Maps & Panning
No trip really starts until you’ve bought the maps and started drawing lines on them. Google Maps is all well and good, but there’s nothing like getting a huge map out on the table and highlighting interesting places… It’s only then that a route starts to take shape.
No planning day is complete without a solid breakfast, we started our day in London at the Regency Cafe. It was our first visit – BRILLIANT. We got the laptop out and started listing the shrines we wanted to get to… but it was clear we needed BIG maps.
The only place to buy maps is, of course, Stanfords in London. I first went to Stanfords when we were planning out trip out to Russia – they were the only people who carried detailed maps for the places we were planning to visit. This was when they were in Long Acre – a huge shop where dreams of distant shores made you smile as you got lost in the stacks of maps in the basement.
Now, they’re in a cute little place just off Long Acre. They’ve still got a fine selection of maps in the basement, as well as an in-store bespoke printing service, so if it’s not on the shelf, they can almost certainly print it for you there and then. It’s not *quite* the same, but it’s still not an official adventure until you’ve visited and bought your first maps.
After the visit to Stanfords, we headed over to Westminster Cathedral and the lovely people at the St. Paul’s Bookshop… Dan needed to be brought gently into the arms of Our Lady. He’s a died in the wool protestant… which is going to make a joruney around Europes Marian Shrines interesting.
Dan is now equipped with a rosary, and with a little exposure therapy, can stand in front of a statue of Our Lady without shouting, ‘she’s dead!’. We’ll bring him to the catholic side eventually.
The latest map of the planned journey is below, it’s under constant review and will almost certainly not be what we end up doing. Please drop us a line if you’ve got ideas on interesting places for us to visit.
