Tom Tom question

[Lesley Jones]

I'm off to Cornwall for three days in September and because I intend to leave the B&B VERY early each morning, the lovely lady who runs the farmhouse has said I only need pay for one B. That leaves me a bit of money to possibly hire a Tom Tom for the trip. I've never used one before and was wondering if I could just prepare it in advance with about a dozen spots in the middle of nowhere. That is... I have them marked already in Google maps. It would be ideal trying to find Lanyon Quoit for example, which is four stones, set back from the road and I want to find it and be set up before dawn. Another is Wistman's woods, which is reputedly the most haunted place in the UK and it is only six acres somewhere on Dartmoor. Any ideas or suggestions are very welcome

Just to help with any comments... I don't own a mobile phone either, so I normally work with just a map and my memory...

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Sounds like a brilliant little trip your going on.

I can't comment on the use of a Sat Nav as I categorically do not use one, never have, never will.
I think what your doing with the use if maps is brilliant! it's not a thing you see people doing these days.
Some office staff I worked with used to use a sat nav to get to work and back home every day!
That's madness! Lol
Having a simple understanding of geographical direction in terms of your north, south, east, west axis is a very fundamental talent to possess.

My recommendation is to keep doing what your good at doing already, reading maps if you already do.

As far a commenting on the use of a sat nav...... I can't help

 

[Paul Lange]

A Tom Tom or a Garmin would be a great idea and from the ones I have used you can save several destinations into the memory for recall later on. What I would say is make sure that it has the very latest updates. My father lent me one a while back and he had never updated it. I came to a new section of roads and junctions and it all went horribly wrong. I would also quickly check the the route it chooses with a map as a few times the satnav has come up with a completely stupid route. When they do work they are great though.

 

[Lesley Jones]

Cheers Dan, but I was hoping to reduce the stress this year. Yes... I can read maps, but trying to get to the Peak District last year was a nightmare. Being sent round the houses (literally) in the larger towns is horrible when you don't know which lane to get in, or which village will be marked when you eventually do see a sign. Cornwall is going to be different in that I need to know when I've arrived. Driving past Lanyon Quoit in the dark isn't going to help much and trying to recognise the woods on Dartmoor (set back from the road by 1 mile) could be a tad tricky.

The even better news is that I intend to eat as well this year. I survived in the Peak District on a packet of digestive biscuits and one bag of chips had to make do for dinner and lunch the following day...

Thanks Paul - that is encouraging. I'm hiring from a reputable company and I imagine the roads around Cornwall don't change that often

 

[Beth Carter]

gps's, at least garmins, are great if you have addresses. but from past experience if you're trying to find a general region it's not brilliant. trying to get to blue ridge parkway is nearly impossible, finding tuggle's gap restaurant on blue ridge is easy, but unfortunately worthless if you're trying to get to the northern section of blue ridge.. if you search for a city you'll end up in the center of the city. and with most of the garmins you can only put two points in, so your destination point and a point along the way. you can save as many points to favorites as you like, but you can only use two at a time. don't expect to put 15 points in and have it draw you the easiest line from point to point, you'll need to reprogram it after every stop or two. and they get lost easily. we were looking for boma restaurant in animal kingdom lodge in disney one time and we ended up going to the service entrance, which was very close as the bird flies, but ended up being 5 miles around disney to get to the other side of the hotel property.