As I have mentioned before, my husband and son most generously bought me a Nokia N97 mini especially for this trip. In addition to being a mobile phone it is really a wonderful liitle computer, camera, torch, spirit level etc. etc. I can email, surf and blog with it and if the WLAN is strong enough or if I am willing to pay enough I can upload photos direktly fron the camera. I have a special holder on the bike where I put it when it is not raining so I can stop and take a photo easily whenever I want. There are lots of applications including the sportstracker, which I have not used much on this trip as it uses up too much battery, but there is supposed to be a dynamo on the market, which keeps it charged up.
Then there is the built in sat-nav. This is where the love-hate part comes in. It uses OVI maps, which are made for cars and pedestrians. You can tell it you do or don’t want to use motorways, tunnels, ferries, toll-roads, non-surfaced roads etc. – you can imagine what I have chosen. I have only used it for short periods where I have really needed help like finding my accomodation or finding my way out of towns. A couple of times this has been a great help and I have loved it. On one occasion it took me the wrong way around the one-way system and another couple of times it insisted on taking me on busy dual-carriageways. That’s where I could happily throw it on the dual-carriageway and watch one of those horrible big lorries drive over it. But on the whole I do love my Nokia N97 mini and OVI will hopefully soon improve their maps for cyclists and other drivers who prefer quieter roads. Thanks again, Peter and Andre!