Sketch a walk from memory

Begin after the walk

Close the map and draw the route as you remember it. Include a starting point, one turn and three things that held your attention. The page is a record of what stayed with you. It does not need accurate bearings, distances or a continuous scale.

Use a small vocabulary

Choose a few marks: a line for movement, a circle for a pause, a block for a building and a loose patch for trees. Repeating those marks makes the sketch readable. Add a word only where the mark would otherwise be ambiguous. Leave room between features rather than filling every gap.

Separate memory from fact

If you later compare the sketch with a map, use a different colour for corrections. A remembered bend may be much larger on paper than it was on the ground because you paused there. That difference can be interesting. Do not turn the memory sketch into navigational guidance for someone else.

Add one unfinished thought

Write down something you want to check next time: where a sound came from, whether a path continued or how the light changes after a corner. A useful notebook invites another visit. It need not pretend that one walk explains the place completely.