This track does not exist

[Wook]

Today I went for a stomp around my nearest Forestry Commission plantation - Montreathmont Forest. I know it fairly well, but today I wanted to try and find some tracks that are deeper into the forest that I had seen marked on the map. Strictly speaking the tracks I was looking for would take me out of the Forestry Commission owned part of the wood into the estate to the east.

I navigated and recorded my track with my phone which I had put OS 25k maps on. It was a lovely walk - I should have taken some photos but was having too much fun. It was cold and muddy enough that the forest was almost empty. I could hear what sounded very much like male deer bellowing in the distance, but sadly I did not see them. There were several deer tracks left within the last few days though.

As I approached the track I had been making for (the one above Lunan Den Burn on the map), I found the whole area extremely boggy and overgrown. After circling around for a while I was convinced the track I was looking for, if it had ever existed, no longer did so. There was a lot of very old cut wood where I thought the track should be, so it looked as though they'd just piled deadwood on it and let it grow in. It had clearly not been a track for at least 10 years.

I was tempted to make my way deeper into the forest off-track as there was a nice open area immediately to the north of where the track should have been. However it was getting into the late afternoon and the only piece of navigation equipment I had on me was my phone so I thought better of it.

So it just goes to show what I already knew - OS maps are very unreliable with regards to the position of fire-trails/logging roads within woods. Be warned.

Still, I got 3.2km of wood walking through snow and mud which I think counts as exercise!

 

[petrochemicals]

not too be rude, and I am fully experienced in said frustration, but...

There are rights of way
footpaths
permissive paths/tracks

rights of way do not have to be maintained at all, only not blocked, that doesnt include having to walk around wood piles. The map makes it clear that there are worn and unworn routes.

There are paths on moors that will take you a day to walk 4 miles. Straight through dense heather. Follow tracks or sheep tracks if you can. Right to ramble land is ok, but some of it I find rambleing around aimlessly with little or no sucess is all you can manage !

 

[Harvestman]

Some paths shown on maps exist only in the minds (imaginations) of the Ordnance Survey.

Mind you, any path that I follow into woodland seems to disappear with great rapidity

 

[alpha_centaur]

I've very often found that using your OS map in conjunction with google mapping can (sometimes) help take a lot of frustration out of a day's walking.

 

[sandbender]

On a whim I once decided to circumnavigate the Greek island of Naxos, there was a path shown on the only map I could find, however I now know that it was a 'zen' path, if you looked for it it wasn't there.

 

[decorum]

... After circling around for a while I was convinced the track I was looking for, if it had ever existed, no longer did so. ...

That happens quite a bit ~ forest tracks are low use and monitoring changes there will be low priority. Give them a nudge, if they're unaware they can't check and make changes .

Some paths shown on maps exist only in the minds (imaginations) of the Ordnance Survey.

It's not just paths ~ I've found open hillsides which should have been wooded and wooded areas which should have been open :yikes: (pesky Forestry Commission! ). I've also found road junctions surveyed incorrectly (usually an error on staggered junctions).

On a whim I once decided to circumnavigate the Greek island of Naxos, there was a path shown on the only map I could find, however I now know that it was a 'zen' path, if you looked for it it wasn't there.

The funkiest footpath I've ever come across is in the Brecon Beacons ~ walk it in one direction and it disappears, but turn around and the path can be seen (I wasn't on my own and wasn't on or reacting to meds ). The same thing happened when we used the same path a couple of years later . It's just an optical illusion but we've never encountered the effect elsewhere .

 

[xylaria]

forestry is a nightmare for tracks that move. Can someone qualified please answer how fast can a wood be felled, and another one that looks like grow nearby?

Double checking the satillite on google maps can give some idea if a woodland has "moved". It doesnt show the paths though. Sometimes it is just compass work and contors though.