Maintaining VFR altitudes when following N/S roads/rivers

In rec.aviation.student BT wrote:
What you are doing is not pilotage.
Fly a straight line based on compass and wind correction computations.
Time between visual points, towns, bridges, etc to compute ground speed.
Correct the heading slightly based on "observations" from pilotage.

just following a meandering river or road is not pilotage.

My understanding is that you have just described dead reckoning with
occasional corrections coming from pilotage. Pure pilotage is simply
knowing where you are by looking out the window. When on the move, you
just keep looking out the window and keep updating your mental picture of
where you are. You may make mental estimates based on this of how long it
will be to get to the next landmark, but if you're doing actual
computation then you're beyond mere pilotage already.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon