Harvey have a couple of new Scottish maps, the Suilven SuperWalker and the Southern Highlands British Mountain Map.
The Suilven SuperWalker map made it just in time for the recent Assynt backpack and it was interesting comparing it the official LAMM map we had, which is a mix of 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 OS mapping.
The Superwalker is a great map, very detailed and accurate, and the Suilven tag is a little misleading, it’s got most of the peaks on either side of the road from Knockan to a little past Inchnadamph. It’s good for a backpack in the area as the terrain between the peaks is full of detail, 1:25,000 can make for a busy map, but I’ve grown to like the use of colours and bold/regular contours, it’s quick to read on the move.
I was overjoyed a few months back when Harvey said they were working on the Southern Highlands British Mountain Map. It’s my home hills after all, and it came in just after last Sunday’s trip to Ben Vane. Ach.
The BMM format, the look of it, and 1:40,000 scale is spot on, easy on the eye but full of detail while still showing a big area.
It’s a good map, the best I’ve seen of these hills, the area covered includes Ben Lomond, ArrocharAlps, the Lui foursome, Glen Falloch with added areas on the back for Ben Cruachan and the Loch Earn pair of Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin. On the back is also the usual wealth of information, geological, climbing crags, usful contacts and general mountain info, and it weighs 84g, which is nothing for a waterproof map.
I like the old-school looks of the mapping, it has a touch of humanity about it which makes it feel accessible, more a novel than a text book? But don’t doubt it’s accuracy and performance as a tool, it’ll be with me on any trip within it’s margins. Magic.
And yes, that’s one of my photies on the front of the Southern Highlands map. I’m very pleased indeed to be representing the area on this map, both as an outdoor bloke and as a Macfarlane.
Damn, the Suilven map must’ve been out before we were up there last month :(
Mind, I do prefer Harveys at 1:40k, there doesn’t actually seem to be any more detail on the 1:25ks.
I’ll have to be getting the Southern Highlands, even if I don’t know when I’ll be up there – I’ve got the full BMC set so far :)
The Suilven map came in just before we left to come up, the ink was still wet on mine!
The level of detail is pretty similar, I think it’s just softened on the BMM’s. The Superwalkers do look a little angry at first when you’ve had years of OS.
I’ve got some lovely old 1:40k Harveys of Snowdonia and the Peak District and Lake District, oh, Cairngorms too, from the days before they started the 1:25k Superwalkers – exactly the same mapping, just smaller. The upside is they fold to almost nothing in your pocket, the downside is the test of your eyesight to pick out some bits of the detail!
They do some nice 1:40k of the Yprkshire Dales with bike routes marked on too :)
I love them! Ordered from Amazon as soon as I saw this post. The detail and accuracy is superb and they just feel more like they know who they are aimed at and what we will use them for. I think we need to be grateful for the quality of mapping in the UK. When in Spain in the summer I was amazed at their crap maps.
doing a 2-for-1 joining the MCofS and getting the Southern Highlands map as part of the deal. Happy days. Love the BMC series!
If only they had the budget to fill in all the gaps!
Love em!
The only downside for me is they dont show access land boundaries.
Not such a problem North of the border. In the crowded Peak District its useful.
Must be a pain in the arse having so many access restrictions. I do worry we take it all for granted up here.