These little gems offer a much more useful scale to someone using an engine than the traditional orange Explorer Maps or pink Landranger Maps are.
They might be a “zoomed out” OS Map, but they include everything you need for a road trip, including primary road destinations, all kinds of roads with colour classifications, notes on ferry crossings and toll bridges, and easy-to-spot icons for National Parks, beaches, tourist spots and information.
And, because they are OS Maps, they also include contour information.
When I’m planning a road trip – such as the iconic North Coast 500 route in the very north of Scotland or something a bit more bespoke – I like nothing more than opening out a paper map on my dining table, studying it, and taking a highlighter and green fine liner to it to mark up the best looking roads, trailheads, viewpoints, and campsites.
The fact that, even though it’s scaled back in terms of what most people consider “Ordnance Survey mapping”, I still get everything I need, including contour lines and terrain shading, so I can plot the best route for my trip.
I just love to get a real sense of what my trip might look like – and work out how long I might need in any given area.