SPI LOST ON SOLO XCOUNTRY.

Narrative

I WAS FLYING FROM BED TO LWM BY PILOTAGE. ENRTE; I MISTOOK A WATER TANK NOT SHOWN ON CHARTS FOR ONE THAT WAS. I MADE AN INAPPROPRIATE CORRECTION TO THE E THINKING I WAS DRIFTING TOO FAR N. UPON REACHING RTE 93; I HAD NOT SEEN TEW-MAC ARPT (ONE OF MY LANDMARKS); SO I CALLED LWM AND RPTED MY POS AS 'ROUGHLY OVER TEW-MAC.' BY THIS TIME; I WAS WELL E OF WHERE I THOUGHT I WAS. I SAW AN ARPT IN THE DISTANCE AND HEADED FOR IT. AT THIS POINT; I SHOULD HAVE CHKED MY GND REFS BECAUSE THE ARPT WAS FATHER TO MY R THAN I HAD EXPECTED. WITH MY RELATIVE LACK OF EXPERIENCE; HOWEVER; I ASSUMED THAT IT WAS LAWRENCE AND HEADED FOR IT. UPON ENTERING THE DOWNWIND LEG; I NOTED THE RWY WAS 16; NOT 14 AS I HAD EXPECTED. AT THIS POINT; I REALIZED WHAT HAD HAPPENED; AND INFORMED LWM OF MY ERROR. I THEN CONTACTED THE BEVERLY TWR AND TOLD THEM WHAT HAD HAPPENED; AND STATED MY INTENTION TO RETURN TO LAWRENCE. THIS MIX-UP GOT ME SOMEWHAT FLUSTERED AND IN MY CONCERN OVER GETTING OUT OF BEVERLY AIRSPACE; I LOST MY EXACT POS. BEING IN UNFAMILIAR AIRSPACE IN A STRESSFUL SITUATION; I HAD SOME TROUBLE INTERPRETING THE MAP TO GET MY BEARING TO LWM. EVENTUALLY; I OBTAINED A VOR BEARING TO LWM AND FOUND MYSELF TO BE N OF THE ARPT. I GOT CONFUSED AT THE INDICATION OF N; SO I RADIOED LWM STATING THAT I WAS N OF LWM BUT UNSURE OF MY POS. THE LWM TWR INSTRUCTED ME TO OBTAIN RADAR VECTORS. THIS OCCURRED OVER HAVERHILL; MA. AFTER LNDG AND TAKING A BREAK AT LWM; I RETURNED TO BEDFORD. TO PREVENT A RECURRENCE OF THIS INCIDENT; I CANCELLED MY SCHEDULED SOLO TIME UNTIL I COULD GET DUAL TIME WITH MY INSTRUCTOR TO OBTAIN FURTHER TRAINING ON NAV AND CHART WORK. I ALSO SOUGHT THE COUNSEL OF THE CLUB FLT SAFETY OFFICER.