Os Landranger Ordnance Survey Maps

When I look back to my early childhood it would seem that not long after I had learned to read and write that I had mastered the skill of map reading. Most weekends my Parents would take my Brother and myself up onto the Moors and I was always the one that was in charge of the map and the compass.

My obsession with maps is without a doubt one of the things that has instilled within me a passion for the great outdoors and there are ...
...a good quality map. The Landranger series of maps, produced by the Ordnance Survey, quickly became my bible and the shelves on my bedroom wall were quickly filled with more and more of the distinctive pink coloured maps as I persuaded my Dad to buy more and more.

There are actually 204 different maps within the Landranger series, which when put together cover every square millimetre of England, Scotland, and Wales, including all of ... more

When I look back to my early childhood it would seem that not long after I had learned to read and write that I had mastered the skill of map reading. Most weekends my Parents would take my Brother and myself up onto the Moors and I was always the one that was in charge of the map and the compass.

My obsession with maps is without a doubt one of the things that has instilled within me a passion for the great outdoors and there are few tools more essential when taking to the mountains than a good quality map. The Landranger series of maps, produced by the Ordnance Survey, quickly became my bible and the shelves on my bedroom wall were quickly filled with more and more of the distinctive pink coloured maps as I persuaded my Dad to buy more and more.

There are actually 204 different maps within the Landranger series, which when put together cover every square millimetre of England, Scotland, and Wales, including all of their offshore Islands like the Orkneys, Shetlands and Hebrides. Ordnance Survey have actually been producing detailed geographic maps for over 200 years, which in my mind, makes them a source I can trust.

Thanks on a large part to my gentle persuasion, my Parents now have more or less the full collection, but since fleeing the nest I have had to start to build up my own collection. With a recommended retail price of £6.99 each this does work out somewhat expensive, so I began by buying the four maps that cover the area adjacent to where I live. I have since added further maps from areas as and when I have visited them. To date my collection currently stands at 11.

The Landranger series of maps is the original set of maps that were produced by Ordnance Survey. They were originally compiled from aerial shots taken from hot air balloons and aircraft. These days however they are compiled with the aid of satellite images. Since this time there have been other sets of maps published by Ordnance Survey, including one for each of Britain's National Parks. Personally however I find that the Landranger series remains the simplest and the best.

Each individual map is to a scale of 1:50000, which equates to 2 centimetres to every mile (1.25 inches per mile). Each map covers an area of 25 x 25 miles (40km x 40km) and they are always produced on a north to south/west to east grid to correspond with the points of a compass.

Every maps follows the exact same key showing rivers in blue, built up areas in pink etc. Roads are colour coded depending on their classification e.g. Motorways are blue, primary A-Roads are green, other A-Roads red, right down to unclassified roads which are uncoloured. There is a key down the right hand side of each map for reference but once you have seen a few it soon becomes easy to familiarise yourself with most of them. This key is shown in three languages: English, French and German.

The individual detail that is shown on each map is superb and every footpath and public right of way is clearly shown. These maps are updated every few years so new roads and housing estates are added. Such is the detail on each map that in rural and semi rural areas individual buildings are shown, and where known, the names of these buildings are also given.

The maps are made of paper with a waterproof plastic cover. Each map folds up into a size of approximately 20cm x 10cm. When fully opened however the map is huge and can be quite difficult to handle. There is however a knack of folding the map so that the relevant section that you need is visible in the more manageable 20 x 10 size.

There is a lot more detail shown on a Landranger Ordnance Survey map than say that of a road atlas, which are always to a much smaller scale.

Ordnance Survey maps show things like Churches, Post Offices and Telephone Boxes. Whilst keeping up with the times, things like communication masts are also shown. All of these objects being useful objects to take your bearings from if you are lost.

These maps also show the contours of the land so that you can work out the gradient that it is. In fact the list of things contained on these maps is so immense that I suppose that am guilty of taking many of them for granted.

I love Ordnance Survey maps and believe that they cannot be beaten. It may be possible to print off a detailed small A4 sized map of an area from the Internet, which will suffice if you are only going on a short distance walk but if you are serious about the outdoors then a proper map like these is essential.

Thank you for reading.
 

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