 On the subject of filling in the missing gaps, don't let's forget Hamish Brown's "From the Pennines to the Highlands" and "Walking the Summits of Somerset & Avon" which fill in two of the big gaps.
Paddy, I'd be interested to know what computer you use when out on the trail.
John
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 JH - I know all about them, and I'm sure Cameron does too, but we were talking in the context of National Trails. Those two routes of Hamish's, while admirable links, are not National Trails. My thinking runs along the lines that the National Trails should be more inter-linked, so that they can truly be described as a network, and of course I'd be happy if Hamish's routes were fully waymarked and supported in that respect.
As for my computer, it's nothing more than an obsolete Psion 3mx. I use it because it has a 'proper' keyboard, which the new generation of PDAs lack entirely. Those PDAs that have keyboards are quite useless to me, since you can only stab at them with one finger or a ballpoint pen. I can type with all my fingers, so obviously I can race ahead with a 'proper' keyboard. I take detailed notes along the trail each day, then edit them in the evening, so that when I get back home I have a whole guidebook in my pocket ready to transfer onto my desktop PC. No pens, pencils, paper, dictaphones or other clumsy contrivances... and certainly no relying on hazy memories weeks after the event!
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Paddy, I suspected a Psion. I have a 5mx. It's seven years old now i think, but still a superb device. There's still nothing comparable on the market to replace it with.
I guessed you and Cameron were aware of Hamish's books; just thought I'd bring them to other listeners attention.
John
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 The only benefit for me of the Psion organisers is the fact they run off AA batteries and therefore can be kept going alot easier than my MDA Pro while out in the hill.
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That's true Darren. I can usually get well over a month's use out of two AA batteries on the hill, providing I don't use the backlight on the screen, or save to the backup disk too often. Of course, NOT saving work is tempting fate, as I discovered in Italy one time and lost three days of route descriptions. Thankfully, that wasn't for a guidebook! I carry spare batteries, and I also carry a transformer plug, so that I can use someone else's juice whenever I stay indoors. I have both a UK plug and a European one, since carrying a plug adaptor round Europe offends my lightweight principles! I know some people will think this all sounds like a lot of hassle and work, but I find it gives me twice as much time on the hills.
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 would someone be kind enough to post a link so i can do a direct download please. the firewall police have deemed the site unworthy of us mortals attention.
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 Yeah for the Psion.
I'm on my second already( series 5) It's a little marvel.
And why on earth they went off that development track into rechargeable batteries and Symbian.
What a lost opportunity.
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I think Symbian was a gold mine. Remember Bill Gates saying Psion was his biggest worry? He meant Symbian.
Yeah, the rechargeable batteries in the Revo were a disaster for Psion, although the Revo looked good and worked well enough.
If Psion had kept on producing consumer pda's they'd now be in competition with Dell etc. They saw the writing on the wall and got out early. Symbian was they're saviour.
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Biggest mistake Psion made was the 5mx. It should of gone colour at that point, more memory, inbuilt networking and native M$ Office support.
The Series 7 was nice but never a consumer product.
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 Joining the crowd of Psion 5mx fans... The only one coming close to a "renewed" version of the 5 might be the upcoming Nokia Communicator E90. All the bells and whistles of todays technology combined with a o.k. keyboard. Well, not as good as the keyboard on the 5 but much better than comparable ones on the market. And of course it doesn't run on AA batteries...unfortunately given the power requirenments of all the current features like Wlan, 3G etc. there is not a lot of light on the horizon that we will ever see a AA powered unit again... By the way...still own two Psion 5mx...if anyone is interested to buy one of those please send me a mail...need some money for new gadgets...;-)
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I used to have a Series 5, great machine. And a great offer Lighthker, and very tempted.
It was amazing how little space you needed on a Psion to store stuff.
But I'm using a MDA Pro these days, which I think is almost everything the Psion could of been (but with a lesser keyboard).
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thanks jh.
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 I think we need a new term here: the Paddycast ;)
Has a certain ring, don't you think?
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JH - Symbian. Hah!- I spit on the name
;-)
I had shares in Psion around that time and slowly watched them turn into paper bedding for the hamster cage.
Now don't get me started......
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For what it's worth, here's the true story of how I came by Psion.
In the olden days when everyone was raving about Amstrad computers and Locoscript, and the best computer I'd ever seen was a BBC Acorn, I vowed never to be wowed by them, and stuck to pencil, paper and dictaphone. I noticed that outdoor writers were slowly becoming indoor writers because they spent far too much time at their computers. As I said to a friend at the time... "I'm not getting a computer until they invent one I can take up the hill with me."
Then one evening, during a quiet off-season spell at Buttermere Youth Hostel, a student in the common room was rattling away with something I'd never seen before. I asked him what it was, and he said it was a Psion... a tiny computer you could take up the hill with you!
The rest is ancient history. I can't remember when I last used a pencil and paper. I still feel bad about the way Psion dumped all their loyal users (and dumped John Hee's shares) but now I don't feel so bad because a mate recently dumped all his old Psions, cables and disks on me, so I'm not about to run short of anything while waiting for someone else to invent something with a proper keyboard.
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