By: Blonde Two
A few days ago, I gave you lovely Blondees and Blondettes a bit of winter hill advice.
One tip was to make sure that your planned route is within your capability. This wasn’t to say that we Blondes don’t think you should challenge yourselves, you should! But it is important to make sure that you get back to your base or the car before it is so dark that you can’t see what you are doing.
So how do you know if your walk is the right length? Well one easy way to find out is to work out how long it will take you. Once you know that, you have a basis on which to make a sensible decision. This is easier than you think it might be (even a Blonde can do it) and remarkably accurate. Here are four easy steps.
1. Find out what the route distance is (preferably in kilometres). A good guide book will give this information but if you are using a map (you really should be), take a piece of string (there is one on your compass) and wriggle it around your route. Now lay the string out along the bottom of your map and find out the length of your walk. Each blue grid line (blue on Ordnance Survey maps) is 1 kilometre.
2. Work out how long it will take you to walk this distance. Most of us walk at about 4 kilometres an hour (trust us, this works out as a good average). This means that each kilometre of your route will take 15 minutes. For example, a 3km route will take 45 minutes.
3. Give yourself some extra time for going up the hills. Unless you are Superblonde (we are not), you will walk a bit more slowly uphill than you do on the flat. Count how many contour lines you will cross (only ones where you will be walking uphill) and add a minute to your time for each line. For example, your 3km route includes a hill which crosses six contour lines. Your total walking time will be 45 + 6 minutes – 51 minutes. (NB the height gain that each contour line marks will differ from map to map – we have found that the quick rule above works with most maps).
4. Allow time for breaks. Everyone wants to stop to admire the view and many of us have to stop for other reasons! Decide how much total time you think lunch, a cuppa and the inevitable wee will need and add that to your total. For example, your total walking time will be 51 minutes, you need 10 minutes to eat your pasty, 5 to drink your cup of tea and 2 to squat behind a bush. Your total route time will be 1hr 8 minutes.
Now, if you are sensible, you will find out when sunset is, add a little bit of contingency time to your route time and work out exactly when you need to start your route in order to get back safely.
If you are not sensible, well, have fun anyway but make sure that you take a torch!
Your estimating system equates pretty well with what I do on a multi day backpacking trip. I estimate the kilometres by using the 1km grid squares on the map as a rough guide, so if I want to walk 16 miles (my normal target these days) I estimate, counting 26 grid squares minus some allowing for squiggles and diagonals and see where that lands me, then look to see if there is anywhere near to stay and then adjust accordingly.
On the ground the 15 min. per km. is a good guide, but it does depend on the terrain. Suffice to say, that if a landmark is two kilometres away it is no use looking for it after walking only twelve minutes unless you have been running. Experience is the best contributor for sharpening these skills.
I am quite happy if I find I have averaged 2 mph for the whole 16 miles including all stops for the reasons you outline and taking photos and chatting to people. Any other major stops of, say more than ten minutes will need to be allowed for over and above the original estimate.
Darkness falls very quickly at this time of the year and getting caught out on rough terrain can happen very easily and should be avoided if at all possible even if you think you are a real clever clogs and experienced enough to handle it. I KNOW. Get a good head torch with spare batteries just in case. If you only use it once it will have been worth all you paid for it.
I would agree, experience is a real asset.
I carry a head-torch on all my walks, even in the summer. You never know when you might need one.
I think I had better add 6 minutes for every uphill contour line. Broughy spends most of his time standing at the top, looking down at me pityingly, and wondering why it takes me so long and why I STILL haven’t grown the proper number of legs.
May I have all that again in miles per hour, please?
One thing I have done, in these days of l.e.d. torches, is to put a little torch in one pocket of all my jackets and rucksacks and in my walking trousers’ pocket. Head torches are brilliant and I’ve discovered that they fit well in an empty yeast tin; that’s because they are apt to get switched on accidentally in a pocket. Now, instead of forgetting to take a torch with me, I forget to remove them when doing the washing – – –
There is an interesting theory that you should have the things you really need – phone, torch, whistle etc in a pocket rather than in your rucksack. That way, if you fall and are separated from your bag you can still summon help.