Where has the OS gone?

One couldn't get more military than the Ordnance Survey. which was set up by the Board of Ordnance. Until relatively recent times then Director General of the Ordnance Survey was an Army General.

We do use a satnav and it's OK for getting us from A to B but we wouldn't be without our OS maps. They are an invaluable source of information about an area or even the route to an area, something that a satnav cannot possibly do in the complexity that an OS map can.

Over the years we have found hundreds of places off the beaten track that we wouldn't have otherwise found. When we get a new one, ( to add to the over 65 that we already have) we will sit and read it, almost like a book. I can tell you a wealth of information about an area, a lot of it's history, are the roads narrow and twisty or are they straight and a decent width. is it hilly, is it forested, what is the river passing through, where are the surrounding towns, where's the nearest pub! etc etc. The other thing is that the batteries in OS maps never go flat and the signal required is only one of very modest brainpower.

Reading an OS grid reference is far easier than many believe. If you can look at a 2cm square and divide, in your head, the 2cm by 10 then you can read an OS Landranger map and get a pretty accurate position of anything that takes your fancy. If you have a Silva compass (Silva with an A not with an O - that was metal polish) there is a scale that even does this division for you. If you can't remember all the symbols show on the map there is a key on every map so if you see a P on the map you can see from the key that it is a Post Office but then if you are looking for a loo in the countryside you look for PC on the map, (not P!).

Couldn’t agree moreJM20. So interesting. I collect old Ward Lock guides as well, dropped on a lovely 1936 version for Dartmoor last holiday. 

We’re off to North York Moors next week, time to explore some new walks!

I no longer able to go walking the hills but when I did it was generally OS map and a compass for back up although compass rarely used as one could usually read the location based on surrounding contours and features.