Thats not whats happening - I must be joining tracks incorrectly - every track I add on to the chain of joined tracks has a straight line link back to its own start point

Thanks for the response - still not sure its a solution though - if I keep adding tracks that don't finish at the start point then I will still end up with a straight line from the end of track 7 back to the start of track 1? Am I forced to complete the loop to avoid this issue?

I use tracks a lot, rather than routes. I go over the same areas all the time and instead of starting a new track from scratch I am trying to stitch some tracks together to make a longer one; my problem is that when I join 2 tracks together I also get a straight line that completes the loop from the ...

been using basecamp for a while now but have reached the end of my skill level and need help!