Going Off Pest Mini Adventure!

I love my mini-adventures out here in Egypt, but I have to say I really miss my UK ones too!

The weather may be wet most of the time but when you get a good day it's usually awesome :-)

I have always been a careful planner when it comes to my adventures but I was finding that the planning was taking all my time and some weekends or afternoons I didn't have the time to go far away to enjoy a new place.

It was in September last year a friend said to me have you tried OS Maps? Of course, I have heard and even used the paper copies but I didn't know you could get it in an app form!

The app is great and it has pre-saved routes that others hikers have recorded so you can pick one of their maps to follow. The fantastic thing about it was I discovered 24 hikes right on my doorstep so all I needed to do was put on my boots and go.

All of these hikes used the public footpaths which I had never done before as I never felt very confident about walking over someone else's property even if it was a public byway!

But off I went starting with only small hikes to start with so I could get a good feel for where I was going and exactly how it worked.

It was great!!

I did learn very quickly that the route length wasn't very accurate! lol, so a 7km hike could end up being 12km.

It was one of the last hikes that I realized maybe getting a proper feel for the area before I went out may have been a better idea!

You see, the hike started out great a lovely walk around an area not far from where I lived starting out at a National Trust site a nice 12km hike or so I thought!

It was when I hit 12km and the hill where I knew the car was parked seemed to be miles in the distance that I realized this hike was going to be a lot further and looking at the map it seemed to be that I was still travelling away from home not towards it!

It's at moments like these you can think do I keep following the map or do I deviate and try going another way?

This is a crucial moment this is when a lot of hikes go bad as we tend to make a rash decision because we are a little bit panicked about our current situation.

I decided that I needed another map view so pulled out my trusted google maps just to make sure OS was leading me in the correct direction which of course it was, the mistake had been mine as I had missed a footpath sign so then had to retrace my steps to get me back to the right point for continuing.

Once back on track I was able to find my way back to the car! I was lucky as the weather was amazing but the OS map route ended up being 26km, not 12km! and that was even taking off the 3 km I had walked before realising I was in the wrong place!

Even with a little excitement, I love using the OS maps app as it made me see there is so much more on our doorstep we just have to go out and see it for ourselves.

Learning what I have learnt here is a little do list for using this system:-

1. Make sure you double-check the route before taking off

2. Take plenty of water with you if your route ends up being an epic journey you don't want to be caught out keeping hydrated is vital

3. take a power bank with you just in case as the apps can zap your battery

4. be prepared that the route may be longer than you first thought!

5. Always keep to the footpaths farmers can get so upset if you start trudging over their crops. If you can't see a well-treked path across the field be respectful and stick to the hedgerow staying off the field.

6. Take good energy-rich snacks with you so when you start to feel a little low a good energy boost will sort you right out

OS Maps is downloadable from your apps store and there is a little fee to unlock different areas but this is just pennies not pounds and in my opinion well worth it

So 'Happy Adventures' where will you be going this weekend

I'm off to Aswan tomorrow so join me next week when I will tell you all about our exploits in the most Southern part of Egypt

Until Then Happy Hiking

L x