Brinkburn Priory and satnav

[otherclive]

Today we drove to Rothbury and after a walk about and lunch decided to visit Brinkburn Priory an English Heritage site. I looked at my OS Landranger revised 1999 and sussed out a route. I then checked to see if the satnav had it in its data base. Sure enough it had so I set the priory as a destination and just looked at the screen to confirm it was where it should be. Off we went. The road quickly morphed into single lane, negative passing places. Fortunately nothing came the other way. Then the road dropped steeply to a ford. No turning options. It then presented another ford a mile or so later with a steep sharp turn and poor surface. Eventually satnav took us down a narrow lane and announced we had arrived. Yet all we could see was a farm and adjoining kennels/cattery at the dead end we had arrived at.

Satnav was telling us the priory was 70 yds away. So looking at my OS map I could see we were on the left bank of the River Coquet and the priory was on the right bank but still not visible. So we extracted ourselves and used the OS map which despite being 24 years old was still accurate. Old historical piles tend to stay where they are. The lady in the Priory office said they often get people arrive at the priory when they wanted the kennels and cattery.

The “Learning Experience ”? Even aged OS maps can beat modern technology. I’ve got some OS maps circa mid 1980s which amuse our kids.

 

[Woodentop]

Strange. When we went there I'm sure it was signed in Rothbury?

The Priory is often used for recording classical/choral music as it has one of the best acoustics in the country.

 

[otherclive]

Strange. When we went there I'm sure it was signed in Rothbury?

The Priory is often used for recording classical/choral music as it has one of the best acoustics in the country.

Yes it is signed. We had parked over the River Coquet in a long term car park. Rather than go back into Rothbury and make a right turn onto the B6342 I looked at an alternative route to save going back into Rothbury which was pretty congested due to temporary road works.

 

[RogerL]

Today we drove to Rothbury and after a walk about and lunch decided to visit Brinkburn Priory an English Heritage site. I looked at my OS Landranger revised 1999 and sussed out a route. I then checked to see if the satnav had it in its data base. Sure enough it had so I set the priory as a destination and just looked at the screen to confirm it was where it should be. Off we went. The road quickly morphed into single lane, negative passing places. Fortunately nothing came the other way. Then the road dropped steeply to a ford. No turning options. It then presented another ford a mile or so later with a steep sharp turn and poor surface. Eventually satnav took us down a narrow lane and announced we had arrived. Yet all we could see was a farm and adjoining kennels/cattery at the dead end we had arrived at.

Satnav was telling us the priory was 70 yds away. So looking at my OS map I could see we were on the left bank of the River Coquet and the priory was on the right bank but still not visible. So we extracted ourselves and used the OS map which despite being 24 years old was still accurate. Old historical piles tend to stay where they are. The lady in the Priory office said they often get people arrive at the priory when they wanted the kennels and cattery.

The “Learning Experience ”? Even aged OS maps can beat modern technology. I’ve got some OS maps circa mid 1980s which amuse our kids.

Part of the problem is that satnavs often rely on postcodes which can be quite large in very rural areas.

Over the weekend we stayed at the Travelodge in Kings Lynn - using the postcode in the satnav took us to the industrial estate at the back of the hotel but with no way in.

I suspect that naming a specific place on Google Maps or Waze will take you directly there whereas if using a postcode, even they will get it wrong sometimes.

 

[otherclive]

Part of the problem is that satnavs often rely on postcodes which can be quite large in very rural areas.

Over the weekend we stayed at the Travelodge in Kings Lynn - using the postcode in the satnav took us to the industrial estate at the back of the hotel but with no way in.

I suspect that naming a specific place on Google Maps or Waze will take you directly there whereas if using a postcode, even they will get it wrong sometimes.

The cars satnav is a Tom Tom unit which got us very close albeit on the wrong side of the river. I’ve had experience such as yours when I was directed to a supermarket goods inwards quite a way from the normal public parking areas.

My satnav asks at the end of a route if it was satisfactory. Today it got a positive “No”.

 

[Buckman]

The cars satnav is a Tom Tom unit which got us very close albeit on the wrong side of the river. I’ve had experience such as yours when I was directed to a supermarket goods inwards quite a way from the normal public parking areas.

My satnav asks at the end of a route if it was satisfactory. Today it got a positive “No”.

Have you added it as a POI onto your TomTom. We were able to load a list of POIs onto our TomTom under the POI attractions. It uses co-ordinates instead of Post codes. We have the same for caravan sites and CLs. Post codes in rural areas are fairly hopeless and no fault of the Satnav.

 

[Beachball]

Reading your details this has help us because we like to visit this place and so far the Satnav in the new car has been spot on with routes but i will carry a map just in case . Apart from that did you have a nice visit

 

[otherclive]

Reading your details this has help us because we like to visit this place and so far the Satnav in the new car has been spot on with routes but i will carry a map just in case . Apart from that did you have a nice visit

A very nice place to visit. Off to Holy Island today for seal spotting, then a meal at The Barn in Beal which looks out to Holy Island.