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Finding your way (Part 2)

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App, smartwatch, fitness tracker… how well do they measure your miles?

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How do I record my miles?

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Log your miles using your Country Walking tracker and earn your medal!

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How it works

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Sign up

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Counties

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What’s your walking persona?

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FAQs

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What is this?

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Country Walking Subscription

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Download and print your Completer certificate!

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Why walking is the arch-enemy of arthritis

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#walk1000miles and families

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#walk1000miles for charity

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#walk1000miles for FUN!

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How to record your miles using the updated OS Maps app

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The best for less – exclusive discounts from our fantastic partners

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Country Walking routes are powered by OS Maps

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Sock partner: Bridgedale

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Mapping partner: Ordnance Survey

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Footwear partner: Scarpa

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New feature in OS Maps could save your life

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Get to know the new improved OS Maps app – and 5 must-dos for 1000 milers

Advice

Inspiration

Routes

Tracking

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Ordnance Survey

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10 years of memories

Your companion to discover a more beautiful Britain.

We believe walking is the key to unlocking a world of wonder, happiness and health, and it’s a vision we’re thrilled to share with tens of thousands of readers! Join their number and become a Country Walking subscriber today. Enjoy your **first 3 issues for just £3 – that’s just £1 an issue** in our January sale! You’ll save 83% on shop prices and be the first to hear from us every month.

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Now you know what’s what here are some handy hints for getting the most from your map.

Orientate is a fancy word, but basically it’s turning the map around so that the features - roads, buildings, hills, woods, rivers - match up with what’s really there on the ground, and it’s one of the best tools for good navigation. Why? Because it’s easier to work out where you are if what you see on your map exactly reflects what you see before you see on your map exactly reflects what you see before you.

Take a look around and identify some features that might appear on your map, such as hills, buildings, fences, rivers, roads, cliff edges and lakes.

Hold your map out in front of you and find these features. Once found, turn the map (not yourself) around until they match up exactly with the real life features around you. Say you are on a path with a building left and a hill to the right, turn your map round so that it also shows a building on your left and a hill on your right as you look down at it. In this way you can easily see from the map what features you will walk past next.

When you change direction, keep the map orientated by turning it so that the illustrated features always match up with what’s around you. It doesn’t matter if the writing is upside down – being able to read the name of a river or hill is less crucial to navigation than the fact that it is in front, behind or beside you.

Maybe the cloud is low, maybe you’re on a featureless moor, but you can’t always spot a suitable feature to help you orientate your map. Don’t panic – just use your compass! Simply lay it on the map and turn the two together until the north end of the needle is parallel with a grid line and pointing to the top of the map. Map and compass are both now facing north.

Avoid getting lost by mentally ticking off features on the map as you walk past and keep your thumb on your route to keep track of your location.

‘Handrailing’ is using a linear feature – coastline, river, wall, railway – to guide your steps. Find a river, say, that heads the way you want to go, then just follow beside it, using it like a handy handrail.

An average walker takes 15 minutes to walk one kilometre on easy-going terrain, or to cross one grid square on the map. This can be handy when you’re looking for a turning a kilometre away – if you haven’t found it after 15 minutes then chances are you’ve walked past it. For smaller distances, you obviously shorten the time – so 500m would take about seven minutes - but know that uphill, rough terrain, and steep downhill will all slow you down.

It may look like the controls of the Tardis, but it only takes a few moments to know your baseplate from your index line…

An essential bit of any good compass, the long edge helps you line up accurately with the gridlines on the map. The markings along the edge are Romer scales, and help you measure distance on the map, and find grid references precisely.

The lines and red arrow marked within the dial of the compass are rotatable so you can align them with the grid lines on the map when taking a bearing (see below).

The red triangle at the top end of the compass points your in the direction you want to walk when you take a bearing, both on the map and on the ground.

The place where the dial meets the baseplate where you read your bearing.

The red, sometimes luminous, end of the needle which always points north.

## How to take a bearing in three easy steps

Find where you are on the map and then the place you’re trying to get to. Put your compass on the map so one edge of the baseplate makes a line between the two, taking care that the direction of travel arrow is pointing from where you are towards where you want to go (and not the other way round).

Hold the baseplate steady and rotate the compass dial until the orienting lines are parallel to the north-south gridlines on the map, and the orienting arrow is pointing towards the top of the map (known as grid north). Check the number at the index line: this is your bearing.

Lift your compass away from your map, and hold it level in front of you so the needle swings freely. Rotate your whole body until the north end of the compass needle sits exactly over the orienting arrow within the dial. The direction of travel arrow now points towards your target.


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As anyone who’s challenged themselves to #walk1000miles already will know, keeping track of those miles can be an onerous task without the help of technology. A smartphone or dedicated gadget can do all the measuring and tallying up for you. But with different gadgets using different technology to record the distance you walk, it’s hard to know which will give the most accurate stats.

Measurements made by apps or gadgets vary depending on whether and how they use GPS, mobile network geolocation services or an accelerometer to estimate mileage based on your step count and stride length. We put the 15 apps and gadgets we reviewed to the test, to find out which are the most accurate.

We compared them on an identical route through our local country park, using a trusty trundle wheel to provide a control measurement. Our experiment revealed some gadgets are prone to giving wildly optimistic mileages, while others short-changed us. A few were near enough spot on. A gadget or smartphone app isn’t the only way to record miles however, so we’ve looked at some low-tech solutions too.

Our control: **Trundle Wheel £15 (see pic!)**

Sleek, reliable, popular, with the best app for joy and encouragement. Only the irritating screen interface lets it down.

Oddly off the mark with the mileage for a brand specialising in navigation, but in most respects a joy to use across hardware and app. Great value too.

This simple-to-operate tracker punches above its price in terms of its feature offering, but its on-board tech can put a strain on the small battery.

It’s a top spec, smart fitness tracker that’s easy to operate and boasts a host of non-walky features. But we expected more reliable performance for the price.

### :a[Take the first step today - Sign up to join the biggest self-improvement movement!]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/sign-up/' }

The watch itself is annoyingly hard to use, but the functions are near-perfect, it’s fully outdoor-proof, and the app is a joy to become pleasantly obsessed with.

Accuracy: -1.7%  
Like all Apple products, the Series 3 is slick and easy to use. It isn’t designed for rugged outdoor use though, so best used on shorter walks.

Accuracy: -1.1%  
If you want a high-performance smartwatch that can handle long days in all weathers and on every type of terrain, the Pro Trek is perfect.

An all-singing, all-dancing outdoor-proof smartwatch, the Fenix goes above and beyond what most walkers need, and its price tag reflects this.

This bombproof outdoor watch boasts an ingenious solution to battery life woes, but not much else. It’s simple to use and built to survive, but its tracking repertoire is limited.

### :a[Join us and walk your way to a happier and healthier you - Sign up today!]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/sign-up/' }

### MAP MY WALK Free (+ premium upgrades)

Way off the baseline distance, not just in our team test but in other walks too. The trackable routes are a helpful touch though, and interface is good.

The simplest to use and most modern, uncluttered UK-only app offering full OS mapping, with a similarly excellent desktop app. Augmented reality features now unmatched thanks to Tabletop 3D.

It’s a novel way of recording and sharing walks, but otherwise offers little else. The videos are awesome, but alone this app’s not great for tracking long-term progress.

Simple readouts, fairly reliable mileage and good for newcomers. Ignore the running-centric setup and social community – just stick with #walk1000miles!

Just like having a GPS unit on your smartphone, Viewranger covers all your basic tracking and route planning needs well, and throws in a few extras if you stump up some cash.

A fun way to visualise and motivate progress towards a target if your step-counting needs oomph, though it’s mainly for recent sofa-leavers, not regular country walkers.

Price: usually free to sign up, but Ordnance Survey maps cost extra.

Okay, it’s hardly low-tech, but it does mean manually plotting out your exact route to measure it. Both the OSmaps and Viewranger apps have website equivalents (both synchronise with your phone via your account). As with the apps, premium features (like Ordnance Survey mapping) cost extra, but you can plot and save routes for nothing using free maps.

Price: £25 for the Silva Ex Distance (which gives distance readings)

While a basic pedometer will just count steps, some calculate distance walked based on your stride length. But as they don’t account for changing stride length (over hilly terrain), the reading may not be especially accurate.

Price: about £2.50 for a standalone romer.

It’s fine for rough, on-the-hoof calculations, but an accurate route distance is difficult to ascertain using a romer, especially if your walk is long and follows minutely wiggly paths.

The OS Maps app has been updated to a new version, making it easier to find routes and quicker to record your miles and check your total. Here’s how to record your miles…

The OS Maps app can track your walks, show you where you are at all times, and give you access to maps showing every footpath in the whole country\*. Here’s how to use it to record your miles – and why it’s the perfect partner to your Progress Chart on the fridge!

(\*OS Maps is free to use, but to get access to premium maps you need a membership)

3 Touch Start recording, then do your walk

Your miles are added to your Activities chart at the top of the Activities page

3 Or go to Routes > Create a route to plot a new route to add

Touch on the Activities tab and set the time to ‘Year recap’.

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Watch your progress build with the Walk 1000 Miles Progress Chart and milestone sticker set – available from walk1000miles.co.uk/shop

Fill in your daily miles, give yourself a dot for every 7 day streak of walks, watch your progress build on the thermometer each 10 miles, anf celebrate big milestones with a sticker!

It’s your challenge, so how you record your miles depends how you choose to do it.

Chart free with the February issue of Country Walking. Stickers and more charts available in the shop.

Some people, particularly those starting from a lower fitness level, will choose to count every step on their step counter or phone’s health app. But if you don’t want to count every, and only count the miles you do you wouldn’t have otherwise have walked before, we recommend the OS Maps app. It can track your walks, show you where you are at all times, and give you access to maps showing every footpath in the whole country\*. Here’s how to use it to record your miles – and why it’s the perfect partner to your Progress Chart on the fridge!

7 Your miles are added to your Activities

4 Select the route you want to add – either from the previously-recorded routes listed, or one you plot freshly by touching ‘Create a route’

5 Select the date you did it and touch Save to add it to your My Activities total

3 Select This Year to see your total to date

Fill in your daily miles, give yourself a dot for every 7 day streak of walks, watch your progress build on the thermometer each 10 miles, and celebrate big milestones with a sticker!

### :a[Ready to get started? Sign up to start your Walk 1000 Miles journey today!]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/sign-up/' }

For the 2026 challenge, progress trackers are available to purchase via the online shop or with the February issue of Country Walking (in shops 6th Jan).

Medals are also available to purchase via the online shop from Spring 2026.

Enter your miles walked so far to get your current daily target average required.

**Walk 1000 Miles** is YOUR challenge and the only person you’re competing against is the old you. That means while we set the target, YOU decide on the rules that suit you. If circumstances or fitness dictate you can count every step using a wearable fitness tracker; if you’re keen to get out more and go further, count only walks over and above your usual activity, perhaps using an app on your phone. Whatever suits your level of fitness and ambition, you need to average 2.74 miles per day whatever method you decide on.

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walk1000miles has the best Facebook group in the world! You can get ideas, help, make friends, share your walks, arrange meet-ups or just shoot the breeze. Why not :a[join the group]{href='https://www.facebook.com/groups/walk1000miles/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'} now?

We recommend the :a[OS Maps app]{href='https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/maps/os-maps-subscriptions/' } to track your miles with your phone. You can watch your progress build by adding your daily, weekly and monthly totals to the double-sided chart available in our shop.

You can buy a sticker set to mark your major milestones on a map of Britain on the Progress Chart in our shop.

With your own completer’s medal, available in 500, 1000 and even higher mileages, and every month in Country Walking magazine. You can also buy badges a and more to help 1000 milers spot each other in the shop.

Over 90% of participants say they feel a greater sense of self-esteem through walking regularly, two-thirds report greater body confidence and science is almost daily discovering ways in which walking about an hour a day fixes pretty much everything.

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## Make the greatest investment in your health and happiness

Join the challenge that changes lives one step at a time – no matter how unfit you are or how unlikely it sounds, you CAN walk 1000 miles!

Brought to you by the UK’s best-selling walking magazine, Country Walking, walk just 2.74 miles per day and you can clock up an amazing 1000 mile total in 12 months from the day you start. It’s an incredible achievement that will transform your health and happiness and open up new possibilities in life. Read more information :a[HERE]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/how-it-works/' } about how it works.

Register free to take part and you’ll get our **monthly Country Walking newsletter** bursting with inspiration and support for your challenge, and access to competitions to win prizes from our partners.

Ready to change your life, one step at a time?

**Important**: add email@news.bauermedia.co.uk to your contacts under the name ‘Country Walking’ to avoid your newsletters, getting caught in your spam filter.

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If you’re experiencing any issues signing up, please contact us walk1000miles@countrywalking.co.uk.

1 Jersey  
2 Sark  
3 Guernsey  
4 Alderney  
5 Cornwall  
6 Devon  
7 Somerset  
8 Dorset  
9 Wiltshire  
10 Hampshire  
11 Isle of Wight  
12 West Sussex  
13 Surrey  
14 East Sussex  
15 Kent  
16 Greater London  
17 City of London  
18 Berkshire  
19 Bristol  
20 Gloucestershire  
21 Oxfordshire  
22 Buckinghamshire  
23 Hertfordshire  
24 Essex  
25 Herefordshire  
26 Worcestershire  
27 Warwickshire  
28 Northamptonshire  
29 Bedfordshire  
30 Cambridgeshire  
31 Suffolk  
32 Shropshire  
33 West Midlands  
34 Leicestershire  
35 Rutland  
36 Norfolk  
37 Cheshire  
38 Staffordshire  
39 Derbyshire  
40 Nottinghamshire  
41 Lincolnshire  
42 Merseyside  
43 Greater Manchester  
44 South Yorkshire  
45 Lancashire  
46 West Yorkshire  
47 East Riding  
48 North Yorkshire  
49 Isle of Man  
50 Cumbria  
51 Durham  
52 Tyne & Wear  
53 Northumberland  
54 South Glamorgan  
55 West Glamorgan  
56 Mid Glamorgan  
57 Gwent  
58 Dyfed  
59 Powys  
60 Gwynedd  
61 Clwyd  
62 Fermanagh  
63 Tyrone  
64 Armagh  
65 Down  
66 Derry/Londonderry  
67 Antrim  
68 Wigtown  
69 Stewartry of Kirkcudbright  
70 Dumfries  
71 Roxburgh, Ettrick & Lauderdale  
72 Berwickshire  
73 Ayrshire & Arran  
74 Lanarkshire  
75 Tweeddale  
76 Midlothian  
77 East Lothian  
78 Renfrewshire  
79 Glasgow  
80 West Lothian  
81 Edinburgh  
82 Argyll & Bute  
83 Dunbartonshire  
84 Stirling & Falkirk  
85 Clackmannanshire  
86 Perth & Kinross  
87 Fife  
88 Dundee  
89 Angus  
90 Kincardineshire  
91 Aberdeen  
92 Aberdeenshire  
93 Banffshire  
94 Moray  
95 Nairn  
96 Inverness  
97 Ross & Cromarty  
98 Sutherland  
99 Caithness  
100 Western Isles

Don't forget to **:a[sign up]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/sign-up/' }** to our Walk 1000 Miles challenge this year! Still curious :a[**what it is**]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/what-is-this/' } or **:a[how it works]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/how-it-works/' }** - click the links to find out more or take a look at our **:a[FAQ page]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/faqs/' }** to get any of your questions answered.

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Answers to all the frequently asked questions below.

**#walk1000miles is the free challenge for everyone, created by the UK's biggest-selling walkers' magazine Country Walking. It encourages you to walk about an hour a day to achieve an amazing total. Believe it or not, you can do it in your lunch hour.** :a[**Sign up now and change your life...one step at a time!**]{href='https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/advice/inspiration/sign-up/' }

Depending on how you put it, walking 1000 miles sounds like a towering achievement or a trivial effort. It’s enough to see you across the Gobi desert, yet 2.74 miles a day hardly seems worth writing home about. Both things are true. There’s nothing back-breaking or SAS-impressing about it, and yet it’s something only a vanishingly small proportion of the population can say they have done. And so only a few will be able to vouch for the fact that it _will_ change your life. You may not think there’s much wrong with your life as it is (I didn’t). But after completing 1000 miles in 12 months I feel _miles_ better than I have in a decade. Huge things happen by tiny increments after all. It’s just a question of doing it.

It's honesty-based and you're free to walk wherever and however you like. Country Walking magazine and the challenge community centred around walk1000miles.co.uk are here to motivate, celebrate and to provide advice, as well as bring you free content and goodies with fantastic prizes from our partners. Sign up here now to get updates, exclusive content, competitions and discounts, and get ready to enjoy a life-changing year – one step at a time!

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## **Your companion to discover a more beautiful Britain.**

We believe walking is the key to unlocking a world of wonder, happiness and health, and it’s a vision we’re thrilled to share with tens of thousands of readers! Join their number and become a :a[Country Walking subscriber]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/country-walking-magazine?utm_source=walk1000miles.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_countrywalking' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'} today and enjoy your **first 6 issues for just £19.99** with our Christmas offer! You’ll save 42% on shop prices and be the first to hear from us every month.

Click the pics below to open a high-quality, printable PDF file. And don’t forget to show it off in the :a[Facebook group!]{href='https://www.facebook.com/groups/walk1000miles/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}

## It’s a myth you should put your feet up to stop arthritis from getting worse. Movement is the key, and walking daily is the secret of keeping joints moving and pain at bay.

Arthritis is the number one cause of disability in the UK. It’s thought one in seven of us has some form of it, leading to stiffness, limited movement and pain. Yet many do the wrong thing when they’re diagnosed because of a misconception that the condition is ‘wear and tear’, and the best way to prevent it getting worse is to stop walking.

That’s precisely what you shouldn’t do, says David Vaux of charity Arthritis Action: “Movement is the fundamental thing. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest pain from arthritis is improved if we can move, and this is universally experienced with injury or an arthritic joint. “If we strengthen the muscles around joints we’re more likely to feel less pain. Don’t forget we’re not just meat and bone, we’re also human beings. Sharing time with other people is helpful to your frame of mind, and also to your nervous system, because if you’re doing something enjoyable you’ll feel less pain. Walking’s important whether you’ve got arthritis or not, says David: “The act of walking is fundamentally good for us as human beings. It’s good for hip, knee, ankle mobility and balance. “Unless you’ve had a historic injury by fall or accident, it’s still quite mysterious as to why some people get arthritis while others don’t,” explains Vaux. “If you’re unlucky enough to develop it, you’ll be far better placed having had a strong history of walking – you’ll have fewer detrimental effects.”

The number of people in the UK with arthritis or similar conditions that affect the joints

The number of those with osteoarthritis, the most common type

The time in your life when arthritis most often develops

The amount adults with arthritis can decrease pain and improve function by being physically active, according to US health bodies

## ‘I thought my doctor was crackers!’

Jan Oakes: ‘When I was told I have early stages of arthritis in my hip six years ago, my doctor told me to walk more and I thought he was crackers. To my mind it’s wear and tear, and the more I walk the worse it’s going to get. But he was right and I was very wrong. It takes a while sometimes to get going, but once I’m moving it’s no bother at all.’

**After being told she’ll be in a wheelchair in her 30s, 55-year-old Kathy Cox uses daily walks to help her defy medicine.**

‘I’d just qualified as a nurse when a car accident left me struggling to walk, sit or stand, and my mobility was gradually decreasing. It was another 18 months before I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, where the spine and other areas become inflamed.

‘My consultant told me, “You will probably never walk properly, you’ll need your hips replacing and likely end up in a wheelchair by your mid-30s.” I turned to my mum and said: “I’ll prove him wrong.”

‘For years I lived with the belief that walking any distance could make my condition worse. Then my GP told me I was pre-diabetic. I made the decision to lose 50lbs by my 50th birthday less than eight months away and started with a 20-minute walk before I was tired. Within what a few days I was walking three miles, then five, the end of the road became the head of the bay. Now I can walk 1000 miles, and once even walked 144 miles in 11 days.

‘My rheumatologist says I defy medicine; I plan to continue. It’s a tough gig, but I persevere because I know walking is what keeps me going physically and mentally.’

## ‘Without #walk1000miles I’d have given up’

Anne Goulding Colbeck: ‘Nine years ago I was told I would have to give up walking as I had severe osteoarthritis in my left knee. The pain left me crippled, miserable and reliant on pills and crutches. Four years later I had a partial knee replacement and was told my hiking days were over. In despair I sold all my gear.

‘But I woke one morning and thought: “I’m not a quitter!” So I pushed myself, walking a little further month by month. Then I found #walk1000miles on Facebook – an amazing group that gets you through when you’re feeling down. Now I just love being out in the hills and I even walked a marathon!’

Don Lane: ‘I’ve had arthritis for over 10 years and walking has allowed me to put off having a knee replacement for a decade. It helped keep the joint moving and the muscle supportive. Now I’ve finally had the replacement, walking has formed part of my rehab and getting out has made me realise a new knee has been a step forward, not back. The walking is already less painful than it was pre-op.’

Millions of kids watch their parents wearing Fitbits and Apple Watches to record amazing milestones like 10,000 steps a day, and think they could never do it. But they can – easily. In fact, research shows that 6-11-year-old kids do about 10,000-15,000 steps on a school day; adolescents do 10,000-11,700. They can hit incredible mileages! Yet British kids, on average, spend more than 20 hours a week online – swiping smartphone screens, playing consoles, streaming movies. Government research shows 74% of them spend less than 60 minutes a day outside, which is less than prison inmates....

According to The National Trust, a ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’ is creating serious hidden issues among children like diminished senses, attention difficulties, higher rates of illness, and even the loss of basic – and vital – everyday functions like learning how to safely cross roads. Walking is free, simple and one of the easiest ways to get active as a family. Hitting 1000 miles in a year might seem like an impossible target now, but make a few small changes to your weekly routine and you’ll soon see the miles pile up. Ditch the car and walk to school, go for a short stroll after dinner, take stairs instead of lifts, meet up with other families who like spending time outdoors. Short, simple activities can quickly make a big difference.

You can define the #walk1000miles challenge as a family however you want – count every step of every day; just count miles you walk together as a family; or only count ’boots-on’ miles when you’re hitting countryside trails. Walking 1000 miles in a year breaks down to 2.74 miles a day. So think about this – 10,000 steps is roughly five miles for adults, so even little legs can be well on target to smash that milestone by simply leading an active life. So make those little lifestyle changes, plan regular walks and – most importantly -– keep getting outside as a family. You don’t have to walk up mountains or trudge across boggy moors (although both are great!) – just explore your local woods or country park, or take the dog for slightly longer walks. Make each walk fun and engaging. Take plenty of snacks, play games of nature bingo, hunt for creepy-crawlies, jump in muddy puddles, skim stones, climb trees, paddle in rivers – all those great things you loved doing as a kid. The most important thing is just to get out and walk as a family, and together you could achieve something amazing.

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