I mark the route on my 1/2 mil with perminent marker (sharpie)and put on my 10nm waypoints and maybe some obvious others like a motorway or disused if they are bang on track. Then write the actual time abeam above the track line and my estimate for the next below - it seems to work quite well.
Another little trick if the course takes you over a good feature within a few miles of the field is to climb and depart overhead, fly straight to the feature and note your compass heading. This does two things.. first, it gives you a 'head start' on your first correction and secondly, it leaves you less at the mercy of a wildly inaccurate compass (been there..
)
I also have 'the world's oldest GPS' which I have been known to use, but I find it much harder to follow the 'CDI' indicator than simply fly a compass heading and it's easy to let your lookout suffer.
I agree with Stik about open cockpits. I ferried my new Sky Scooter home on Monday (pirep to follow
), shortly after take off I realised there was
no way I could even think about unfolding a map because it would be gone in an instant. Luckily I was flying in formation with my chum in the Cub, so I tucked in tight and let him nav..
Kingy