A Wild Vista

In a little under three weeks’ time, I’ll be catching a train from Cambridge, and starting the long journey north to Tyndrum. I’m giving the sleeper a miss this time. Not only is it pretty much fully booked (six weeks ago there were only 1st-class berths available), but I’m also not yet fully recovered from the soul-destroying process of trying to obtain relevant online fare and timetable information about the service. I think I’ll save that particular story for another time…

As I’ve only got three or four days days up there, I want to make the most of whatever fickle weather comes the Highlands’ way that weekend, so my thoughts have turned to hatching some bagging plans. Munro bagging that is. Not that I’m a gung-ho bagger these days, but if the weather’s up to it, I’d like to get high on the hill, and stride out a bit on an airy ridge.

Now, usually, I’d dig out the relevant OS Landranger maps, and, in combination with the SMC’s “The Munros” would start tracing possible routes. A finger-in-the-air estimate of distance and timing is usually good enough, but, in this case, I have to factor-in the relatively sparse train service on the Glasgow – Fort William section of the West Highland Line. Grabbing a train north to Corrour or east to Crianlarich will certainly open up the possibilities for a good day’s walk, but I can’t afford to miss the last train back to Tyndrum!

Now, for the first time, I’ve tried out some digital mapping software. I’m not talking about an on-line service like Google Maps, Google Earth, or MultiMap. These do a fantastic job when it comes to working out how to get from A to B by car, locating a nearby pizza restaurant, or snooping on your neighbours to see who’s got the biggest swimming pool, but aren’t so useful for detailed route planning in the hills.

OK, so MultiMap includes OS 1:50 000 and 1:25 000 mapping, and if the area you’re interested in has been covered in high resolution by Google Earth (which, as of this writing, now includes most of the Highlands), you can pick out very fine details on the ground. However, if you’re looking do do things like plotting and saving a route, calculating the amount of ascent and descent, or estimating timings, these online tools don’t cut it.

Mapyx Quo screenshot (from Mapyx' website)

Enter the likes of Anquet, Memory Map, and, a new one on me, Mapyx Quo. I came across Mapyx Quo on the Outdoors Magic site, and was easily tempted by the free download of the mapping software (the full shebang — not a time- or feature-limited demo). The maps seem to be very good value too, costing just 99p for an OS 1:50 000 tile (a tile measures 40km x 40km, with a minimum purchase of six tiles at a time).

to be continued…

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