Basically method 6 for me. Load a plain Track (or Tracks if a longer ride - I prefer a "rich and detailed" Track rather than a heavily filtered one, so as the Garmin is limited to 500 trackpoints per Track, I'll often use several Tracks rather than just one long "thin" one. They can all be activated simultaneously so appear as an unbroken journey. Or I can turn off specific sections if there's any "figure-of-eight" nonsense which could confuse things.)
I generally use a Map62 or a Montana. Both of these can "navigate" a Track. In "Follow road" mode they will give me progress data such as Time or Distance to Destination, though there's no "Off Route" warnings or turn-by-turn pop-ups, but I find the latter more trouble than they're worth.
I also put in User Waypoints for Controls and Infos, and attach Proximity Alerts, to the Infos especially, so I don't go sailing past them in a daydream!
Map62, Montana, City Navigator (Topo in the Map62) plus OS card for optional detail. Plus Edge 705 for backup.