One of the things I enjoy most about the UK is the freedom to walk in the fabulous countryside with legally defined, mapped, maintained and signed public footpaths.
The image on the left is not Photoshopped - I took this picture on a walk near Bibury.
Being Irish, this type of walking, disgracefully, is something I cannot enjoy in my own country (and the countryside is just as good there)
However, I've never been one for orienteering, and I suspect that the fear of getting lost or trespassing might be putting off a significant number of people from this healthy pastime in the UK.
Technology has provided solutions which are easy enough for even someone as directionless as me to use, but they are not cheap (for example, see Memory Maps OS Edition, which will run on a Windows Mobile phone if it has inbuilt GPS. You can't get lost if you have this).
While I think the UK is fortunate not to have the attitude of Ireland to rights of way, things would be even better if maps of Ordnance Survey quality were freely available, at least digitally. Is this a pipedream? It's your countryside...
No comments:
Post a Comment