Gravel Route Planner

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Location
España
I know this has come up before but there's a new (old) kid in town for gravel routing.
https://cycle.travel/map now has the option of gravel routing - available from the "hamburger" menu (top right of the screen).

It's currently only available to subscribers (a good reason to consider a subscription) and for some reason is available to me on Chrome but not on Firefox (Android browsers).

I've long considered CycleTravel to be the best planner for my type of cycling - quiet roads - and appreciate the fact that the designer is a member of these boards so communication is easy.
 

Nibor

Bewildered
Location
Accrington
Komoot will also provide gravel routing without a subscription
 

Petrichorwheels

Senior Member
how does the gravel option differ from the existing one which allows you to allow it to use off-road sections? I had the idea that the "off-road" avoided anything too extreme anyway.

another fan of cycle-travel here.
 
OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
how does the gravel option differ from the existing one which allows you to allow it to use off-road sections? I had the idea that the "off-road" avoided anything too extreme anyway.

another fan of cycle-travel here.

My understanding is that previously the option was "Any" or "Paved" and that "Any" still favoured paved routes.
"Gravel" now favours unpaved.

From CycleTravel
Choose this and cycle.travel will now aim to find a route including more gravel/off-road sections. It still has all the usual cycle.travel features – circular routes, alternative routes, via points – and, like the standard routing, it takes scenery, elevation and road traffic levels into account.

The amount of off-road in a particular route depends very much on what paths, tracks and bridleways are available in the area. For example, in the UK, planning a route from Shoreham-by-Sea to Southport will be 75% off-road and only 25% paved. Oxford to Cambridge is more like 50/50, and Cardiff to Holyhead is only 15% off-road. Routes in Spain can often be 90% off-road, while in France it’s a bit lower.
And
But don't expect it all to be carefully manicured railway paths – this is off-road cycling and you'll often find bumpier tracks and paths in there!

Komoot will also provide gravel routing without a subscription
Well, yes, and so will many others. My experience with Komoot has been less than ideal.
I was just letting people know that CycleTravel has joined the gravel side.
With user feedback it can be improved. Another area where my experience with Komoot is less than ideal ^_^
 

Petrichorwheels

Senior Member
many thanks for the reply hobbes.
That shoreham to southport off-road percentage count is very impressive.
I note the thoughtful info you gave
>>>But don't expect it all to be carefully manicured railway paths – this is off-road cycling and you'll often find bumpier tracks and paths in there!

but have you any idea how extreme it gets?
I have a 26inch tourer and like getting off the beaten track, particularly as I like freecamping, but don't want to face anything "technical" or very rocky - am not really an MTB bod and rather like using panniers.
 
OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
many thanks for the reply hobbes.
That shoreham to southport off-road percentage count is very impressive.
I note the thoughtful info you gave
>>>But don't expect it all to be carefully manicured railway paths – this is off-road cycling and you'll often find bumpier tracks and paths in there!

but have you any idea how extreme it gets?
I have a 26inch tourer and like getting off the beaten track, particularly as I like freecamping, but don't want to face anything "technical" or very rocky - am not really an MTB bod and rather like using panniers.

They're quotes from the email I received. Given that CycleTravel uses OSM data which is volunteer supplied (and therefore variable) it's not possible to verify every route, I'd imagine.

As I mentioned above, feedback can be given and acted upon on the CycleTravel forum.

Having said all that I've yet to come across a road that defeated me on my MTB with 4 panniers. ^_^
FB_IMG_1655993011896.jpg

The biggest problems have always been mud and closed gates or private land.

Osmand is a very useful app to have for unexpected surprises on a route. Once the appropriate map has been downloaded it can be used offline.
 

Petrichorwheels

Senior Member
They're quotes from the email I received. Given that CycleTravel uses OSM data which is volunteer supplied (and therefore variable) it's not possible to verify every route, I'd imagine.

As I mentioned above, feedback can be given and acted upon on the CycleTravel forum.

Having said all that I've yet to come across a road that defeated me on my MTB with 4 panniers. ^_^
View attachment 650168
The biggest problems have always been mud and closed gates or private land.

Osmand is a very useful app to have for unexpected surprises on a route. Once the appropriate map has been downloaded it can be used offline.

ta - am also an OSMand fan - in fact been tinkering with its latest update - it is notoriously un-user friendly of course :smile: - after much gnashing of teeth have managed to wrangle it to produce offline routes which I can transfer from my android tab to my garmin.

Thanks for the encouragement on panniers - no plans to join the bikepacking fraternity.
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
I am yet to find any site that offers gravel routes to have anything remotely useful. It may just be where I live but they are all either 90% on the road, or a collection of rides by people illegally cycling along footpaths. I see very few linking up good bridleways, public farm tracks and actual gravel.
 
Thanks for the shout-out Hobbes!

It's supporter-only for the first month or so, partly to say thanks to cycle.travel's supporters, and also to help iron out any issues with a friendly audience. After that it'll be open to everyone.

It tries to prioritise tracks/gravel over bridleways/mud, but there's two big limiting factors - one is whether the paths actually exist (we don't actually have that much pure gravel in the UK...) and the other is the data. Like most routing sites, cycle.travel uses OpenStreetMap data. Most paths are in OSM these days, but they're often missing information about whether they're legit to cycle, and if so, what the surface is. But OSM gets better over time, and though paths/tracks are a few years behind roads in completeness, they're getting there.
 
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