Barcobird Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 I have the AA big easy read of France which is a paperback A3 and 3 miles to the inch. Having scoured the Internet for something similar for Spain and Portugal (AA don't do one, only smaller scale and A4) I have found absolutely nothing! Does anyone have any suggestions on where I might get something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 i find the AA Spain/Portugal OK. 6.3miles to 1 inch (4KM to 1cm I always carry a magnify glass as well, for small places Got my last one from Vicarious Books I like the spiral bound, as easy to use on lap if need be (not as the driver !) Have had the philips map in the past, but that was enormous . you use as a table cloth! PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcobird Posted July 9, 2017 Author Share Posted July 9, 2017 PJay - 2017-07-08 7:10 PM i find the AA Spain/Portugal OK. 6.3miles to 1 inch (4KM to 1cm I always carry a magnify glass as well, for small places Got my last one from Vicarious Books I like the spiral bound, as easy to use on lap if need be (not as the driver !) Have had the philips map in the past, but that was enormous . you use as a table cloth! PJay Problem with the smaller maps PJ, they don't show the little roads as much as on the larger scale ones. And your right a map is a pain in the butt. After a while through folding it on different creases etc it starts to fall apart ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 We carry an atlas and a sheet map for each country we visit, but use them almost exclusively as a planning aid, for navigation purposes we use a sat nav. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeco Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 You could try mapsworldwide in Melksham. I have been using them for several years with excellent results. They could confirm if what you want is available. They have been very cost effective for Michelin maps in the past almost 30% cheaper than here in AU including postage.cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcobird Posted July 10, 2017 Author Share Posted July 10, 2017 Thanks Gary, an excellent site but still not what I want. They do list a lot of stuff that I have seen on the shelves in Portugal. I am coming to the conclusion that what I am looking for does not exist, obviously France is travelled a lot more !? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Barcobird I agree that you are on a loser, and that no road atlas that covers Spain and Portugal will have a scale larger than the 6.3miles to 1inch/ 4km to 1cm scales P Jay mentions. You may well be able to obtain larger-scale individual ‘regional’ maps of areas in Spain and Portugal, but that won’t help if you want a country-wide overview. A potential snag (as PJay observes) with an A3-size road atlas is its large physical size and where to store it in the motorhome. I used A3 atlases for the UK and France when I owned a Hobby motorhome and carried them in a DIY-constructed plywood ‘slot’ bolted to the inner side of the Hobby’s driver’s-seat base (from which I had removed the seat-swivel mechanism). My current Rapido has swivels on both cab seats, so I cannot use the ‘slot’ ploy any more. Consequently, I now use large scale (3miles to 1inch/2km to 1cm) atlases for the UK and France, but in A4 size. These will conveniently fit in the Rapido/Ducato’s central dashboard storage ‘bin’, but, although the A4 atlases have the same level of detail as the A3 versions, they have a lot more pages and are less easy to handle when deciding on a route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Try Stanfords if you haven't already done so, I think if they don't have anything at the scale you want you probably won't find it. They also sell sheet maps for pretty well all European countries, and in many cases you can pull up a sample section to assess the mapping. The best I have found for Spain/Portugal is the Michelin 1:400,000 spiral bound road atlas which is a shade over A4. As others have said it is a lot easier to manipulate than the 1:200,000 A3 France atlas. It show numerous minor rural roads, indicating both surfaced and un-surfaced roads, and gives a graphic indication of carriageway width and topography while remaining clear and uncluttered, so easy to read. It does not indicate weight or height obstructions. It includes a useful set of town plans as an appendix at the back, which clearly indicate one way systems: very useful in some of the older town centres! Given the size and configuration of your van, I think I'd be very cautious before turning onto any road that is not mapped. Among the potential hazards of getting overambitious, many small (and not so small! :-)) towns and villages have projecting balconies lining their streets, that make negotiating them at the least arduous and in extreme cases physically impossible. At least the mapped roads should generally prove navigable by normal traffic. Where in doubt, if possible, first use Google Earth and Street View to confirm passability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagrid Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 I have been looking for a detailed map of Portugal I was recommended to use Mapamax Espana y Portugal, !:400,000 1cm:4km. Available via Amazon It arrived the other day and seems just what I was looking for, it is A3 and certainly shows much greater detail than the AA atlas I had. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcobird Posted July 10, 2017 Author Share Posted July 10, 2017 hagrid - 2017-07-10 12:34 PM I have been looking for a detailed map of Portugal I was recommended to use Mapamax Espana y Portugal, !:400,000 1cm:4km. Available via Amazon It arrived the other day and seems just what I was looking for, it is A3 and certainly shows much greater detail than the AA atlas I had. Bob Thanks Bob, looks just the ticket. Was it the 2015 or 2017 edition and I presume Amazon UK ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Derek Uzzell - 2017-07-10 9:08 AM I agree that you are on a loser, and that no road atlas that covers Spain and Portugal will have a scale larger than the 6.3miles to 1inch/ 4km to 1cm scales P Jay mentions. The Marco Polo road atlas of Spain & Portugal is at 1:300,000 i.e. 4.7 miles to 1 inch. A4 (actually marginally smaller) and spiral bound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Brian Kirby - 2017-07-10 12:10 PM Given the size and configuration of your van, I think I'd be very cautious before turning onto any road that is not mapped. Among the potential hazards of getting overambitious, many small (and not so small! :-)) towns and villages have projecting balconies lining their streets, that make negotiating them at the least arduous and in extreme cases physically impossible. At least the mapped roads should generally prove navigable by normal traffic. Where in doubt, if possible, first use Google Earth and Street View to confirm passability. As we know to our cost!! The bracket of a small air con caught the over cab of our van! That was in a small village in Portugal PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcobird Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 Barcobird - 2017-07-10 2:50 PM hagrid - 2017-07-10 12:34 PM I have been looking for a detailed map of Portugal I was recommended to use Mapamax Espana y Portugal, !:400,000 1cm:4km. Available via Amazon It arrived the other day and seems just what I was looking for, it is A3 and certainly shows much greater detail than the AA atlas I had. Bob Thanks Bob, looks just the ticket. Was it the 2015 or 2017 edition and I presume Amazon UK ? Managed to find 2017 version on the Amazon Spain website, I wait with baited breath (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagrid Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 2017 Amazon UK but I think it came from Spain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcobird Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 Brian Kirby - 2017-07-10 12:10 PM Given the size and configuration of your van, I think I'd be very cautious before turning onto any road that is not mapped. Among the potential hazards of getting overambitious, many small (and not so small! :-)) towns and villages have projecting balconies lining their streets, that make negotiating them at the least arduous and in extreme cases physically impossible. At least the mapped roads should generally prove navigable by normal traffic. Where in doubt, if possible, first use Google Earth and Street View to confirm passability. Already been down that "road" Brian (lol) Even with the big AA atlas we found ourselves in the middle of a small French village and don't know to this day how we got out unscathed. Sometimes when your in your in and there's no turning back ! Maps and sat navs don't always guide you correctly, especially when you get plonkers parking on both sides of the road half on the pavement and half off ! On another occasion in Northern Spain we simply followed the sat nav which took us on to a single track road (track) we eventually arrived at the point of no return and I ended up reversing for nearly a kilometre. Lesson learnt, if not sure stop and check and always have internet available (we didn't) so you can see Google Earth etc. I guess that's the joys of exploring and wild camping as opposed to blasting down the motorway to the next camp site *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 We travelled miles down a narrow, basically single track, lane this year in the Auvergne, until we came to a "route barrée" sign, where a bit of a landslide involving the edge of the road falling into a stream was under repair, and there was no viable turning place. Fortunately the work gang were on their lunch break, so I got out and asked if the road was actually impassable. Obliging foreman looked at the van and said he thought we'd be OK, so reversed his truck to clear the road and let us through. We duly teetered on with a bit of slightly exciting sideslip on the remains of the landslide, and gained terra firma the other side. As you say all part of the fun, but you never quite know what's round the next bend, do you? :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starvin marvin Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 The best Spain & Portugal road atlas I've found is the 1:300,000 by Euro Atlas GeoCenter A4 and properly bound, not the stupid spiral bound which fall to pieces in very short order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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