Out and About

Been out walking quite a bit recently, with a few of the guys I've met on a few of the compulsery courses for the Bennefits people.

Got to say that most of the time I have enjoyed being in the wilds, away from the trappings of meodern life, and just able to relax. This isnt anew thing for me, I've always enjoyed being in the Great Outdoors.

Anyway, one of the guys I've been walking with for a while has just bought himself a GPS unit. Fine in itself, I have no problems with technology, I can see the use of GPS as a tool in conjunction witha Map & Compass, but the bloke cant read a Map.

Yeserday we went out on a walk in the peak district. Having been etrusted with the sole map of the walk I set about guiding the rest of the group. about 2 miles into the walk, he turns round with his GPS in hand and tells the entire group I've got them lost.

He didnt say "I Think" or "Maybe we should have turned off there", he out and out tells everyone I've got them lost. I reach for the map, and my OS map and start tracing out walk since leaving the carpark, at which point I'm told by the rest of the group, "Dont dout the GPS Syd, Its never wrong" wwell, I kept my mouth shut and followed the rest, and he leads us to the midway point of the 9 mile walk, but he did'nt follow the walk, he headed out in a strait line, the same when we left the Toilets and picnic area.

Strait across fences, walls, brooks etc, by which point My back is well and truely killing me, so I stop for a few moments to get some pain killers down me. By the time I have put my ruckack back on, the rest of the group are no where to be seen, they just carried on.

At this point I was well and truely irked, so I dropped off the hill and followed the main road back to the car park, ariving 30 mins before them.

So what pissed me off was, Not Walking at the slowest members speed, Not using Common sense when following the GPS, Not even looking at maps etc to see how we were doing, charging ahead like a bull in a china shop, but then expecting everyone to be happy about waiting while he stopped fo hours to take photos galore. But most of all, the constant "Dig Deep" and "Dont make "X" pissed off" everytime i stopped to check out position on the map, or take a photo I'm not in the army and this isnt a speed march, so why bother saying that?