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Messages - Batesy

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46
Plans / Pennine Way
« on: August 07, 2012, 10:41:47 AM »
Hi,

It's probably a bit passe nowadays but my son has concluded that he wants to undertake this challenge and it seems my lot is to accompany him!

Neither of us could really afford the time to walk it in one go (~3 weeks) (nor are fit enough to run it over 2.5 days like the record holder! :o) so are looking to split the route up into 3-4 chunks.

We have just started looking at the planning and there is an awful lot to do (the nav, kit, accomodation, travel to-from intermediate points etc).

It strikes me, however, that so many people have already done this that there must be already existing plans that, if people are prepared to share them, would save us an awful lot of time! I have done some internet trawling (and bought the new, official PW handbook) but it's very time consuming too.

So..if anyone on here has any info, advice, hints/tips they are prepared to share it would be very welcome!

thanks in advance.
Steve

47
New Member Introductions / Re: Hello
« on: August 07, 2012, 10:13:50 AM »
Hi Waddilld, a belated welcome to the Forum.:o
Enjoy!
Steve

48
New Member Introductions / Re: Hello from the States
« on: August 07, 2012, 10:10:18 AM »
Hi Mike, welcome to the Forum.
Enjoy!
steve

49
New Member Introductions / Re: Hello from Lost Soul
« on: August 07, 2012, 10:07:35 AM »
Hi Leon. Welcome to the Forum.
I always tell my walking parner/s that we have 'got lost' on purpose in order to test our abilities to recover ourselves!  ;)
Enjoy!
Steve

50
Hi Chris, welcome to the Forum.
I have only visited Belgium on a few occasions.. always Brussels always on business so no opportunities to see much of the countryside...but plenty of opportunities to sample the beers (triple trappist mmmm!).
Enjoy!
Steve

51
New Member Introductions / Re: Greetings
« on: August 07, 2012, 09:58:46 AM »
Hi Ian, welcome to the Forum!
I do most of my walking in the Peak District too (mostly the Dark Peak) - a great area to walk and, being flat up top and featureless (apart from the 3m peat groughs!) a definitely challenging navigational area...in poor weather at least!
Enjoy!
Steve

52
Navigational Questions & Answers / Re: Aspect of slope!!!
« on: July 20, 2012, 01:43:16 PM »
Apologies to all if I seem to have over-reacted (probably did!).

Adi, I agree with you that some of the postings on the Forum are very complex (to me at least) and esoteric but I would rather have the choice to read them (and possibly learn something from them and, if not, then ignore them) than not have them there at all. I take your point, however, about complex postings in topics potentially turning/scaring people off.

Maybe the Forum needs a new category(?) that topics can be moved into once posts start to go beyond the basics and the complexity of the background science can there be explored/discussed for those interested? (and the category can carry a warning "Danger - only enter here if you want technical detail beyond the basics!")

As usual, written electronic-based communication leaves little room for nuance and the reader is free to interpret the meaning behind the plain words - so the first part of that last comment is a serious suggestion whilst the latter part (in brackets) should be taken as a little joke! ;))

Anyway, here's to the continued success of this Forum!

53
Navigational Questions & Answers / Re: Aspect of slope!!!
« on: July 19, 2012, 10:31:56 PM »
> It seems to me that Micronavigation Forum is starting to be used to make navigation as complicated as possible.

Simplicity v Complexity - surely this is wholly subjective?
My maths teacher would say to me that calculus is simple, wheras I found (find) it totally incomprehensible. But if someone else - or even several other people, maybe on a Forum I had joined - had found different, maybe unconventional, ways to explain it to me, then perhaps I might have found one way from the many to understand it?! Of course my teacher may have thought that the alternative explanations only complicated matters!

I firmly believe that a Forum (dictionary definition: "a meeting or assembly for the open discussion of subjects of public interest") thrives on diversity of experience and opinion and would hope that this Forum actually values the contributions of it's members (Newbie or otherwise) even if said contributions are not necessarily aligned with the views of other members!

Good luck with your writing of the concise description of the different Norths Captain P (but maybe don't share it with us...I, for one, don't want confusing any further! :-D)

54
Navigational Questions & Answers / Re: Aspect of slope!!!
« on: July 18, 2012, 11:05:40 PM »
This concept was first demonstrated to me by someone pouring water down a wooden board marked with horizontal lines. Obviously the water flowed directly down the slope of the board (at 90 degrees to the lines). As the board was moved around (different orientation), we took compass bearings of the direction the water had flowed. I was then told to imagine this board scaled up to to hillside size. I slowly started to twig what was going on when we finally looked at a map and 'compared' a section of hillside with the board. Not sure that's a very clear explanation but the technique seemed to stick with me.

I also think the concept of 'fall line' (familiar term to the skiers/boarders amongst us - i.e. the fastest (scariest) straight line down a slope!) can aid understanding.

Oh...and for me it's Aspect of Slope not Slope Aspect (even though that's discussed elsewhere on this Forum!) :-)

55
Compasses / Re: Silva Type 4/54 V Suunto M3 Global
« on: July 18, 2012, 10:47:37 PM »
I have always used Silva compasses for no particular reason other than this was the brand I was introduced to via Scouts and told they were 'the best'.

I recently came to replace my old dog-eared Silva and, having read Lyle's comments about his preference thought I'd look into the Suunto M3. I also checked the comments on this Forum and saw somewhere (sorry, can't remember who it was but maybe it was Egg?!!) that the Recta DT420G was more or less the equivalent of the Suunto so decided to check that too.

From all the info I could find, there were very few, if any, differences between the Suunto and the Recta so, given I could buy the Recta for more than £10 less than the Suunto, I plumped for that.

I agree with Egg's comments regards size and bezel and, of course, it also has extra features.

So now I'm a convert and ex-Silva user (although I'm sure the Silva is still an excellent bit of kit!).

56
Reviews, Suggestions and Advice / UNM APPS
« on: July 16, 2012, 10:43:45 PM »
Hi,

Not sure this is the correct place for this question...

On Page 256 of the UNM, it says in the box at the bottom of the page, headed "ULTIMATE NAVIGATION MANUAL APPS" that 'interactive apps have been especially created for this manual...and are downloadable from www.harpercollins.co.uk/unmapps'. I have followed the link to the site but can't find any apps anywhere.

If anyone knows how to locate said apps, please can you point me in the right direction?

many thanks,
Steve

57
New Member Introductions / Re: Hi from sunny AUL
« on: May 12, 2012, 07:43:26 PM »
Ha ha, shows what I know and I live here (to be fair to me though I am not a native Ashtonian)!
Here is a link to AULs own web page which confirms what you said.
http://www.ashton-under-lyne.com/history/name.htm
Steve

58
New Member Introductions / Re: Hi from sunny AUL
« on: May 12, 2012, 12:04:36 PM »
Hi Ivo & Hugh.
Thanks for the welcome!
Sorry about the AUL abbreviation - it's short for Ashton Under Lyne (takes too long to type out  ;)) which is a small town about 7 miles or so east of city centre Manchester. I believe it's named 'Under Lyne' due to it's proximity to the 'line' of the Pennines which are just a few miles further east from here - quite convenient when you fancy a bit of peat bog bashing (Kinder Scout/Bleaklow/Black Hill all within easy reach).
I haven't (yet) taken the plunge into GSNS so don't understand it too well but I can see it's the future (and probably not too distant for me!) but I'm a terrible ditherer so I'm hoping to get good advice from the Forum on the best buys etc (I'm tempted by one of the Lowrance models as I am currently using Mapyx Quo who seem to regularly offer bundles). I'll post a question later on this in the Satnav Topic and see what level of concensus the Forum members have!
cheers,
Steve

59
New Member Introductions / Hi from sunny AUL
« on: May 11, 2012, 06:42:44 PM »
Hi all,
Just joined the Forum today although I have been reading the interesting posts for a couple of days.
I obviously found it after buying Lyle's superb UNM last week (currently on my second read!).
Lots of great new info for me in the book plus a great refresher course for what I already (more or less) knew.
I'm getting back into walking after some years of spending my time doing other stuff. Most of my experience is in the Peak District but with bits elsewhere (e.g. Lakes etc).
I am also a Scout Leader so all the recent new regulations means my past experience doesn't count any more - thus Scouts need me to go on one of their inhouse nav. courses to prove I can do it! This is one of the reasons for buying the book and joining the Forum - to help brush up my skills and learn new stuff.
I'm also a bit of a geek/gadget-slut ('scuse the language) so love to hear about all the things you guys have/know/do to aid your navigation.
Anyway, thanks for having me and for reading this far!
cheers,
Steve.
p.s. Thanks to Lyle for the heads-up on Etrex-H....only problem is that Forum members will be now furiously bidding against each other!  ;D

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