If your not up Scotland's highest mountains in life threatening weather conditions and just in lower level rural areas with plenty of landmarks to use to Aline your map and take bearings then you should manage to get home ok.
A map to myself is like a 3D guide to an area, using all the information available in front of you like contours,slope terrain (scree, woodland, bog, water) you can plan and navigate routes across pathless ground. But of course your thinking `yeah you can do that but they also show all the roads,tracks and paths`, But do they?.
Only ones still regarded as roads/paths or seen from Aerial photos...
Many more are lost from present maps, omitted by mistake or believed to be so long out of use to have disappeared from sight. This is when its good to have old and new maps to cross reference.
I'm a bit of an anorak when it comes to collecting maps of here in Scotland.
I have collected all 84 ordnance survey 1;50,000 scale Landranger Maps of Scotland and a lot of the 1;25,000 Explorer maps...
Over the years Ive also collected many maps from the 1950`s to the present from Imperial to Metric...
These maps are a great resource for finding old roads that were once tarred pre WW2 then abandoned after WW2 for more direct routes or wider routes. Probably this was also done to reduce local authorities road maintenance costs as the countryside population declined from less Agriculture workers and motor vehicles replaced horse and carts to transport goods so have some roads become unnecessary.
A dead give away of an old unmaintained road are these `no through road signs`..
It may be Tarred to a farm,church or village but a track may well continue on to a present road.
Many company's produced maps like the 1950s/60s Bartholomews which show roads and tracks often not on present OS maps...
And for cross reference with present maps to confirm old roads the excellent Johnston 2 miles to the inch series...
Rights of way were never marked on Scottish maps, only England and Wales maps.
Of course we now have the Right to Roam here in Scotland thanks to the Open Access allowing the Public rights to walk ,cycle and horse ride all paths and boat any waterway. There are also rules (for everyone) regarding responsible use and respecting landowners wishes regarding shooting on moors and hills etc...
The National Library of Scotland has published all its maps of Scotland on line; to view
These are maps from the sixteenth century to the 1900`s and also Ariel maps after WW2, included are the first Ordnance Survey maps of 1847, The famous Roy's Military survey of Scotland, will take a while to look through this lot!.
Here also is the history of the ordnance survey which will explain what these things were made for and planted on hills and mountains all over the British Isles...
I will do some posts on Old lost roads that can be found on the ground today, marked on older maps but omitted from present day maps soon...
And as you maybe also know they usually don't show military areas or buildings in past or present use...
I love old maps. You cannot look at them and then realize a few hours have passed....totally absorbing! Hats off for keeping a collection. Maps, such as handwritten letters, are being turfed out and I predict there will be a day where we realize that so much has been lost due to our using electronic gadgets exclusively. I have just re-read a number of letters I exchanged with my mother in law who passed away many years ago. It was great to see the stamps, cards, paper and handwriting, not to mention, beginning to remember things that I had forgotten. I can't see anyone sitting down in 15 years hence with a bunch of emails that will have the same effect.
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