THIS is how to navigate using just a map

Watching videos or reading websites about land navigation you could be forgiven for thinking that Land Navigation is only about using a compass. Whilst being able to use a compass is very important in the real world most people will simply use a map to navigate and only use a compass if there is any doubt about their location of direction of travel.
In this video I’ll try and show how the majority of people navigate safely just using a map for the majority of time.
Links to the other videos mentioned
The Five D’s of navigation
• The 5 D's in navigation
Collecting and Catching features
• Map reading for beginn...
How to take a compass bearing
• THIS is how to use a c...

[@JPSUS]

Long live the waffle! Navigation videos are a dime a dozen, but practical advice delivered along with myriad reasons to spend more time outdoors is all too rare. It is the waffling that motivates us to put on our boots and head out. Please keep it up. Thank you.

[@DrBenWiles]

A man who waffles on is a man at peace with the world!

[@geoffupton]

agreed 😊

[@Jason-ke2nj]

🫡🫡🤭🤭🤭

[@nikob5899]

Long live Wayne. 😊

[@cw7422]

When I was in the US Navy I was stationed at Edzell Scotland. I found the ordnance survey maps to be absolutely fantastic. Great video.

[@01cthompson]

I'm a map nerd. I get as much enjoyment from reading the map as I do walking the route.

[@DarkCoffee2]

Since discovering your channel, you have rapidly become one of my favorites!

[@nikob5899]

❤

[@Jason-ke2nj]

🫡🫡

[@annnnonnymous]

Being in the US and a fan of Vicar of Dibley I think I have earned an honorary basket of chips for getting your analogy. Ill be sure to treat myself. I enjoyed this video, its a really good way to easy the compass shy into not being map shy. Will definitely share this with my hiking partners so I dont have to be the primary or sole navigator all the time. Thanks!

[@Soul_of_a_Robot]

A basket of chips....?! Bags mate... A bag of chips! Hope you enjoyed them all the same bro

[@user-wt8jp4qx6l]

So very true. I've been fell-running, day and night (head-torching), in all weathers, all year round, including many mountain marathons, for over 30 years. I've rarely needed to use my compass, except in 'pea-soupers' and dense fog/hill cloud, especially in flatter, feature-less terrain such as the Pennines, parts of the Howgills and Scotland, or eastern Lakes. Usually, you can spot at least one or two features, and if you've been paying attention since you've set-off, then you can usually work out where you are and where to head for next. Occasionally, conditions even defeat a compass. 20 yrs ago, or so, walking from Garrigil up to Greg's hut (Crossfell) on a dark November night, along the corpse road, the hill fog was so dense and the sleet falling so wet, that even walking along the usually 'motor-way' obvious track proved a huge challenge. As we could barely see our feet, and the head torch's beam bounced off the wet gravel, we had to edge along, gingerly not even sure where the edges of the track were and where the stony fell began. No direct route using a compass was practical, as the track is very winding, and no-where to aim for, and consequently it was a complete 'shuffle-fest,' to the extent we were worried we might walk straight pass the bothy in the night and hill cloud. Only a great familiarity with the track and a lot of luck got us there. Lesson: never, ever be complacent, even on a very well known route, in winter. Thank you for your vids. Extremely enjoyable.

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Greg's Hut. Now that brings back some memories. Not been there for years.

[@daviddilley8310]

"navigationally challenged",sometimes; " geographically embarrassed", yeah, but never "lost" LOL

[@stpetie7686]

Always good information, advice and common sense. Add in a great waffle and and the video gets even better. Thanks again, Sir.

[@MedicalHiker]

Great video. Dont ever stop the 'waffle', always learning stuff.

[@Chiller11]

Very interesting. I navigated the Colorado backcountry for several years when I was younger (1960’s-70’s) before I knew how to use a compass using only a topographical map. Not something I’d recommend but I paid attention to landmarks along my way and studied the map.

[@DrBenWiles]

When in an unknown city/town, i use a compass to orientate myself to be able to use the map as buildings can look the same and you can be disorientated easily when starting out (e.g. from a train station). You either get odd looks from people or knowing acknowledgement!

[@k.chriscaldwell4141]

THE biggest reason people fail at orienteering is inattention to landmarks and terrain. If one is unwilling or unable to orientate using landmarks and terrain, a map and compass is near worthless.

[@doughobbs7706]

as a caver its a great to see/hear you link the underworld with the topside.. we also use compasses underground at times by the way!

[@PhilWaud]

I always enjoy your videos, thank you once again. You make a really good point here (of course). Ive been able to use a compass and read a map since being in the Boy Scouts as a young lad. The other week I woke up in a tent on Kinder Scout in ten foot visibility freezing fog. I took out my phone and loaded OSmaps, and looked at the route I had plotted, glanced up at where I was meant to go and set off. A couple of minutes later, I did the same thing. After an hour I had walked around in a huge circle. I did have a paper map and a compass and what I should have done is taken a bearing and followed that. Of course, I will do that in future, but this could have been a critical mistake that put me in bother.

[@xionix4]

Exquisite. I so loved your explanation of the chemistry, meteorology, geology, history, philosophy, and last but not least, geography of these phenomena. :P Always quality content. P.S. If I ever take over the world, you're my top navigator. We'll party. lol

[@nikob5899]

Add me to that party please!! 🥰

[@AphelionSol]

You sir have the very rare gift of enjoying basically almost anything you find on your way. This is a limestone. You know what's the best thing about limestone? You can sit on it and enjoy a cup of tea. Beautiful. One question if i may, i watched almost all of your videos. There are no forests around you, the land is quite empty. In Romania we have lots of places similar to those in the video, but they are filed with forests and wildlife. How come there are no forests? Keep up this amazing work and thank you for teaching me navigation :)

[@candyquahogmarshmallow8257]

We've just kept the rolling hills and in some places we've never planted trees. We still have plenty of forests but we also have a lot of open land. I like forests as I use a hammock and tarp when camping and sleep in a hammock is the best sleep you'll ever have!

[@discerningscoundrel3055]

After the Black Death reduced the population a lot of the land was turned over to sheep farming. Sheep grazing stops trees growing, leaving a landscape of grass and heather.

[@jamesmccann531]

Quite a lot of the land shown in this video is limestone and very stony/fast draining, which aren't typically the best conditions for trees.

[@ben31tube]

I always like your stories, to go along with the training and the hiking. Thank you!

[@davidsweeney8133]

Boss lad, V interesting, informative and great enthusiasm

[@jem1282]

Agree 100℅. I'm a map nerd and and happy and rather proud to be able to read them pretty well, but i think i never really used the compass, probably because here in spain probably most of the people don't go trekking to a such an open empty place as you show in this video 😮. Now i feel the need to find a place like that arround here, if it exist 😀 Thanks for all your great videos , info and wafflings!

[@kensuzdoer]

We are in USA and have a mounted (horseback) orienteering team. We compete with compass and map and clues. It is so true that you forget how many gates you went though and we take a quick azimuth to see where we are at and going to. These are the best videos for explaining all these compass concepts.

[@jime2504]

I’ve heard of mountain bike orienteering but never on horseback, how wonderful! The extra height must be handy to see the controls!

[@jeremymanning2132]

Great video. I've been hiking and camping for over 50 years. I agree with everything you say in this video. I normally only look at my map & compass once a day. This is to figure out my exact location and a heading for my days travel. I tend to let my eyes lead me rather than stick to any set trail. Keep the great videos coming. 👍👍

[@rowanbrebner4941]

Mate I'm from New Zealand and we pretty much have followed the mother land Governmental wise, but when you said if you are from the UK, just think Vickar of Dibley, that put a smile on my face big time. As that show has played over here in NZ years ago. So you got me. Best dad advice ever.

[@philippabaker1078]

I love this channel. The Waffle is very good information. I learned a lot from the chemistry talk. Keep it going.

[@Βόρειο_Σέλας]

Fantastic, informative and entertaining as always. Love your history waffles, it is a great mix with navigation. I am based in Melbourne Australia and I do a lot hunting off-track and when I am not hunting I will hike. I always use map and compass and I tend to use average speed for varying terrains to estimate my distance. I do remember watching one of your videos on estimating distance without the pacing beads and that was great because I never use beads. The terrain here is very dense forests and mountains which makes the navigation very difficult and this brings me to the suggestion if you can run a short video on this type of terrain. Cheers and thanks for sharing.

[@britinrussia3687]

Excellent videos. Useful, entertaining (especially the waffle) - learning geology and navigation ))) Thank you for your hard work )

[@kailomykhailo4506]

Thank you sir for practical, simple and easy explanation of these important things. Cheers from Kyiv UA!

[@unixpro2]

Love the waffle, please keep them in your educational videos.

[@underarmbowlingincidentof1981]

I already forgot the five D's but I do remember grikes and clints !! Love your waffling man! Favorite part of the video as always :D

[@bubbleheadft]

Funny, I'm not from the UK, but "Vicar of Dibley" made it clear.

[@Nick1210100]

Fantastic video as always-I live next to an outdoor centre for kids, they invent all sorts of meaningless activities, they should get people like you in-widen the kid's world by making them self reliant-i.e. being able to go for a walk or hike and being able to return safely-

[@PacoElMapache]

Thank you for the practical Nav videos. I feel like the only times I have really needed to make a super detailed route card was when I was bushwhacking and was also relying on my pace count being good. Great video! Thanks again!

[@drbansal8805]

Thank you 😊. I really need to watch this!

[@nikob5899]

❤ Another great video!!

[@keithking-ib5nd]

I love your “waffle” among the excellent map reading instructions.

[@jking4444]

Great series of videos, although Wayne looks like Odd Bod from Carry on Screaming.

[@fred-kendall]

Brilliant video mate, as always. If you could reccomend 5 techniques to priorities learning as a beginner, what would they be? I'll be teaching a group the very basics of expedition skills in the near future and have already put together my lessons, but I was wondering what your thoughts on the topic are.

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

I was asked the same question on the BBC when I was in an interview the CEO of the Ordnance Survey. So I’ll give the same answer. I would say that the problems with a few (old style) navigation instructors is that they forget that it’s not a theoretical subject, so as a beginner success is everything - it’s totally pointless and a waste of everyone’s time give people tasks that they can’t do. Ask a group to go to a local place (park, shopping area, school grounds, etc.) and supply them with (very large scale) maps of that area. Point out on the map a large feature and ask them to point out some others on the ground and also on the map. Do NOT go to the next section until they have got this. If they can’t understand it then teach it in a different way. Everyone learns (absorbs information) differently, so you need to find that way they learn and use that. The way it used to be taught (old stye) was system led i.e. this is the way to do it. I would suggest the opposite, what is the best why I can teach this particular person. Continuing on this theme. Once they can identify the ground features on the map (large building, edge of a lake, etc). Then progress on to route finding. i.e. if you wanted to visit 5 of the things you can see on the map what is the quickest way, what is the most interesting, what is the most fun, etc. Then - last bit for the first session - only half of the group have a map. The ones with the map explain a route between two features and tell one of the group without a map how to walk that route. What will they see along the way, about how far is it. What will tell them they are going the wrong way. And that’s it. Don’t progress until they have this game bagged.

[@fred-kendall]

@@TheMapReadingCompany Great stuff, cheers.

[@laurasalo6160]

Im watching in the hopes that some of your joy rubs off on me! I love the little tidbit tangents you go on. Talk chemistry to me! Oh! Can you navigate using the stars!? Probably not in England eh! 😆 my bad. I want to learn how to use a sextant. Cheers from the Canadian🇨🇦 Prairie!!

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

I did make a video on how to use a sextant, but then deleted it. It would be very easy to veer away from the core topic of this channel, which is navigating using a hand held compass and/or a map. OK there are the odd waffle videos 😆 but in general I try to stick to the same topic of land nav. PS - there are lots of sextant videos on YT.

[@MikeS-ear2ear]

Keep on Waffling👍🏻😁

[@MissileGuidance]

Love the commentary!

[@uffe997]

Please explain more about geology 😊

[@peterdillon2628]

Just be careful not to settle on a sneaky rugose coral protruding from those clints, 'cos shuffling around to get a real comfy position will make short work of the over trouser material.

[@petescull371]

simply excellent

[@DaveCollierCamping]

Excellent video

[@heathcoat67]

what is the difference between MGRS and UTM? I'm in the US. You are a good teacher with history lessons.

[@41istair]

Interesting jacket - when do we get your clothing kit review?

[@jonjones6583]

13:28 brilliant intelligent information

[@ericchilver9113]

12:30 really enjoy these little chats, 👍🇦🇺🇬🇧 earl grey ?

[@darkphoenix68]

The first time I went out to the trails on my local "mountain"/National Park, I had armed myself with a trail map, and studied it beforehand to plot out a route. I knew that at a certain point I would come to a T-junction, at which point I should turn left. Except when I finally arrived at the junction, it didn't look the way I expected it to look; it was more of a Y-junction, and the trail to the left curved around more than I was expecting. I realised I was ... navigationally challenged. So I pulled out the map, took a look, then followed the trail back with my finger to where I had gone wrong (I'd assumed the trail I was following crossed the footbridge, but I should have continued straight on at that point.) Once I knew what had happened, I knew where I actually was -- and that I had to turn right to follow my planned loop in reverse. Not a compass in sight, but a half-way accurate map saved the day.

[@steveolsen9040]

Love the waffles!

[@simonliin]

Thx a lot! Love your explanations and history teachings :) Waffle waffle :) Greetings from Copenhagen.

[@awoodstick]

Loved this

[@davehumpleby3440]

A good, real-world simulation. You state that you were out there on your own. When you started talking about the features in the limestone pavement, how did you get your camera to swivel and zoom in on the rock in question? I'm intrigued.

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

It's done with editing using Davinci Resolve 18 - the free version

[@nikob5899]

A genius in navigation and map reading AND making a great video with skills we will never know....🎉

[@causewaykayak]

Any concerns about all those mine workings ??

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Not in the daylight but at night ???

[@causewaykayak]

@@TheMapReadingCompany Thank you for reply. We don't want to lose you 👍🏼

[@jimmypalavi]

Egg and avocado with pepper... life is good indeed!

[@truthdefenders-]

Here is one for you, suppose you were blindfolded and simply dropped off with your map and compass how do you go about pinpointing your location? thnx

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

I have already done a few videos showing this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/poWxe4KmgciHas0si=OGS_FskMh-b2SJGE kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGLYfp6sZp6Ir9ksi=rcAbdZ4MXp-MHWM7

[@truthdefenders-]

@@TheMapReadingCompany Cool, thnx. I'll check them out.

[@INSOLESandLACES]

Every day a learning day. Bet your students have a great time. Many years ago when in the MRT we all walked off the wrong side of the hill because we all assumed somebody else was leading.😂😂😂

[@Cous1nJack]

Herd mentality.

[@markonyeagbako6773]

Great video and the sandwiches sound nice.

[@eaburns]

The video on collecting and catching features has been marked private. I also seem to recall you having a whole playlist of navigation using only a map, but it's now gone. Are you planning to rerelease this series?

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Oh yeah. Oooops. . I was messing about with bulk edits last week, I must have changed them then. They should work now. I've still not worked out this YTube site yet.

[@simongee8928]

Go up the waterfall at the end of Goredale Scar and you'll find a grand limestone pavement at the top - ! 😊

[@jessepitt]

I grew up a country kid in the eighties. I never had a map or a compass for all the wandering I did. Everything was based off terrain observations. I have taught myself to use both as an adult but I still forget to look at either when I’m actually trying to cover ground. I just go off instinct and it’s kept me from getting lost for many years and miles.

[@muchasgracias6976]

Stop the waffle? Sir, we love the waffle. We need the waffle. We demand the waffle!

[@chrisedwards3198]

This looks similar then to malham cove?

[@cynthiastandley5742]

Do you have a video where you waffled about the stone walls? Are they like barbed wire in the American West?

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

At the end of this (after 10:30). kzbin.info/www/bejne/invJZat-g9d0gJo

[@mihailvormittag6211]

👍

[@stanleyrobinson9208]

Please, please, PLEASE make a video of how to navigate using only Waffle 😊

[@nikob5899]

😂🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@Amysdad07]

never stop the waffle. it is interesting and informative

[@frankfaubert1927]

Yay waffle. I come for the map reading but definitely stay for the waffle 😂

[@EternalTina]

I come for the navigation, but stay for the waffle.

[@oldredcoonhound2182]

History, geology and navigation all in one😂

[@donz8501]

Hey there waffler😂....is there a way to contact you other than here on my phone?

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

You can contact us via the website: www.mapreading.co.uk

[@tracyrreed]

We call it "terrain association" when we don't use a compass but instead match up a map to what we see and use that to infer where we are.

[@rkh7169]

I always laugh at land nav in the UK. It’s flat, you have easy to find walls. When I did this in the Navy we were in the deep woods of VA. 😂

[@Swamp_Donkey_]

i thought you were gonna say you can always find a comfy rock to sit on because you’ve just been walking for a while.

[@philware1546]

Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.... Five Ds

[@neilfoster814]

While having spanners (wrenches) thrown at you at high speed! 🤣

[@philware1546]

@@neilfoster814 is that necessary?

[@neilfoster814]

@@philware1546 It is in the movie 'Dodgeball' 😀

[@philware1546]

@@neilfoster814 Yes, and that's what they say to Patches when he throws the wrenches :)

[@johnprice4893]

I just use the Map (compass is in the backpack)

[@MarkoPareigis]

can I have some waffles please 🙏😂

[@BuckMckawtheotherone]

BS, a boundary stone, not a cow patty. Remember that.

[@p.j.talavera8106]

Gotta love the Brits and their pedantic waffle.

[@mikeh2794]

the earth is only 6 thousand years old so that's impossible what ever happened happened before 6000 years

[@HuplesCat]

You got lost spelling the thumbnail 😂

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Thanks. I hadn't noticed. I've changed it now.

[@HuplesCat]

@@TheMapReadingCompany happens. Enjoying your channel a lot

[@darkporpoise]

Never stop the waffle

[@tanyaroyredcar]

typo on your clickbait - never good

[@TheMapReadingCompany]

Oh - thanks for that. I hadn't noticed. I've changed it now.

[@BelletiDavid]

The best channel about navigation, thanks.....🧭🗺🗾