What's so good about Waterway Routes?

First, a bit of explanation. What is "Waterway Routes"? Well, it's a map of the canals and rivers of England and Wales. It's available in two formats: a set of individual maps as (printable) pages on a computer file, suitable for laptop or tablet; or a scrollable and zoomable version for phone or tablet which can link with the device's GPS to track your position on the map.

So what's so good about it? Last year we tackled the Anglian rivers and Fenland waterways, a part of the connected network which doesn't make it into the Nicholson guides. We had obtained other guides, including an outdated Imray, but we found Waterway Routes invaluable for telling us where we were at all times, giving us up-to-date and accurate information of the location of facilities and moorings, and even showing which side of a river lock the lock landing and the control box were. Yes, it would have been possible to navigate to Bedford and back without WR but having the mapping system made it much easier.

How can it be up-to-date? Some users of the system report back to Paul Balmer, its creator, any updates required. These can be new or removed bridges or facilities, or other changes to the maps from the version they have. In fact, one of Paul's main selling points is that the maps are so up-to-date.

OK, so it's useful for rivers, especially where other guides are patchy or difficult to interpret. But what about on the canals? I mean, here we have Nicholson's and Pearson. Nicholson marks water points and other facilities, and I have used the maps for years with few difficulties. But where Waterway Routes scores is - again - its accuracy. Sometimes Nicholson is rather vague about the position of some facilities, but WR shows exactly where and which side of the waterway they are to be found. And there are the moorings. WR marks where there is a time restriction, and indicates the quality of the mooring by implying if there is anything to tie up to.

It's also very useful for route planning. Where Nicholson marks its maps with a pin every mile, Paul marks his every half-hour of cruising time. These half-hour points take into account locks and moveable bridges and are based on his actual times when doing the route himself. It is easy to calculate how long it would take to get from A to B; I have found the times remarkably reliable. We are currently at Bishop's Stortford; tomorrow we are aiming to get to Hunsdon Lock. The time marker at Bishop's Stortford is 7.5 hours (the time from the junction with the Lee Navigation); the time marker at Hunsdon Lock is 1.5 hours. So, barring the unexpected - and a lunch stop - it should take around six hours to get there.

I hadn't expected to find the location marker so useful. We use the system on a phone; its internal GPS indicates our current position by crosshairs in a circle. As we go along our historic route is tracked and appears as a thin red line on the map. Sometimes keeping track of exactly where you are using, say, Nicholson is not easy. What was the last bridge I passed? Is the Elsan point coming up or have I missed it? Whereas with WR there is never any doubt.

Any minus points? I think it's a mistake not to mark pubs, especially waterside ones. Paul's argument for not doing so is that they can close down or otherwise change so quickly that it would be difficult to keep on top of all the updates required. He says that, for example, aiming for a pub marked on WR in order to eat there only to find it had closed down would undermine the USP of the system, i.e. its accuracy. In my experience, though, most canalside pubs keep going year on year. Yes, a few have closed, but it's easy to check ahead with Google Maps or an internet search that a specific pub is still in business.

There is no editorial content; there are no paragraphs of information about the environs. Consequently I keep the Nicholson's guide open at the same time as WR for that extra bit of interest.

Here's an example of the route tracker. In Hertford a few days ago we went beyond the official end of navigation; the thin red line shows how far we got. (Apologies for the poor quality photo of the phone screen.)

The thick blue line, ending at the winding hole, is the navigation; our excursion to the south-west is clear. (And that was just the back of the boat!) The white circles, by the way, indicate access points from/to the bank.

Oh, another useful feature of Waterway Routes on a device with GPS is that it can tell you your speed. Has your speed dropped even though your revs are the same? You have something round the prop, you're pushing a raft of weed in front or the water has got very shallow. You can't do much about the last, but it could be worth checking the first two things.

Another thing the maps are good for is showing routes of former canals complete with locks. (Sarah of Chertsey has written eloquently on her exploration of the Chesterfield Canal with Waterways Routes.) Proposed canals such as the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway are also shown.

Declaration of interest: I was given a copy of Waterway Routes to review but I have tried to be objective. I have written this with no input from Paul, who will, no doubt, comment if necessary!