A recent study by the University of Warwick suggests that women are the sludge at the bottom of the gene pool when it comes to reading maps (something to do with spatial awareness and playing football apparently).

Well, duh. I’ve known that for years. As a teenager, I thought Britain was arranged, like trifle, with England at the bottom, Wales and Ireland in the middle, and Scotland on top.

Fran Loots, a qualified mountain leader and founder of Breathing Space Outdoors, thinks that she can change all that. She runs Women Can Read Maps: a weekend course teaching women basic compass and map-reading skills in the valleys and peaks of the Scottish Highlands.

I’m not alone in needing this course. “Oh, I’m horrendous at directions,” says Margaret MacLennan, an emergency response officer for the Scottish Government. Catriona Cripps, a business consultant living in Stirling, nods sympathetically: “I did geography at university, I’m a member of the Ramblers Association, but I always leave map reading to someone else.”

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Fran is unfazed: “Women assume they can’t read maps,” she says encouragingly. “In reality, it’s just like riding a bike: you have to learn how to do it, then practise.” And with that, she hands around Ordnance Survey maps of the area.

Running through a series of rudimentary exercises, first we learn how to set the map: this involves turning the map until it fits the landscape in which you’re walking. “My husband teases me when I do this,” says Allison Jones, a hill runner. “Maps don’t have to be read like books,” Fran counters, “and let’s face it, it’s easier to move a map than a mountain. Women process information differently to men, that’s all.”

Next we turn our attention to the contour lines of hills; symbols showing the smattering of schools and churches; meandering streams; and Forestry Commission boundaries. “Reading a map means just that,” says Fran. “Maps are a collection of geographical descriptions. When you learn to look through the blur of lines and shapes to read what they’re describing, you’ll always be able to find your location.” This is good practical stuff, described in a way that makes sense: our confidence takes root. Even the panic that ripples through the group when Fran announces it’s time to tackle grid references soon dissipates. Each square is a kilometre, regardless of scale. The references reflect the bottom grid number; the side number; then a micro-measurement using our compasses. Pretty soon, when Fran calls out 175, 512, our eyes dart across the map like avid bingo players, homing in on the site referenced.

It’s time to put what we’ve learnt into practice. On a gravel path behind the cottage, with forested peaks rising sharply beyond grassy meadows, Fran asks us to count the number of paces it takes to walk to the car at the end of the lane. We exchange baffled glances. “Ten times that many paces is a kilometre: one square on the map,” explains Fran. “You need to be able to judge distance and the time it takes you to cover it. If the path is 250m along a trail and it’s foggy...”

Sobered by the realisation that we have always left the “take this path” decisions to someone else, we set off across a muddy field. Climbing over a wooden stile we follow a footpath along a fast-flowing stream, until the forest gives way to a steep clearing, which we start to climb.

“All these things are on the map,” puffs Katy Galbraith, a businesswoman from Essex, excitedly. It sounds naff, but we’re all excited: OK, we’re just beginners but – maps, grid references, compasses – it’s all falling into place. We measure a wiggly path on the map with cord from our compasses, and as a team count 400m to the grid reference Fran has challenged us to find. As we pace, it dawns on me that the art of navigation is actually the art of observation. And in your experience, who are more observant – men or women?

Need to know

Women Can Read Maps (01764 670541, www.breathingspaceout-doors.com) costs from £80, with B&B from £15 extra. The next scheduled courses are on March 8-9, and April 26-27, in Comrie, Perthshire, about an hour’s drive from Edinburgh.
Where to stay: Jennifer Cox stayed at Tiger Lily, Edinburgh (0131-225 5005, www.tigerlilyedinburgh.com). B&B double from £195.
Getting there: London to Edinburgh return by train(08457 225225, www.nationalexpresseast-coast.com), from £28.

Jennifer Cox is the author of Around the World in 80 Dates (Arrow, £7.99).

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