The romance of maps.
By Fiacre Banks
@xFiacre (14770)
Ireland
June 5, 2026 7:56am CST
I’ve just off-loaded about a dozen ordinance survey maps of Ireland, the kind that give you every turn in the road. They were particularly useful when holidaying in remote areas of Connemara and Donegal where often there are no signposts, and I loved pouring over those maps when I got them spread out on the kitchen table wherever we were staying and deciding where to go; hard-to-get-to beaches, ruined abbeys and the likes.
However time has moved on and now if I’m lost I get out my phone and google it. I feel poorer for this. Maps are a thing of great beauty for me and I can spend ages looking at them and am quite well-acquainted with the layout of countries I’ve never been to and will never visit.
Such a pity, and I doubt if anyone will spot them in the charity shop and think to themselves, “Oh I must buy those’. And my kids would laugh if I offered them my old maps.
Do you love maps?
6 people like this
7 responses
@Traceyjayne (11237)
• United Kingdom
5 Jun
I am not great at following maps ….i have no sense of direction. With or without them.
I often joke that I have lived in three houses in my lifetime ( so far ) and they have all been in a cul de sac as it’s the only way I can find my way home without getting lost !
3 people like this
@RasmaSandra (97841)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
5 Jun
I don't mind them, especially when I have to find out where a country or something is,
2 people like this
@BACONSTRIPSXXX (18018)
• Torrington, Connecticut
5 Jun
Yes, I do understand that feeling. There’s something special about paper maps that a phone just can’t replace.
2 people like this
@Ineeddentures (33549)
•
6 Jun
I was never very good at map reading.
So not really a lover of maps.
1 person likes this
