Just Freaked myself out!

[pibbleb]

Nothing mega but it's kind of left me feeling a little unnerved.

I went out for a bimble in the local forest. It's council run so you get all sorts using it, dog walker, pony riders etc.

Anyways, I was there with the mutt and my boy, it's the first time I've taken the mutt there as he's a reasonably new addition that we got from the RSPCA.

My boy asked if we could run up a quick camp, that's right my 5 year old thinks us lot just make camps all day!

I didn't have anything with me other than poo bags, but I agreed as I thought it would be a bit of a laugh, which it was. We moved off of a large bridle type path by about 7 metres, spent an hour putting together a little lean to type thing.

Time to leave. But I could find the path. I mean I wasn't lost or anything, but I was starting to get really freaked out.

At the end of the day I've always prided myself on having something of a good natural compass, I spend a lot of time in these woods,and whilst I don't pretend to know everything, but I think in a push I can look after myself, but having lost the path, which was just a few metres away, has left me a little unnerved? Any one else ever got freaked out whilst out?

Pib

 

[ganstey]

If you want a laugh at my expense, go have a read of the first (oldest) entry in my blog

G

 

[Ogri the trog]

You obviously didn't loose it for too long Pib,
What happened, did the path wander off a bit further than your estimated 7 meters, or had it set itself off in a new direction?

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[PJMCBear]

Once got lost in the Iraqi desert after following the wrong set of footprints that ended in tank tracks. This was just 18 hours after going over the border, so I was pretty spooked for a few moments whilst the brain gave me a nudge.

After retreating along the footprints I'd left and then following the correct set of footprints back to the trench, I got a right rollicking from the platoon commander. Typical. It was him that pointed me on that track in the first place.

 

[Ben_Hillwalker]

If I had a pound for everytime I've got myself disorientated and lost...

Its so easily done Pibbleb so don't let it freak you too much. Finding your way in terrain without obvious land features (such as in woods and forest) is always tricky and hence easy to get lost.

The last time it happened to me I was in some fairly featureless moorland and stopped for a brew. When it was time to move on I realised that I didn't have the foggiest idea which way was north, south, east or west. I had a bit of a wierd does-not-compute moment and stood there dithering for a several of minutes.

 

[spamel]

What happened there was you met Pan! He can be a bugger sometimes, best to just sit down, brew up and wait for him to pass.

 

[pibbleb]

Ganstey nice blog, consider that book marked. Loved the entry as well.

Orgi it was like the path turned into a steep incline with a stream at the bottom. Seriously though everything just got turned on it's head. I suspect as a result of having child and dog running circles round me! Dog came back covered in dog poo as well, but thats another story!

Anyway it was no big deal found the path straight on it and home, and it feels even more daft after some of the replys, but for some reason it knocked me for six. Still the boy thinks it's funny

P

 

[pibbleb]

I've never heard of it referred to as Pan before. I think the biggest lesson is probably always carry a brew kit, first aid kit and wet wipes for the dog!

Pib

 

[spamel]

Take a read here

http://www.mental-health-matters.com/articles/article.php?artID=296

Also, check this page out for a quick glance of Pans' moobs. If they don't make you panic, nothing will!

http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Pan.html

 

[British Red]

Pib try this (I can't believe I'm sharing this)

On my old stomping grounds (Dartmoor). I'm about - what - 15?

I know the place "back yard" well.

I go for a night walk.

Its summer.

After a short walk (30 minutes)?

I think "why are my feet cold"?

I look down.

There is water "squishing" around my feet

I lturn around again looking around

Its livid bright green by my torch (I can hear Leon1 slapping his forehead now).

realisation - QUAKER

A quaker is an area of the moor where spag moss has grown over bog thats as good as quicksand. It looks like dry land but its a crust on deep bog. I'm on my own. Its 2 am. I'm not expected home anytime soon, No-one knows where I am, I have turned through 720 deg and am clueless as to orientation.

Change of underwear time.

I was saved by the thrum of the Warren House Inn's generator which allowed me to pick out a known point and orient myself. That and a crook I often walk with (I probed the ground with it). Still don't know why it was running at that time (fridges or smoething I guess)

I was no more than 15 feet from solid ground. I flapped big time I can tell you,

Red

 

[lofthouse31]

ive never been spooked as such, but next time you get lost ( as long as its not in a seriously bad neighborhood at 4am) thank your lucky stars, being lost anywhere means your not simply walking from a to b, your actually exploring.
And getting lost has found me many many things id never have seen or tasted.
if you have the time always take the wrong turning,

 

[Pablo]

I quite often get disorientated in the woods because I'm always wandering off the beaten track. Last time was a month ago and I really struggled to find a visual reference.

As Spamel says, best thing is just to sit down, get a brew (if you've got one with you) take deep breaths and try to work out where North is. This actaully focusses the mind on something and gives you the confidence to make decisions on what to do next.

I must admit - I do get spooked at night when I get lost. Stupid really - but I suppose it's an inbuilt defence or survival mechanism.

Pablo.

 

[decorum]

Something similar happened to me in the middle of last week - at the time it felt like the wood didn't seem to want me to leave; so I stayed to play for a little while longer and half an hour or so later I found myself unexpectedly walking through the gate .
*Funniest* one I've had is a disappearing footpath/bridleway in the Brecons - we had to keep turning round and looking back in the direction we'd come to make sure we were still on the path.

 

[lofthouse31]

well i always tell the wife we are not lost just exploring, anyways...

 

[Timinwales]

Wee Folk, has to be, esp if you can hear giggling in the back ground (leastways thats usally my excuse) as for being knocked for six I can understand that.
Lost the path in mirkwood (yes there is such a place honest on Arran also a pirates cove)
once which was a bit odd even odder that after much shrugging of shoulders and a brew, I was all but straight back on it.
Cheers Tim

 

[BorderReiver]

I occasionally mislay myself in my local wood.Usually I have something on my mind and I'm "discussing" the problem with myself as I'm walking.When I stop daydreaming I suddenly find I don't know where I am.
Usually I find it amusing and feel a bit of a pratt.Doesn't take long to find a familiar landmark.In the worst case scenario I could always send the dog home and follow her.

 

[pibbleb]

Actually I think I like the idea of this Pan fella messing around with your mojo a new twist!

I love getting off the path normally, for example when my daughter is with me, she hates dogs bigger than ours, so we usually cut our own path through the undergrowth, find a cool place to get the stove going, get some beans on a pot of something, plus this place has some albino deer in residence.

I think, as with Red, the fact I know the woods well and the fact that if I'd looked hard enough I could have seen the path just made it all the more whack!

P

 

[Jodie]

I don't seem to have any sense of direction whatsoever unfortunately. I'm always amazed
if out in a new place with other people when we go back the way we came and it looks
completely novel to me and someone else will go "oh we came that way so we need to
go back there". I'm learning to look backwards whenever I go anywhere and try and
orient what things look like in my head so that they're familiar when I come back.

A while back I turned into the entrance of the house next to mine (block of flats) rather
than my own and amusingly my first thought wasn't "oops wrong block of flats" but
"goodness it's changed since I went out.... oh".

My boss said his wife has a very good sense of direction and will come out with strange
things like "I was walking west down Oxford street" - he said he'd never even think of it in
those terms and couldn't comprehend how anyone else could. I'm a bit like that.

It seems to be a skill or understanding that other people have that I don't - I think I was
out of the room when spatial awareness skills were being handed out

I would be very scared if I was lost in a wood by myself and couldn't see an obvious exit.

 

[commandocal]

I dont normally get lost but i freak out quite a bit lol, I have this thing wher i can just go sit in the woods whatever weahter, dark or day and i am at peace but i second i imagine im hearing/seeing something my mind tells me i am and i start to flap big time

 

[pibbleb]

As I'm officially putting it down to the Spamels Pan I'm still going to claim a good sense of direction although my wife is pretty bad, although Jodie I don't think you have anything on her, if I drive round the same round about more than once she's sitting there going ooh I've not been here before!

Don't get me wrong I take the odd wrong turn but the solution just seems to click.

I know what you mean about the "did I just see a hairy hand, yes I did" thing, although I kind of like it in a weird way, although I once convinced myself I was looking at a bear print in the middle of Sussex, but before I called Fourteen Times I realised it was just two dog prints side by side! :11doh:

P