The Importance of Maps (or why I am not a navigator...)

[Bonez]

i think it was halcombe. that sounds familiar. there were a number of one way bridges if i recall and very little traffic of any kind.

How long ago? Been no one way bridges through Halcombe for donkeys years. The other two I mentioned have a few though.

[sunhuntin]

must have been wrong then. was about a year ago, give or take a few months.

[marty]

Went for a "little" ride before work this morning......south to Karapiro, thence East via Buckland Rd and return through Scotsman's Valley Road. Or that was the plan.....
Got to Buckland Rd OK.....yes, nice road, lots of curves, great views from on high, a little too much new seal with ball bearing gravel all over it but hey, you take what you get.
I had a vague idea of where I went from Buckland Road.......sorta head in an anticlockwise direction and you had to hit either SH1 or SH26 even if you missed Scotsman's Valley.......or so I thought.......
I eventually reached a major road with a sign saying "Racecourse".."ahhhh" I think, "must be close to Cambridge" (actually it was Matamata - maybe the "Hobbiton" sign should have told me something.......)..."will head away from there and find 26...."
Well eventually I found another major intersection and thought "yep head left here and back to Hamilton"......BUT the sign pointed RIGHT to Hamilton...."WTF??? Where am I then?"
So I followed the directions and next thing I am in Hinuera...on SH29!!! half way to bloody Tauranga......I was 180 degrees out in my direction. When I thought I was heading north I was in fact heading south..... No wonder I didn't get to navigate a polynesian canoe.....
(my excuse is that the sun was obscured by cloud.......)

sounds like when you came out of buckland you turned right instead of left - left takes you toward matamata, but you have to turn left again about 5 k's from buckland rd (morgan rd) then just keep turning left at the 'major' roads. i often take that back rd to matamata en-route to the airfield. i concur on the roadworks!

[slofox]

sounds like when you came out of buckland you turned right instead of left - left takes you toward matamata, but you have to turn left again about 5 k's from buckland rd (morgan rd) then just keep turning left at the 'major' roads. i often take that back rd to matamata en-route to the airfield. i concur on the roadworks!

You got it Marty....exactly what I did.....my anticlockwise circle turned into a clockwise one.....BUT I have written the route on a stick-it note for next time......

[slimjim]

"NOW THAT"S WHATS BIKING IS ALL ABOUT"...Yeah...

[ckai]

Maybe I should right my detours on a post-it as well. Always seem to fluke a nice road and can never find the bloody things again. I remember daydreaming cruising to Wellington and missing the all important turn-off before Palmy. I ended up in Palmy without knowing why!! but took a road that was bloody awesome and brought me out in Foxton. Only added about 30 mins (at least that's what I thought). Do you think I could find that road again??

[martybabe]

I love getting lost like that, more excuse to keep on pooling around!

The funny thing is that when you want to replicate your route, you end up getting re-lost all over again!

That is so spot on. In an effort to emulate my Hero erm GI summat, I just tootle all over the place, I'll eventually find a big road that leads back home.

Howbloomingever, should I find a primo road, with super bends or views to die for and subsequently want to ride there again, I can never find the spiggin place and end up lost somewhere else.

Or...if I do find it they've usually dug the bugger up and made another bloody gravel pit so there was no point searching for it in the second place.

Life is a mystery tour.