Map: Lake District
15th Dec 2005
The BMC have teamed up with British Mountain Maps to produce a pretty useful little number: a single 1:40,000 map that covers the whole of the Lake District.
Or does it? Basically it actually covers the Lake District’s famous mountains and fells on a single map. Semantics and National Park borders aside though, how good is it and what do you get for your money?
When you initially open it out you are greeted with a slightly confusing large scale map which turns out to be a 1:20,000 of some of the more complex terrain shown on the main map overleaf. In actual fact there are two of these larger scale blow-ups: Scafell and Pillar. Very useful, but don’t forget to adjust for the different scale if you switch maps on the hill! Also included is a 1:40,000 map of Great Calva for those interested in taking on the Bob Graham Round (42 Lake District peaks covering 74 miles). It is printed on a waterproof and tear proof paper, and is miniscule in comparison to the OS laminated monsters. To prove how durable it is the BMC organised a tug of war between Doug Scott and Al Hinkes at the recent Kendal Film Festival – using the map as the rope! I never did find out who won, but you get the gist. Talking of illustrious mountaineers, Sir Chris Bonington has bestowed the following accolade on the map:
“The best Lake District Map I have ever seen. The 1:40,000 scale provides clear, detailed information to one of the most popular hill walking areas in Britain”
Other things to note: a load of the less important features have been left off – county borders post offices and churches for example, whilst emphasis has been placed on contours and other terrain features which actually help the average walker.
My opinion? At £12.95 it is not the cheapest of maps, but when you consider that you are not only getting 4 maps in one, but that the one map has been tailored to suit walkers and climbers, it really has to be the one map to rule them all!