Mapping...

Ok first problem is finding my way... Keep the sea to my left is one approach. But I really ought to use maps - at least for the times when the sea is out of sight from the road! So 4300 miles is going to either mean a lot of maps, or a few low scale maps, or a clever trick...
I am really a fan of the GB OS Landranger 1:50k maps for general cycling use - the right balance of enough detail but not turning the pages too often, but each one only covers a 40km or so square. That will mean all my luggage space will be full of maps! But there is an alternative - Electronic mapping!

First try - Road Angel Adventure 7000 and Memory Map. This combination didn't really work out for me. In the first instance the unit needs to be configured using a computer. But the Memory Map software doesn't run on Macs and I tried to run it via Parallels and Windows which turned out to be more of a fight than I could live with. Secondly the unit was physically less like a traditional handheld outdoors GPS unit and more like a standard TomTom device. Whilst it claimed to be ruggedised and waterproof I never had any confidence in using it outdoors in adverse weather conditions.

Second attempt - Satmap Active 10 - this unit arrived with me this week. It is more the job - it looks like a chunky PDA or mobile phone. It feels solid and armoured. It looks like it should be waterproof. It gives the impression of being built for the outdoors and being up to the job. Whilst Mac software isn't available to this unit yet, it is promised. But, unlike the Road Angel, it is primarily intended to be used as a standalone device without a computer connection.

Both of these units have the capacity to take an SD memory card (a plug in jobbie the size of a postage stamp) with the entire set of UK Landranger Maps on the one card in one go and to display the appropriate map with an 'X' for 'you are here' as you go - Easy navigation! Of course the maps I bought for the Road Angel don't just plug into the Satmap so I'll need to buy them again. The Active 10 did come with a set of Landranger maps for the UK National Parks which, curiously, includes the area just south of Derby where I live as it is part of 'The National Forest'... so testing is going ahead and I'll post a full review shortly...

The only problem then is keeping the unit powered for the duration of the trip. I'll describe how I'm going to cover that problem in a later post.

As a backup I will, of course, be carrying paper maps, but in the form of a 1:250k road atlas...