no pets allowed at centenary event

[Tony Griffiths]

Dogs are great but they cannot attend the centenary.
As I understand it the site is used for training fire service dogs. As dogs get more information by far from the scent of smell they would be totally confused if dozens of dogs were on the site. It's perfectly understandable.
Finding such a good site so close to the centre of the country is excellent. We are not bothered by distance, but 300 miles to Moreton-in-Marsh is much better than 420 to Beaulieu. The only difficulty is avoiding motorways & dual carriageways, but that's good fun. Takes us to interesting places we would not otherwise see.

Well said. It's a shame that no satNav I know allows just B roads to be put in as an option, only "avoiding motorways". But if you use a smartphone and Google or Apple maps, you can enter "cycle route" - the snag being that some of these include canal towpaths and other interesting diversions. Still, the son of a friend did drive back from the south coast to Derbsyhire using such a route for a lot of the way.

Hi Tony, my TomTom satnav. has an option of selecting a max. speed route; I have found that asking it to pick a 40mph max. route that it usually selects back roads in preference to any busier routes. When using it in the 7 I select this option even if I traverse most of it at faster than 40mph!

That's a good one I didn't know about. Unfortunately, around 8 years ago, TomTom removed the facility to use third-party POIs (points of interest) and set warnings and routes to them. Consequently, I've refused to buy another (nor, from the comments on the TOmTom Users Group, have tens of thousands of others) but use my trusty 750 when necessary. On that one can even type in comments that are spoken on the approach to a POI - quite handy. The TomTom interface I've always found far better than the Garmin - but the latter does offer lifetime maps updates and other features lacking in the competition.

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Finally this thread throws up something I am prepared to respond to!

HOW TO PLOT A 'B' ROAD ROUTE FOR TOMTOM SATNAV

You can plan a 'b' roads route in Google Maps (theoretically also in TomTom 'MyDrive', but in practice much harder).
Once you have your preferred route displayed on Google Maps (using the cursor to drag route where you want it) copy the page URL. (Yes Tony - try starting from the cycle route option)
Open "Maps to GPX" (Google it) and paste the URL into the conversion field and press "let's go".
It will convert your route into a .gpx file which will appear in your downloads folder.
Now sign in to TomTom 'MyDrive' on your computer, and select 'My Routes'.
At the  bottom is an option "import .gpx file". Simply navigate to the file and upload it. 
Check the box which says something like "synchronise to my device as a track" (forgotten precise wording).
Now switch on your TomTom device and connect it to MyDrive vis USB or wifi (according to the device).
It will synchronise and in doing so update its 'my routes' section with your new route. Bingo!

One thing to remember is that the TomTom has (frankly) a design flaw, which is that it can only follow a track in one direction.
If you wish to return by the same route you must plot it again in the reverse direction and upload a second .gpx file.

It sounds complicated but really quite easy if you follow step by step.
It certainly works on my device (TomTom Go Basic) but I can't answer for other versions.
If anyone would like a more detailed step-by-step set of illustrated instructions please don't hesitate to p.m. me with your e-mail address.

I resisted satnav firmly until this year, when the realisation dawned that next year's (fingers crossed) summer holiday will take us over 1000 miles on b-roads and that my navigator was going to need help. For this specific purpose I would say it is a real asset. When we get there I'm switching it off!

Thanks for that, very interesting indeed. As for switching it off, I bet you don't! I was an early convert to SatNavs - especially on motorcycles where, in a strange location, at night, in the pouring rain they make life so much easier. In Italy, I was flagged down by a British motorcyclist, completely lost with just a sodden map and fading touch to hand. The joy on his face when I said, "Follow me." On another occasion, looking for accommodation too late into the evening, tapping the screen came up with an answer in a fraction of a second. Built-in SatNavs and phones have now made things even easier, one's passenger can negotiate the best room rate at 80 mph (but not on a bike...well, not yet).