The challenge is to walk Tony Drake's 275 mile Cambrian Way Coast to Coast route from Cardiff to Conwy and be totally self-contained and unsupported with no re-supply. Wild camping, obtaining water from natural sources and carrying all food and equipment for the proposed 21 day trip. In this manner the walk becomes free or "unplugged" and is part of my larger Four Nation's coast to coast endeavour, of which details can be found at Transnationcoast2coast.com



Navigation will be centred around the Sony Ericsson Satio smartphone, with it's built GPS....




....and Viewranger's mobile mapping software.

ViewRanger™ is a unique mapping, navigation, tracking, and information tool for mobile phones that provides information about your immediate surroundings through a natural and intuitive display. ViewRanger transforms your iPhone, or your Android or Symbian based smartphone into a fully featured trail navigation system.


The benefits of using this system are primarily weight saving, excluding 1.25kg worth of maps, a stand alone GPS unit, map case, etc.
The downsides are a reliance on a single electronic device, with its associated power requirements and lower reception and accuracy of position fixing, compared with stand alone GPS unit.
Obviously this approach is a compromise and as such not an easy option, it is not recommended but to those who have experience in the outdoors and want a ultralight solution.
It goes without saying that a failure in this system, combined with bad weather, could create a potentially dangerous situation.
Having said this I cannot recommend Viewranger's software enough, it is highly capable and it's features are an asset to any outdoors person.

 
The only paper mapping will be Tony Drake's guide, which does contain strip mapping and information on the route, of course a compass shall be included.