Hi all
I am hopefully off to Morocco next year on the bike and part of my preparation is to learn how to read maps, use a compass, learn about longitude and latitude, maybe even the stars.
Can anyone suggest a course or night school in the Hampshire area that could help?
Many thanks in advance
Ben

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To judge a man by his lowest ebb or deed is to judge the ocean by just one wave

Hello


Youtube has a lot on that.
What do you need?
For the bike, take a good map and a gps/smartphone that shows you where you are.


sushi

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My RTW:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrXt660ztenere

I'd expect there to be a 'lot' of stuff on the subject on the web .. some of better than others.

Tristan Gooley has a few books on 'alternative navigation' ... However on a more traditional style ...

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-adv...on-basics.html
http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/d...ls_Booklet.pdf

Note ... you have a substantial advantage over a walker - you have a trip meter that records how far you have come. USE IT! I zero mine when refuelling, lets me know how far I can go before I run out, and I know what direction I go from the fuel stop .. so I can plot that on the map (assuming it has the road on it .. otherwise your plotting your own course). This should give you an approximate location on the map. Most of the time this is sufficient, particularly if your map shows the road you are on.

You may then confirm + fine tune your location using any features you can see both on the map and in real life. 3 features widely separated will enable a good location - take the angle given by your compass from you to the feature ... plot a line on the map from the feature using the same angle.. 2 more lines should ideally cross at a single point ... most people will end up with a triangle .. you are somewhere around about the triangle.

You only need Lat/Long to describe where you are .. usually to other people. And there are a few Lat/Long systems .. depends on what map/s you have as to what system is used. I'd not worry about that untill you have some practice at finding your self on a map ... Go some where and try to find yourself on the map. Then travel a few miles further and try again. After the third try .. confirm your location using a GPS/phone app.

Celestial navigation ... required for ships at sea where there are no features to sight. If you need this then look at courses for sailors. You will need an accurate clock and a sextant ... easier to carry a GPS/phone!

It's a great idea to become familiar with map reading. My basic training was in the Scouts.

The advantage of the almost consistent sunny days in Morocco is that you can very roughly navigate by the position of the sun. And at night time follow the end two stars of the Plough to show you where the North Star lies.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Funny you asked about navigation information. I was looking for the same thing and found this video extremely helpful, well produced and easy to understand.

https://youtu.be/0cF0ovA3FtY

[QUOTE=Warin;552367]I'd expect there to be a 'lot' of stuff on the subject on the web .. some of better than others.

Note ... you have a substantial advantage over a walker - you have a trip meter that records how far you have come. USE IT! I zero mine when refuelling, lets me know how far I can go before I run out, and I know what direction I go from the fuel stop .. so I can plot that on the map (assuming it has the road on it .. otherwise your plotting your own course). This should give you an approximate location on the map. Most of the time this is sufficient, particularly if your map shows the road you are on.

I use my trip too. But when I fuel up in a remote place I take a screen shot off my iPhone compass at the location that shows my global position and direction of travel and add this to my vehicle log. It all adds to the record of my journey too. I also have a compass on the bike which helps generally with direction etc.

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You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge. (Pirsig)