Learning to walk

Gorse Fox went for a walk in the afteroon. This was an opportunity to learn how best to use the GPS. GF started off by planning a specific route on the PC then downloading it to the handheld unit.

Leaving the house he switched to the compass display which pointed to the first waypoint and indicated the distance to the point. Good start.

Then the walk was interrupted. GF met up with couple who were pouring over the Estate notice board, so being a gent, asked if he could help in any way. They explained that they were interested in moving to the area. (Or at least, she was; he wanted to move to Brighton). Had a long discussion on the merits of the area and then left them to it and continued on the route.

Walking east along the coastal footpath saw the GPS guiding the GF from one waypoint to the next. Stopping near Ferring, GF admired the tranquility of the view, with horses trotting along the low tide line. Finally, he tore himself back onto the route and continued. It was clear that it was raining heavily over the downs.

GF was not in a mood to get wet, so he decided to take a short cut. Diverting from the route he headed north and wondered what action the GPS would take. He fiddled and told it to find the nearest waypoint north of his location.

Ping. There it was.

Half a mile ahead was a waypoint where GF could rejoin the original route. Off he went. On arriving at the waypoint he wondered if the GPS would realise that GF wanted to rejoin the route.

Ping. There it was... the next waypoint. And so GF continued the route. The route had been deliberately planned to take the GF through a number of footpaths and roads that he did not know. Et voila! it worked it warned him when he was approaching a waypoint and indicated in which direction the next part of the route would follow.

GF was impressed. Good walk, good fun, and gave GF some confidence in how to use the GPS. Must try some more experiments tomorrow.