OS bagging

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
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pedalsheep
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Re: OS bagging

Post by pedalsheep »

According to the database there are 190 within 20km of me. That would keep me busy! Think I'll stick with the British Cycle Quest though, one addiction is quite enough!
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lankysnapper
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Re: OS bagging

Post by lankysnapper »

Wow, 374 within 50k! There seems to be a lot within 1k which are more suited to a walking expedition as getting off a bike every few meters would be a nuisance. Might head off for the more far fling ones though; good themed ride.
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Lance Dopestrong
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Re: OS bagging

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

It is strangely addictive once you start.
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martin biggs
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Re: OS bagging

Post by martin biggs »

lankysnapper wrote:Wow, 374 within 50k! There seems to be a lot within 1k which are more suited to a walking expedition as getting off a bike every few meters would be a nuisance. Might head off for the more far fling ones though; good themed ride.


But please note speaking form experience a fair few will be no longer there , but yes it is quite fun just riding along and looking for them and then finding them randomly
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velorog
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Re: OS bagging

Post by velorog »

velorog wrote:I see the Bench Mark database contains a Waypoint reference. This is something I am not familiar with in this context. Is it connected to Geocaching? Could someone explain its use.


To answer my own question - if I select the 'Download to GPS' option on the BM database it will download a waypoint.gpx file to my PC. If I them copy it to the GPX folder on my Garmin I can then display individual waypoints on the Garmin's map. Simple really, but as I only use the Garmin to display a map and record a track this is new ground for me.

Only 310 BM's within a 20k radius. Nearly a whole year's cycling :D
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Lance Dopestrong
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Re: OS bagging

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

I read the map and workout the route in my head beforehand. However, I have a 4G tablet with full UK OS Exlorers on Viewranger to whichnjs downloaded the GPX file from the benchmark website, and use that occasionally to home in exactly.
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gaz
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Re: OS bagging

Post by gaz »

Headed out for a 40 miler to see if I could find a "bolt" listed on the database near the cafe I'd decided to refuel at. The location is a bit vague, the area's been redevelopped and bolts aren't the easiest to spot; I didn't find it.

The database said there was a flush bracket on the way, at a pub that once had a Winged Wheel. Sure enough the flush bracket was there, Winged Wheel long gone.
DSCN2774.JPG

DSCN2773.JPG

I also passed a benchmark that's not on the database, so bagged that too.
DSCN2785.JPG

DSCN2788.JPG

Might hunt down another tomorrow.
colin54
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Re: OS bagging

Post by colin54 »

Trig Point, Beacon Country Park above Skelmersdale, nice woods to walk through and extensive views to

the east and west from up there, on a clear day,you can see the hills / mountains of North Wales

above Liverpool Cathedral in the foreground.

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pwa
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Re: OS bagging

Post by pwa »

I must congratulate Mr. Dopestrong for his eccentric interest. There is something life enhancing about seeking out little points of interest that most people don't notice or understand.

When my now grown up kids were still young enough to drag around places I find interesting, I drove them and the Missus a few miles off route on our way back to S.Wales after visiting relatives near Stroud. I took them for a quick visit to the village of Tortworth to see the only tree to be identifiable as an individual on an OS map. I'm not sure whether that is on current maps or just old ones. It is a chestnut tree that was already deemed significant enough to be written about in 1150. Now many people would find nothing interesting in that, but it ticks my boxes.

I knew the tree was near the church but I wasn't sure quite where. So when a lady passed us on foot I asked her. She told me where she thought it was, as if she had never been bothered to go and look at it herself. And then she said something that had us laughing after we had thought about it. "Is this what you do?" She had pigeon holed us as a geeky family whose existence is centred around bagging ancient trees!
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meic
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Re: OS bagging

Post by meic »

I suppose this could be (and probably has been) linked with the rather similarly geeky habit of geocaching. Leaving little notes or toys near to the OS marks could add extra entertainment.
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martin biggs
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Re: OS bagging

Post by martin biggs »

pwa wrote:I must congratulate Mr. Dopestrong for his eccentric interest. There is something life enhancing about seeking out little points of interest that most people don't notice or understand.


Must admit i have been looking and finding the os benchmarks and trig points for about a year and half now it's amazing how many you have ridden past without seeing them before and then all of a sudden they just jump out when you ride past . Only last i weekend i spotted one that i have ridden past once every six week's for years and never noticed it before at all
Cyril Haearn
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Re: OS bagging

Post by Cyril Haearn »

It is worth reading a bit about the history of surveying, I almost wish the careers adviser had pointed me to it

Triangulation is quite easy to understand and rather beautiful

I must try not to get enthusiastic here about old OS one-inch maps, we have a thread about that somewhere
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colin54
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Re: OS bagging

Post by colin54 »

I spotted one of these stainless buttons set into a pavement yesterday, I think

it also may be some kind of surveying mark, do they rest one of the poles on it,

does anyone know, ( about 12mm in diameter ) ?

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tim-b
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Re: OS bagging

Post by tim-b »

Hi
It's a Mag survey nail marker
The nail identifies survey points and the magnetic characteristics are improved so that it can be found more easily
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colin54
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Re: OS bagging

Post by colin54 »

Excellent ,thank you Tim. I kind of suspected as much as I saw some surveyors at work a while back and

had noticed similar markers at the same spot a week or two later.That magnetic idea is clever,

presumably they have a special bit of kit to locate them.

This one is halfway up Higher Lane in Dalton, the same road that passes the trig point I mentioned

earlier.

I wonder if it's worth starting a different ......thread for these er...buttons,

or can we stitch them on here Mr Dopestrong if there's an interesting picture at the location ?

There were some unusual wild (?) flowers near this one ( well near anyway ).

P1100703 (640x414).jpg


In the spirit of the thread, I'll find the exact location of the marker and post it back here, with a street

view.
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