Lead in your pencil

One of the problems that I had to over come on the last Polaris I did was to get a pen that would work on the laminated maps that were given out by the Polaris organisers. The new maps are laminated and are quite stiff and have a gloss finish so you can’t use a normal pen, the old maps were laminated but the map was actually printed on a kind of waterproof paper that made it easier to fold and write on, in fact you could write on them with a normal pencil.

The maps are pre-marked so you don’t have to find the grid references anymore but you do have to write or plot your route and it always helps to write the points for each check point on the map as well as identifying which check points are open (not all check points on the map will be open during any of the 2 days) so you can’t pre-determine what route you are going to take until you’re actually told which check points are open. When the maps are wet it’s difficult to write anything on them, so I went out to see if I could find something that would write on smooth plastic and also write then the map was wet, enter the old China Graph Pencil. Writes underwater never mind in the rain. I’ve tested it and it works a treat.