I have had decent sat nav for 6 months now and today instead used a road atlas to enjoy a retro moment – finding my way around several bike dealers within 100 miles of my house. So what did we learn?
- there are some interesting back roads in Buckinghamshire, some muddy and infested with tractors
- with road atlas scales size does matter – no more than 3 miles to one inch
- as does being up to date – if you buy a 2008 titled atlas it was issued in August 2007 and based only on the roads known to man (and the O/S) some months earlier – although with the lack of investment in new roads you shouldn’t get caught out too often…
As a geographer and a map anorak but also a gadget fan this fundamental dichotomy causes me sleepless nights 🙂
And the holy grail was found north of Aylesbury: