I blame most of the Navigation Instruction on the attitude that you must be able to fly a heading for a certain time and drop your bombs accurately on the Ruhr Valley, in zero visibility. Then turn around and be back at base for evening tea and scones. The world has moved on in leaps and bounds but the PPL syllabus has remained stuck in a time-warp.
We have three well defined landmarks near our airfield, and the coast is not too far away, so it is relatively easy to know exactly where we are, even without looking at the chart. Once you have your PPL, one of your best purchases will be a GPS, most pilots wouldn't (or couldn't) fly without one. Also unless you are studying for your CPL, there is no need to follow the magenta line.