On recently recce-ing a route in the SW corner of one of my old 25,000 OS (Explorer series, now called) maps, I discovered that it was missing from the map, or, rather, that was 'there' but obscured by that map's large information panel. Ok, I thought, it must be on one of the adjacent 25,000 maps, but no, it's not there either. Inspection of the OS website implies that even the most recent of their 25,000 series don't include this 'chunk' of the UK - in this case, not an urban or suburban area but a part of the South Pennines renowned for its interesting 'Drumlin hills' geography (one of which is the subject of a long-running dispute involving successive proposals for a wind turbine).
I did the recce using my old(er) 50,000 map, which does completely cover the area, but I discovered that not only do these rights of way not offer the same mapped detail (walls, fences etc.) as found at 25,000 scale, some of them are sufficiently un-Explored to feature not a single footpath marker. When that happens it usually means that I'm off route, but no, eventually I ended up where I had meant to be (a gate onto a lane), the typical clear but by then unhelpful fingerpost pointing back the way I'd come.
Can this be right ? That Ordnance Survey's now "inclusive" 1:25,000 scale map series is not properly complete in its coverage of the UK ? Have others found similar 'missing corners' in their regions ? Should OS be informed ? Why can't I walk the Drumlins at 25,000 scale ? (It's as if this level of detail has been deliberately missed off in order to make it hard to locate where that particular wind turbine would be sited - and it is). Or is there some other reason why this 'chunk' of the UK - SW of Gargrave, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park - is not readily mapped at 1:25,000 ?
