On new routes a Garmin Touring plus a quick look on Google Maps & Streetview but mostly I'll have a destination and make up the routing there & back as I go.
Memory on familiar routes. Ancient Garmin Etrex on new routes, which I plan using digital OS maps and the cycle.travel website.
I use a Garmin 520 or just ride roads I am familiar with. The pole only allows one choice, although there are a number ways one might navigate.
Plan out route by Google My Maps, export to Cyclemeter on iPhone. Cyclemeter doesn’t have turn-by-turn navigation so a lot is done by memory, road signs and occasionally checking the map on Cyclemeter. I like to explore though so if I see an unfamiliar road or bridleway, chances are I’ll follow it just to see where it goes. To much Star Trek as a kid, I guess.
I follow my nose......and use a bit of local knowledge. I can never see the display on the Garmin and haven't managed to master its navigation facilities (I nearly threw mine away when doing the Way of the Roses a couple of years ago as it kept recalculating the route and then 'hanging' with the sheer numbers of calculations). I also talk to other cyclists and get them to share their favourite routes.
Follow my nose 90% of the time. Garmin Etrex backed up with a good old fashioned map if I'm in an unknown area.
Paper maps and compass when far from home, I know all the roads within 100 miles or so of home. Although I have found the Garmin handy for getting back to base after a few hours of aimlessly exploring new territory.
I have LOTS of set routes around here, so I never really need to resort to maps. But if I do...I usually use Google Maps on my tablet.
If I'm going somewhere new I check and memorise the route on the OS maps and also use google street view to identify landmarks before turnings etc.
Signs, memory and osmand voice prompts in some combination. Non-cycling signs in this country often try to mislead you onto quasimotorways, though.
I know my local routes from memory but the etrex20 comes with me at all times in case I go exploring. It's got me home a number of times...no sense of direction here.
