Hands up who owns a map?

[Globalti]

I can't believe the level of ignorance amongst cyclists, especially mountain bikers, over maps.

We live in the best mapped country in the world, our Ordnance Survey maps are amazing works of art and cheap durable battery-free passports to a whole world of legal trails and quiet roads, yet so many riders seem ignorant about maps. I own around eighty maps of different parts of the UK and my maps of the local areas are worn out through years of constant use. I can sit for hours studying maps and working out interesting routes to try.

Some years ago we sold a greenhouse to some folk from up on the hill and when they were trying to explain to us where they lived I went and fetched the local map. Their teenage son was gobsmacked; he had never seen a map and never seen his own house on a map, he had no idea such a thing existed! I in turn was amazed that he seemed to have missed out on such a fundamental part of his education.

So how many maps do you own?

 

[snorri]

It would take me all day to count them.
I can't throw the old ones out when I get the latest editions. I take a bundle of maps home from every holiday, there are town and city maps of places I am unlikely to ever return to and I have to keep them even although they only cost pence.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Loads of 'em. I'm about to order a custom map from OS centred on my home. £17. Maps are brill.

 

[totallyfixed]

About the same as you, really enjoy planning routes using maps. Never mind Garmin I use "Cardmin", I plan a route if I don't know the area using the map then transfer it into shorthand on to a piece of card that I tape to my stem and on the odd occasion stick a map in my back pocket just in case. When I mention to the Garmin equipped crowd that I use Cardmin sometimes they react by nodding their heads sagely. I take it to mean they either thought I said Garmin, think Cardmin is the latest thing, or just don't wish to appear ignorant. Love it.

 

[guitarpete247]

I've got loads. At my dad's house I've got some that my granddad gave me from the 1950's. If nothing else it's good to see how the places you know have changed.
I always try to buy a map of an area I'm visiting. Mostly OS style maps but I even bought one of the old Soviet Union from a Co-op half way between Samarkand and Bukhara when the bus I was on stopped for a toilet break. This map is about the size of medium sized rug.

 

[biggs682]

must admit we have none , and no sat navs either .

 

[Cubist]

Yep, all 1:25000 for the Peaks, Pennines, Dales,NY Moors Lakes, Borders and some Highlands, and 1:50000 for all the bits in and amongst.

I also love planning routes, have done since I started Hostelling with a mate when we were 14. We used to laminate them with Fablon and plot with a chinagraph pencil, but now I like to use waterproofing fluid and draw routes in with graphite pencil.

I have treated myself to a Garmin Edge 305, which is proving a great tool to use (but with the OS in the hydration pack as back-up). My new Nokia smartphone has an OS map app, and several GPS functions.(all a bit battery hungry though)

 

[slowmotion]

Love them to bits. A map gives you context. GPS can't do that. I love spreading them out and working out what the route is like by looking at the contours and terrain shading. We have probably the best maps in the world with the Ordnance Survey. The French IGN is OK but not a patch on OS.

 

[derrick]

Just follow my nose, who needs maps.

 

[Ian H]

The French IGN is OK but not a patch on OS.

But quite a lot better than Michelin.

Yes, loadsa maps here. I love old maps as well.

 

[slowmotion]

Just follow my nose, who needs maps.

You are pinball wizard Tommy, "plays by sense of smell", and ICMFP.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

I can't believe the level of ignorance amongst cyclists, especially mountain bikers, over maps.

We live in the best mapped country in the world, our Ordnance Survey maps are amazing works of art and cheap durable battery-free passports to a whole world of legal trails and quiet roads, yet so many riders seem ignorant about maps. I own around eighty maps of different parts of the UK and my maps of the local areas are worn out through years of constant use. I can sit for hours studying maps and working out interesting routes to try.

Some years ago we sold a greenhouse to some folk from up on the hill and when they were trying to explain to us where they lived I went and fetched the local map. Their teenage son was gobsmacked; he had never seen a map and never seen his own house on a map, he had no idea such a thing existed! I in turn was amazed that he seemed to have missed out on such a fundamental part of his education.

So how many maps do you own?

I stopped counting at a thousand...

 

[HLaB]

If I'm following a specific route in an unknown area I like to follow a map printed out from Memory Map but more often I just prefer to explore, maybe scanning the map before I set off.

 

[potsy]

Google maps on my phone, does that count?

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I've got about 6.