Driving in Cornwall – dump the SatNav!

Date: 2011.03.04 | Category: Cornwall, Family Man, holidays, South West England | Tags:

Is it just me or does the car Sat Nav system deliberately set out to add to my stress when driving with a full car (family and luggage) and towing our caravan? And, what is it with Cornwall in the South West of England that makes the use of a Sat Nav so completely and utterly pointless?

I was pondering these questions on last year’s summer holiday.  On our way to Newquay the SatNav spent a great part of the journey telling me I was actually driving through fields.  Now I may be a bit of a townie but I can assure you that I can tell the difference between tarmac and pasture!

The SatNav could be slightly excused because maybe I should have paid out for newer maps (although it is only a couple of years old and why should we be conned in to constantly paying out for something it should update for free) but there is no such excuse for it when it took us the fastest route to Newquay airport via 4 different routes even though we left from the same place.  However, that was nothing to the route it took us next – when the road got smaller and smaller until it was better described as a path.

By this point we had lost confidence completely in its ability to get us anywhere.  Which is a problem when you are on a caravan touring holiday.  After all you rely on the SatNav a great deal with your caravan on the back to help the journey go smoothly, but when you are suddenly thrust back into pre SatNav days how do you cope??

Er, well not well actually.  It is amazing how quick you can fall back in to those map reading arguments -driver demands for instant direction decisions and navigator panic followed by refusal to work under such streesful conditions!

Our learning from last year’s trip to the South West:

• Update the satNav maps
• Plan your route using an internet route planner and write down the basic route
• Make sure you have an up to date map book in the car for those all else fails situations

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