Maps

... thing is its less about the actual riding more about what we see, not trying to cover as much ground as possible.

We used a road atlas last time we rode to exeter its just not quite good enough, level of detail a bit shy of what we were after i think 1:50000 would be heaps better.

So it seems like OS is the map of choice.

why not do a combo of googlemap research up close and make notes for when to detour to places you think might be interesting.

You can print up the detour parts in larger scale to supplement the main ride then, which will have biro marks on it when to refer to the detail.