Exploring (Virtually)

A couple of years ago I finally completed my Scottish collection of Ordnance Survey Landranger sheets (for sake of tidiness, the northern 88 sheets in the full collection of 204).

This was part of a planned project (The Landranger Project) to visit and take a series of photographs on each sheet.  I got about half-way through the project before work got in the way and my plans to restart the project this summer look pretty dubious at this point.

So, inspired by a recent post on Map Gazing on the WalkHighlands website from Merryn Glover, I'm going (over the next few days) to indulge in some virtual exploring.

I dug out my trusty random number generator and asked it to find me ten maps from my collection.

This is what it recommended

Keeping It Random

Sheet 28 Elgin & Dufftown : Interesting start - the Speyside Way was part of the walking plans for this year. :-(

Sheet 42 Glen Garry & Loch Rannoch : I've certainly been to some of this sheet, but wouldn't say I know it well.

Sheet 80 Cheviot Hills & Kielder Water : Spent many childhood holidays just off the edge off this map, and have visited some bits of it quite recently.

Sheet 2 Shetland - Sullom Voe & Whalsay : Relieved to get at least one Shetland sheet to explore over the next few days.

Sheet 61 Jura & Colonsay : Haven't been to either of the headline islands on this sheet, but have spent time on Islay (albeit quite a few years ago).

Sheet 68 South Kintyre & Campbelltown : Don't think I've made it to this sheet at all!

Sheet 71 Lanark and Upper Nithsdale : I've certainly driven across this sheet (M74!) - but don't think I've done anything more exciting than have coffee and a bacon roll at the Abington Services.

Sheet 44 Ballater & Glen Clova : Again, have certainly crossed this sheet, but possibly not done much more.

Sheet 53 Blairgowrie & Rattray : Have certainly visited both Pitlochry and Perth and (on the top and bottom edges of this sheet), and have driven up and down the A9 between them more times than is sensible.

Sheet 70 Ayr, Kilmarnock & Troon : Got close to this sheet in the early days of my LandRanger project - but don't think I actually made it there.

That set of sheets, which at some point (in my head at least) became a Grand (but Virtual) Tour of Scotland - getting from roughly the centre of each sheet to the next would have been 1300 miles as the crow flies or 1600 miles by road (and in a few cases ferry).

The exercise was intended to encourage me to look more closely at each sheet than I might otherwise have done - and I'm very tempted to add another (randomly generated) series.

And yes - there is now a Series 2.



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