Begin with a walk you already know

Choose a short route with obvious junctions and an easy way home. Take a current walking map covering the whole route, a baseplate compass and a waterproof map case. Your first task is to describe what you expect to pass, then check whether the ground agrees. A road atlas or a screenshot showing only a coloured route line gives you too little surrounding detail.

Keep your phone available as a second way to check location. Download the relevant mapping before leaving home and confirm that it opens without a connection. Practising with paper does not require you to give up a working navigation aid. It means learning enough to notice when any aid is misleading you.

Read the ground before taking bearings

Open the map key and find the symbols for the paths, roads, woodland and water on your route. At 1:25,000 scale, 4cm represents 1km; at 1:50,000, it is 2cm. Measure the route along its bends, rather than drawing a straight line between start and finish. Check the printed scale if you have enlarged or reduced a map when printing it.

Contour lines join points of equal height. Closely spaced contours indicate steeper ground; the key gives the height interval. Compare both the route distance and its climbs before deciding that a walk is short. The Ordnance Survey map-reading booklet explains these basics with diagrams.

At each junction, name the next feature you expect to reach. It might be a bridge after a bend or a path leaving the woodland. Then choose something that would tell you you had gone too far, such as the next road. This habit gives you a reason to stop and check before a small mistake grows.

Be able to describe where you are

A six-figure grid reference identifies a 100m square. Read the easting first and the northing second, using the grid lines and estimating tenths within the square. Include the grid letters shown on the map. Write a reference for a familiar landmark, ask someone else to locate it, then swap roles. This exposes mistakes more clearly than reading your own answer back.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland use different mapping grids. OS confirms that its Northern Ireland mapping uses Irish grid references. Use the grid information on the map you actually carry; do not attach Great Britain grid letters to a Northern Ireland location. If giving a location to an emergency call handler, explain which map or app you are reading and answer their questions.

Practise the compass without depending on it

First learn to orient the map so that mapped features line up with their real direction. Use an unmistakable road or path and check against several features. A compass helps establish north, but it cannot tell you which of two similar paths you are standing on.

Learn the parts of your compass, including the direction-of-travel arrow, rotating housing and magnetic needle. Phones, metal objects and vehicles can affect the needle, so move clear of them when checking it. Grid north and magnetic north are not identical; use current guidance for your location rather than memorising a permanent UK correction.

For bearing practice, use the OS diagrams with an instructor or experienced walking group on open, easy ground. Check that you can take a bearing from a map and follow it to a visible nearby feature. Save poor-visibility navigation and complex ground for practical training. A direction alone does not establish that the ground ahead is passable.

Stop when the picture stops making sense

If a junction or slope does not match your expectation, stop somewhere safe. Identify the last place you were certain of and check what has happened since. Avoid selecting a convenient landmark and forcing the map to fit it. Retrace a short section only if doing so is safe and you know the way.

Mountain Rescue England and Wales advises planning for the terrain and weather, leaving route details and being willing to turn back. Give someone your expected return time and explain what to do if you are overdue. For a mountain emergency, call 999 or 112 and ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue. Keep the group together and follow the call handler's instructions.

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