure Clear Collapsible Filter Water Bottle. I have water filters that are over a decade old. I’m not sure how effective they would be now. So I decided to play it safe and get a new one. A bit of research and taking into account budget and planned usage ended up on the Pure Clear.

I have a shit load to do before I get back into the hills later this year. Kit to test in over night trips. Yes I have one or two over nights planned, along with day hikes.

In another post I’ll talk about the food/ingredient bits I’ve got in. But I’ll be testing recipes and sharing them on here.