I have just completed a five month 28000 km trip through east and west Europe and had very few troubles navigating using a Garmin GPS (590)

My route preference was minor / back roads with almost no motorway / major highway riding
There were a few ocassions when the Garmin took me on a "more interesting" route however these were the exception rather than the norm

Similar experience in Australia and New Zealand - can't comment on accuracy in other parts of the world - will be testing this next year!

Probably weren't that many people there on 1st July 1916 - those early model paper sat-navs had everyone around 100 miles further south, "cursing their staff for incompetent swine" to misquote Siegfried Sassoon.

My 1905 Baedeker for the area refers to the town as Ypres in a kind of shout loud if they don't understand you way and recommends I visit the impressive cathedral and the cloth hall. Doesn't help me to get there though; the stupid book doesn't even mention the motorway. :rofl:

The majority of Kitchener's Pals died on 1st July 1916. So, yes they were definitely in the wrong place that day. But they were at Wipers.

They certainly were at the wrong place at the wrong time but it wasn't Wipers on 1st July. Most of them were part of the 31st Division attacking the Serre area on the Somme 80 miles to the south east of Ypres. Was it the Leeds Pals described as "two years in the making and 10 mins in the destroying" (can't remember who said it)?

The only significant military action in the Ypres area in 1916 was a German attack about a month earlier aimed at capturing the "high" ground of hills 61 and 62 to improve their observation ability. The defending troops were mostly Canadian and suffered 8500 casualties over the two weeks of the battle. That's almost unimaginable now but its vanished into the shadows of history compared to what was going on at Verdun at the same time, what happened on the Somme a few weeks later and at Ypres / Passchendaele the following year.

I'll stand corrected on that point of history/geography. Thanks.

I tagged along on a classic bike club ride out on Remembrance Sunday to the Leeds Pals Memorial a couple of years ago and it was very saddening to acknowledge that of the thousand or so Leeds Pals who went to France only 47 (if I remember correctly the son of one of the very few that lived) survived. Most were killed between 1st and 3rd July 2016.

Every model of garmin seems to have different maps and routing strategies. My old 2590 is better at finding routes, but it definitely has a preference for roads narrower than 6ft. It also dislikes using the same route to and fro anywhere. The drive 60 shares Quite a bit with the both will cop out of plotting a route without tolls and both like to make inexplicable detours (on one route nearly 300KM)
The point is I want a device where I can enter the address and have the device navigate a reasonable route to it. The difference from my place to a friends using Via michelin and garming is in excess of 230 miles plus the garmin still has to use toll roads as it can't find a route without. in essence I dare not follow it as even when I have created routes it will turn off dual carriageways in order to explore the surrounding countryside. Maps are great for pre planning routes but not easy on bike or car for navigation. Also if you pre plan a route, it will always take you to the start of the trip before setting off to your destination. so if you avoid a detour it sulks and takes you back to your start point so you can do the whole journey its way.

I found the address of Tyne cot not using the name Ypres so I now have a destination. but I could not have found it whilst on the road.

That 230 extra miles in UK terms is akin to selecting Birmingham from Portsmouth and finding it has routed you via Bristol and Yarmouth. Utterly unacceptable.

while you are in the area, don't miss the opportunity to also visit:
- the last post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres
- the German cemetery in Vladslo with the "Mourning Parents" statue of Käthe Kollwitz
- the Ijzer tower in Ypres
- the John McCrae site in Boezinge

The whole historical area around Ypres is well signed, and you will find many free brochures and maps are available at the various historic sites. Just pick up a map, and use it to locate the sites you want to visit... then program the various waypoints into your GPS by scrolling around the GPS display, and dropping waypoints.

Michael

Thanks for that as although I have been there several times I have not visited several of the places you mention so in February 2017 I make sure I visit them.
Having taken my grandson several years ago which made an impression on him this time I am taking my two younger ones as I consider we owe it to those that died that we are ensure that future generations never forget the sacrifice they made.