On our summer trip we used paper Michelin maps for overall planning and google maps for the actual ride. Where there was either no signal or massive cost for data (lower Balkans) I downloaded maps of the area we were to ride in when we had wifi then used waypoints to force the route to our preference. Worked really well. Allowed us to change out minds and adapt the route as we went.
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I actually really like the Beeline sat nav, tiny thing on the hanfdlebars that needs charging infrequently as it uses the same display tech as a kindle. Phone can be tucked away and it’s not distracting.
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Yeah, they look smart. Good for city/enduro I imagine. Not sure I’d trust it for a big road-trip abroad though where you need to be absolutely certain of your lane/route/location. Would be happy to try though 
I do have a Tomtom 400 Satnav for the bike, but generally just use Google maps on the phone in the car.
However, I was in Baden-Baden in the GF’s car last Friday night & we were trying to get to a restaurant. It was worse than useless. Kept trying to get us to turn the wrong way up one-way streets, or go through what are now pedestrian only areas. We gave up in the end & stuck the car in the first carp ark we could find & walked there in the rain.
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Not sure what app is everyone using, but I ended up downloading this
I can’t see where to sign up or log in, seems very basic and free.
PS. Sorry to diverge on the thread, feel free to tell me off and will start a new one.
Our council has closed some of the roads around us over two years ago. TomTom still hasn’t updated it maps despite me, and many others, submitting countless error reports. Google and Waze were updated immediately.
I have to remember to warn delivery drivers not to use TomTom or they’ll be fined as they pass the ANPR cameras.
@Jay not sure why but this thread always opens on this point rather than last post.
All other threads are normal
I’m on my second tomtom 400. It’s also the second one that the screen glue is peeling away because it can’t cope with being left in the sun.
Also god forbid it should have a temperature change because condensation forms right in the middle of the screen and makes the touch stop working.
I’ve bought a chinese bike nav that’s simply a carplay/android auto interface to try next
Odd, have you scrolled all the way to the bottom so it knows you’ve read to that point?
Yes
New lid arrived. Love it. They’ve certainly made a few improvements since my six year old one. The quality feels a bit higher, and importantly, the flip mechanism seems to work flawlessly now and doesn’t need/cause the visor to be down or to move up.
Looks quite snazzy too, I think
I like that
Okay, wow! Back home now. Have been for a while, but it takes ages to catch up on work and then find time to edit photos, etc. Took a load of photos (iPhone and Ricoh GRIII). Recorded everything on the Insta360 X3 as well. Should have some stonking footage from that.
Here’s a bit of a diary of our ten days of riding.
Day 1 (and two, but no riding) - Get onto the sea
We would get the Brittany Ferries route from Portsmouth to Bilbao, in Spain. It was an evening departure, so we got a whole day’s work in before-hand. It took two nights to Spain. The ship was super new and really nice. All mod-cons, great staff, great food and lots of booze (which turned out to be really good with helping with the sea state). Definitely recommend getting the ferry with them.
Queuing at Portsmouth for the Ferry. Glad I got new tyres fitted (Michelin Road something). There are two bikes here, promise. We met two bikers who were riding all the way down to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, and they took the photo for us.
First on! Ferry hands take care of the bikes for us.
Checking out the ship. Portsmouth is… uninteresting.
Ships coming, and not going.
@pricetta getting her skiing practice in, for if the mountains are snowed out.
Dinner.
We actually had very bad seas. The worst they’d had all year. I think this from the first day still. By the evening there were plates and drinks flying and crashing everywhere. Only idiots like us were dining in the restaurant. Everyone else was hung over the toilets in their cabins.
Breakfast
Art
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Day 2 - Arriving at Bilbao and Heading to Ansó
Route: https://goo.gl/maps/MyWwTJrMm2BNiVZY8
Hotel: Posada Magoria, Ansó – Updated 2022 Prices
We had to follow some highways to get out of Bilbao, then as soon as we could we climbed out into the mountains on national roads, which are like a mix between A and B roads here. The route here was twisty but quite fast in places. We had a hoot. It was a nice start to the week and made us feel good about the week ahead.
Getting ready to get off the ship. We took the straps off ourselves.
Some crazy vehicles on the ship. Presumably, crazier owners too.
Stopped for a coffee somewhere outside of Bilbao. Made a new friend
Stopped for a wee in the countryside. There were ditches and viaducts you could get some privacy in.
There was nobody on these roads, and they were great! The Spanish really do have the best roads in the world. Everywhere you go, they’re new, smooth and amazing (with a few very rare exceptions).
We arrive, in Ansó, a very medieval, but pretty and well-kept town in the mountains.
Off to find a bar.
View from the hotel room. Moody skies, but warm and dry.
Found a bar. It was very busy. I think this was the best restaurant in the (quite small) town. They were sure punching above their weight. We had to wait to get a table.
Mislabelling aside, check out this crazy lamb and raspberry main. Mmmmm…
Doing a bit of exploring
Lot’s of cute buildings.
The town sits atop this valley. Quite a view, eh?
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Day 3 - Ansó to Lárrede via Oloron-St-Marie
Route: Google Карты
Hotel: https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/vinas-de-larrede-javierre-del-obispo2.en-gb.html
This was a day of riding up from Spain, over the mountain tops and into France for a bit of lunch, before heading back up and over the mountains and back into Spain to our next hotel, which was a fancy one (most are basic). This was our only damp day. We had rain showers on the French side for a bit, but it was very thin-droplet rain and didn’t last long. It was quite warm so dried out quickly. Grip was not affected
This was a pretty amazing day, the route through and over the mountains saw all types of roads and landscape, from tight twisties, to riding roads that made you feel like an ant crawling through a giant’s world, with vast, towering rock faces all around and over you, with waterfalls and lakes, to super-fast, downhill blasts. Incredible.
On the French side, we stopped at Orolon-St-Marie and it was hot as hell! We were definitely over-dressed. Then on the way back into France we stopped at the very top of a mountain where it was cold and extremely windy. So windy, as we sat looking out of the ski restaurant windows, we saw our two GS’ sway quite a lot in the wind, and that’s pretty shocking, as they weigh about 270kg with luggage, so we ran out and moved the bikes to a more sheltered position.
We rode up from the valley below. Had to stop for our first mountain-view. Wow.
Old phone as navigator was working out well.
Stopping for fuel after dropping down into France. Nearly always self-service, though thankfully they do take Visa/Mastercard nowadays.
Stopped for a coffee in Oloron-St-Marie. Moody skies, but hot as hell. Had to disrobe
Riding back up into the mountains, out of France we found this beauty spot. We’re so high up, that’s a cloud next to us!
At the top of the mountain, getting some food. It’s VERY windy. The bikes start swaying so much it looks like they could actually fall over! We move them.
Food! Much needed. Really helped us warm up. The food was really rustic and simple, but unbelievably tasty. Everyone spoke French or Spanish. We didn’t know which language to use and flip-flopped between French, Spanish and English. Quite a few bikers stopped here as well, who didn’t speak any English, so we conversed using our pigeon Spanish/French and the universal biker sign language.
We arrive at the hotel after rocketing down and out of the mountains, with the rain clouds chasing us. We stayed ahead!
Hotel
The view from the room. Wow.
The view from inside the room. Inner bags for the panniers was a game-changer. No idea why I didn’t do this before. Sod lugging boxes in and out of hotels!
It cleared up, a bit.
Amazing skies. Took this with the iPhone.
You can just about see the jagged mountain top where we had lunch.
Asked for a couple of Gin & Tonics, got two mini-bathtubs. Also, I forgot to have a shave before we left. Scruff.
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Are you sure this was a bike trip. You’ve done the journey to the ferry and are now on day 3 and there have been no dramas.
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We’re well practiced now no dramas!
Well, saying that, we did turn up to a hotel in a ski village in France that wasn’t open until 5pm so we had to wait around for two hours and on top of that we were STARVING and nowhere was open so had to go to a supermarket to buy a baguette, butter, ham and cheese to eat on a bench whilst we waited for the hotel to open. Then the hotelier was late, making us think nobody was coming so started looking at alternate hotels, only for the hotelier to turn up. All good in the end, but I don’t think I was very popular that afternoon 
More days to come…
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Looks fab
Ham & cheese manwich is my staple lunch in france. pain au chocolat & carton of orange juice from a supermarket for breakfast. Travels well and covers all bases.
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Man what great pics. I do have one observation!
Day 2, well placed coffee sign I must say! but what is the one on the right doing to Mrs Jay?
Haha, I hadn’t noticed that mate Cheeky bugger.