Losing Your Way, Part 1

Everyone is rightly talking about the marvellous things Google is doing with maps of the Earth and Moon (don't forget to zoom right in to the moon), and satellite navigation systems are becoming common in cars, but I used to enjoy not knowing where I was. The best example of this was a walking holiday with two friends around the lakes in central Finland in May 1985, shortly before my final exams at University.

All we could obtain was a poorly-photocopied extract of a small-scale map that was probably out of date. I hadn't realised until then that other places haven't had the benefit of Ordnance Survey, a distinct blessing for this country despite its military origins.

We walked in circles at times since the paths in front of us bore no relation to the tracks on the map, and the two people we met in the whole time we were there spoke no English, so no help was available. The days were so warm and sunny and the nights so clear and cold that the lakes were frozen at night but the edges melted in the day. There were no midges to bite us and the tranquility was overwhelming. It was exactly the relaxation I needed at the time, and I'm sure it helped my performance in the exam room shortly after.

It was also the only time I have ever lost my baggage while travelling, but it happened on the return journey so it didn't mater, and my rucksack even made it home before I did thanks to British Airways flying it up to Newcastle while I took the train from London.