One of the comments my examiner made after passing my skills test was that I should navigate from Map to Ground. So you should look at the time and say "Now I should have a large town to my 2 o'clock, a woodland area and high ground to my right and a lake about 9 o'clock." etc. I find this works better for me and also seems to make more sense.
If the worst comes to the worst you can always ask where you are. You have nothing to lose but your dignity!
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