Route Navigation & Sat Nav

Manual Navigation

For those without sat nav devices or who like to navigate themselves, each Lake District Drive has an interactive map showing the route and attractions plus a brief description of the route between each attraction. The drive normally starts at a convenient centre and forms a clockwise loop thereby returning to the same centre. Of course you can start the route anywhere along the loop or do it in reverse, although route descriptions and mileages would need adjusting. Also, bear in mind that the mileage figures given are based on visiting every attraction along the way. If any attractions are bypassed, the total mileage is likely to be reduced.

Satellite Navigation

For those with sat nav devices or map apps, you can use these to help you follow the drives and take the stress out of navigating. There are two different types of satellite navigation;

Firstly, using Points Of Interest (POI) coordinates. Each attraction description includes the Northing and Easting (POI) coordinates for the vehicle entrance. You can navigate via each attraction by selecting the POI coordinates for the next attraction on your device and the sat nav will select what it thinks is the best route according to your preferences. Due to the quirks of sat nav route finding, no guarantee can be given that the sat nav route will be the same as the route described, especially if not all attractions are visited. The sat nav POI coordinates for a particular attraction can easily be manually input to your sat nav device. Most sat nav’s have an option to input coordinates directly. If you are using a map app you should be able to enter the coordinates straight into the search box. For example, ‘N 54.59936, W 3.13758’, or ‘54.59936, -3.13758’ (west is given as a minus in the coordinates). Alternatively, the attraction POI files are available for download to your device as described below.

Secondly, using GPX files. These files can be uploaded to an appropriate sat nav or app and will then show you the exact route on your device. This should ensure you are following the described route at all times. The attractions are also shown along the way. GPX files for each drive are available for download as described below.

POI & GPX files

POI files for each drive are included on each drive page for free.

Also, available to download for a small fee via Paypal using the link below are;

• A single POI file containing the attraction coordinates for all 15 local drives
• A single POI file containing all attraction coordinates for the Ultimate drive
• Separate GPX files for all 15 local drives and the Ultimate drive.

The fee also includes the PDF drives files.

Each POI file includes the most common formats in a zip file; Garmin (csv), TomTom (ov2) & Google Earth (kml). Your device instructions or the internet should explain how to upload the relevant file. Other file formats can be created from these files using a suitable POI converter tool, for example here.

The following link takes you to the page where you can purchase the sat nav files.