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By Anonymous

Eight things your GPS can show you....

1. Where you are
Yup, the reason most of us buy one — the comfort of always knowing where you are. Invaluable in fog where compass work is tricky, it gives your grid reference to within 3-15 metres. Perfect for wandering off path on access land and handy in emergencies where you need accurate coordinates quickly, or more cheerily, for marking that perfect picnic spot...

2.. How high
GPS units give altitude readings – so you can see how high all that puffing and sweating has got you. It’s accurate to between 4 and 19 metres depending on signal (so for maximum bragging rights, add 19 to whatever it says).

3. How far you’ve walked
Your GPS will record the distance you walk and how fast — the most accurate pedometer you’re likely to find. Great for monitoring fitness and totting up the miles in a training diary, to encourage you to keep up the good work. 

4. How far to go
Program in a destination and it’ll show you how far you’ve got to go and how long it will take judged by your recent walking speed. But it is as the crow flies, so following the paths will probably be longer. But good to know how long to that pint.

5. Where you’re headed
Your GPS will show you your direction of travel either as cardinal points (N,S,E,W,) or as a bearing. And best of all, most models automatically adjust for magnetic variation. So no more wondering if it’s grid to mag add, or mag to grid, or grag to mid...

6. Your route
Use digital mapping to plan your route, then load onto your GPS, which will navigate you waypoint to waypoint. Or download ready-made routes from www.countrywalking.co.uk. And because GPS hold more than one route, you can load in a series for a week’s walking holiday, or potential escape routes should things go wrong.

7. Your way home
The GPS unit will note your route as you walk, so if the weather turns you can use the trackback feature to navigate back along the track you created on your walk out. It’s often described as a breadcrumb trail, but thankfully one the birds can't gobble up.

8. Treasure
Enter the wonderful world of geocaching – a navigation treasure hunt using your GPS. You get coordinates of a cache, program them into your unit and go hunting. The treasure is a trinket rather than gold ingots, and you can only take one if you replace it. See www.gagb.org.uk

And one thing it can’t....
How to magically become an uber-navigator — you still need to know map and compass, particularly in dense woods or steep valleys where reception can be patchy. And it won’t put the campstove on and make a cuppa either...not yet anyway. 
 
For GPS training see www.gpstraining.co.uk or call 01768 885855.