GPS

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fitzcoraldo F
fitzcoraldo Oct 2, 2005 20:27:35
Replying to Steve Gray

Steve your technology sounds wonderful but it also sounds expensive. A map costs about eight quid and you can get a fairly decent compass for four or five quid ....no batteries required, ever!
Maps have a simple magic about them.
Can you roll a really big cigarette on top of a computer in a force 9 gale?
Can you swat an attacking horsefly with a computer?
What about the simple pleasure of sitting on top of a Cumbrian Fell with your map spread out in front of you whilst you identify the distant peaks, you can't do that with a computer.
Given a choice betwen a paper map and compass and the latest state of the art all singing, all dancing gadget. I'd take the map & compass every time.

P PeterH
PeterH Oct 2, 2005 22:07:47
Replying to fitzcoraldo

Being one of nature's Luddites, I know that GPS is not for me and I simply would never trust it or (more honestly) myself to use one correctly. I'm still wrestling with mobile phones and hate the buggers who use them in wild places. Fair enough if you break a leg and need to phone for mountain rescue, but not when its football results, test scores and inane chatter about eveything and anything. I recently went on a centenary walk with over 100 walkers - bloody phones squarking, pinging and playing daft tumes throughout! Do GPS thingies make a noise too or are they blessedly silent?

I love maps and planning the journey on the map and retracing my wanderings afterwards are an essential part of the joy of walking. Dear old AW (Alfed Wainwright) was a superb mapman and draughtsman, but he seldom used a compass and I feel certain that GPS would have brought forth a wry smile, acid comment and perhaps a furious puff of his pipe.