Watertight Map Case

This is the first proper map-case I ever owned. Previous to this I had just been using polythene bags formerly used for keeping LPs in (my father owns a music shop and has an inexhaustible supply), however on one occasion around 1 hour into my journey to the mountains I realised that I had forgotten to bring one and the weather was looking a bit threatening. So I stopped off at a shop and perused through the various map cases on offer. I finally decided on this one through a crude method of choice, on the grounds that it was the most expensive one there, and not really knowing what I was looking for decided that the higher price might reflect a higher degree of quality. It seemed to have an abundance of Velcro stuck all over it which at the time seemed reassuring.

In the end it hardly rained that day my map stayed dry and I drove home pleased with my purchase which lay on the back seat in all its Velcroy glory.

Unfortunately, around two months later on a very long and very wet multi-day walk through Snowdonia, my map case badly let me down, and it seemed that watertight did not necessarily mean waterproof, with water leaking in all along the seams. My maps fell apart and I resolved not to be seduced by so much Velcro ever again.

Shortly after I threw it away.