Just trying to get sorted early doors instead of taking 20 maps with me is there a company that will condense the maps and just pick out the bits I need.

Rich

Buy an OS Maps registration for £20 and print off the bits you need onto A4

Download offline map from Google Maps?

7” tablet. power bank. os maps.

viz money saving top tip.

ride a loop of smaller circumference – need less maps 😀

better still ride many smaller loops of less area – only need one map

* that and more useless money saving ideas in next months issue.

Received the nod from Alan?

Ian Fitz did a set of printouts for this year, if you PM/email him he should be able to provide you with the link.

I bought Tracklogs software years ago, I still use it.

Map to printer, route to GPS.

I made a pdf of a certain ride that length Rich.

Prints on to 10 sheets of A4 at 100k scale. I’ll email you the google drive link to it tomorrow

Feel free to remind me if I forget. Busy day ahead.

Road or off-road? Pre-planned? How much do you anticipate diverting (by choice or necessity) from the route?

If it’s a road route you’re planning to stick to rigidly then a breadcrumb trail may suffice; if it’s off-road and ad hoc then it’s obviously rather more complex…

Tearing a few pages out of a road atlas generally covers road routes quite well, especially if you also have a GPS with mapping.

Cheers Ian just got a 7 day free trial with OS Mapping but looks like a lot of faff for me and trying to hook my laptop to my daughters printer will get me no end of ear ache so could do at work.

richard.munro@outlook.com

Thanks for the helpful replies

7 day free trial

last of the big spenders eh……………. 😆

Use a laserjet printer as the ink doesn’t run if it gets wet like it does with an inkjet.

And print double sided.

http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl

Uses open stretmaps. Just select the area you want and it’ll build a map for you.

Works worldwide.

You’ll need a Garmin gps with CD card. And they are free.

Id just use a gps it handles long distance better and comes with all the maps.

Id just use a gps it handles long distance better and comes with all the maps.

In deed and what do you use if your GPS gets broken / flat batteries/stops working for any reason ?

on many sections of this route your a long way from anything.

Equally planning escape routes on a GPS is a total scunner of a job – much quicker on a map , especially if you have got to the stage of needing one

such as mark breaking his collar bone ??? on the route needing to extricate him self to a road ASAP.

On the Cairngorm Loop I chose to bail because there were reports of an impassable burn on the tracks to Tomintoul and I didn’t know the escape routes through Abernethy Forest. You don’t need large scale maps, 1:50K printed at half scale will do.

While it’s true that on a lot of the route you are a long way from help, often the track you are on is the only one so it’s mostly a case of deciding whether to carry on or turn back.

It’s a pity Rich didn’t make clear which route he’s doing as suggestions like OSM and pages out of a road atlas are so wide of the mark.

It’s a pity Rich didn’t make clear which route he’s doing as suggestions like OSM and pages out of a road atlas are so wide of the mark.

I thought it was pretty clear from the title…..

I think the route in question is obvious to those of us who know about it simply from the title – I certainly didn’t need to open the thread to work it out.

Ian’s maps are ready to roll so I’d go with those, there’s just the time to print them rather than faffing about creating your own.

In deed and what do you use if your GPS gets broken / flat batteries/stops working for any reason ?
on many sections of this route your a long way from anything.
Equally planning escape routes on a GPS is a total scunner of a job – much quicker on a map , especially if you have got to the stage of needing one
such as mark breaking his collar bone ??? on the route needing to extricate him self to a road ASAP

I’m ML qualified mate and Id still use GPS comes with all the maps and will lead you out in zero viz. I use mine all the time crossed Italy into Alps this year. They are dependable and waterproof and very compact. Ive also crossed Portugal North to South, Germany across to Italy all off road, South Africa Joberg to Durban. All on GPS without issues, solo to.

So M/L changed their historical stance on GPS being the back up for the map and compass then ?

or is that your personal risk assessment ?

I also believe rich is going to be using GPS but being a responsible hill user is wanting to carry maps also.

I think the route in question is obvious to those of us who know about it simply from the title

And to everyone else it’s a total mystery, hence my post asking about it… Maybe someone who finds it obvious could actually make some sort of reference to it rather than just stating how obvious to them it is 😉

And to everyone else it’s a total mystery, hence my post asking about it… Maybe someone who finds it obvious could actually make some sort of reference to it rather than just stating how obvious to them it is

Highland Trail 550 – http://www.highlandtrail.net/

All participants are sent a couple of GPX files of the route, one for the outbound leg, one for the return. Any detours for things like hydro-electric schemes or bridge repairs are included.

There are some sections where a map isn’t needed: you are on a track down a glen with no track/path junctions for 3 to 4 hours of riding time. You’ll know what the terrain behind you is like so you only need to have an idea of that ahead to decide which way to go should anything happen. There are others where there’s a few options – usually in forested areas with lots of tracks – where a map is very useful.

I also made a set of route notes: “Along track to A838, turn L, continue to Lodge on R with cattle grid. Turn R go R of lodge then go to L of buildings to gate, through this and up hill.” that sort of thing.

Edit: Sorry Bez – didn’t mean to be sarky or anything about it 😉

“With the advent of GPS units, navigation is no longer a real challenge should you choose to use one. However if you do not use a GPS, make sure you are competent at navigating. Not all of the route is obvious. Even with a GPS unit you should be prepared for its failure, and carry a paper version of the route. Should you need to keep moving in limited visibility or darkness know how to find your way.”

Direct extract from the event website.

Sorry Bez. I assumed Rich was being deliberately vague and I didn’t want to spoil his fun.

#humblebrag

Sorry Bez – didn’t mean to be sarky or anything about it 😉

I did, of course, but in a nice way 😉

Looks like a fine ride. For which pages torn from a road atlas will indeed be useless 🙂

You can achieve what you are looking to achieve yourself quite easily by using GIS – Something like QGis is free to use and good web tutorials.

If you can load your free maps in, you can overlay the GPX route. You can then print off the route as a booklet (atlas), with each page showing the route with a specified distance either side of the route being displayed.

I created a map booklet for our cycle tour through France this summer and it worked fairly well.

OSM should be ok shouldn’t it?

Round here it’s got footpaths in the middle of nowhere that get used once a year by lost people.

Properly in the middle of nowhere, not just 10 miles from the nearest habitation.

OSM should be ok shouldn’t it? Round here it’s got footpaths in the middle of nowhere that get used once a year by lost people.

Round here it’s missing loads that get used all the time.

If I was humping the boonies at a fair latitude for the best part of a week I’d not want to rely on the patchiness of OSM. YMMV.

Pretty patchy then :/

Yeah, it surprised me, because I don’t think I’ve yet had any problem using it for roads.

Isn’t it much the same route as previous years? Which all seems to be mapped in OSM. https://mtb.waymarkedtrails.org/#route?id=5197562

That waymarkedtrails route has both the original start via Loch Treig and Loch Ossian and the current start which goes via Glen Lyon, Loch Rannoch and Ben Alder.

I used OSM maps this year and didn’t have a problem with the actual route but I know that the mapping is patchy/inconsistent in our neck of the woods so there’s every chance it is in other areas. I’ve not investigated the accuracy of tracks to the side of the route, i.e. escape routes.

It should be noted that even OS maps have their shortcomings – the infamous black dashed line can be anything from a landrover track to non-existant on the ground, sometimes on the same track!

There’s plenty of on-line resources, Google maps and streetview, Geograph.org.uk, among others, that you can check to get an idea of what the terrain is like. That’s before you get to individual blogs, websites and accounts. No real reason to head into something like this blind.

The £24 12m OS online subscription can also be bought with £8 of Waitrose Tesco clubcard vouchers.

I’d take and regularly do similar wherever:
1.GPS like an Etrex 30 with OS mapping and GPX on it
2. Hard copies like op is planning
3. mobile phone and spare powerpack with Viewranger and OS mapping of the route loaded on and route GPX.

The viewranger app will allow you to plan escape routes etc better than GPS as you can scroll around more easily. Also it is a back up to the GPS unit.

Round here it’s missing loads that get used all the time.

If I was humping the boonies at a fair latitude for the best part of a week I’d not want to rely on the patchiness of OSM. YMMV.Not the best (although far from terrible) around here either. I know one path on the map runs directly into the middle of a patch of gorse bushes and then stops, and another has a hub deep ‘puddle’ that has to be at least 100m long even in the middle of summer.
Loads of paths not on the maps at all – even the more detailed ‘Explorer’ versions

IanFitz – I’ve PM’d you as your maps sounds very useful!

In the past I’ve scanned the relevant parts of my maps and then lamented them back to back. I put them round my bar bag.

It’s time consuming but the route is highlighted and easier to follow.

The only downside to this was when we had bad weather and needed to bail out but our maps were no good.

I know os maps will now print you bespoke maps from a post code at your desired scale and the price is reasonable.

I guess it all depends on the scale you need.