Getting from here to there, or somewhere

    My mother, like some Australian aborigines, claims to have an innate sense of exactly where she is at all times.   I, on the other hand, am directionally impaired.  If I make more than two turns, I no longer know where I was originally headed.  If I stop in a store while walking through a mall, I may very well head in the opposite direction when I leave it. Around here,  I rely on familiar landmarks and road signs to find my way. But the Coast to Coast trail, which is actually not a trail but a network of foot paths and roads, is notoriously un-signposted and certainly unfamiliar.  Uh-oh. Getting lost is a high stakes game if it means walking extra miles.

     Henry Stedman's book, cleverly named Coast to Coast Path, is the Bible for walkers. It’s written in English, which is a lot like American, except when it isn't. If ever an American edition is printed, we can hope that it will at least add a glossary. But that's what the Internet is for, I guess. 

     The charm and treasure in this book are the meticulous, hand drawn maps showing every step of the way. There are copious notations.  But will we know what a " small wooden pen round shaft" is when we see it?  There is one not far from a “ruined peat store". I don't know what peat stores look like even when they're not ruined.  There are the cryptically labeled "grouse butts", and “drumlins".  I can't wait to see these, whatever they are.

      There is testimony from walkers that claim these maps are all you need to find your way across England. I hope that's true.  Otherwise I'll be desperately looking for somebody with a GPS.

       I'd like to give you a peek at the Stedman maps but I'm pretty sure they're copy written. (Not that that ever stopped me when I was teaching. That's what copy machines were made for!).  Instead, as a tribute, here’s a map of the trails in the park-behind-our-house,  drawn in the same style:  

   
     Unfortunately, this map doesn't have any ghylls or scars, no sheepfolds, stiles, cairns or kissing gates. (The latter sound like a fun addition to hiking!)
     On the weekends, people in the park-behind-our-house often ask me for directions.  Usually they just want to know how to get back to their car.