maps

Just wondering what scale maps people used for general rides. We currently use the O/S 1 mile to 2.5 inch but would a smaller scale be better? ie do they still show the car neglected lanes we love so well...

regards

 

http://streetmap.co.uk/

 

I use the OS Northern England map at 1:200,000, which covers everywhere I could get to in a day. It doesn't include every single back road, but that is not necessary - you quickly develop the skill of reading the landscape and on a bike I only need to know exactly where I am some of the time, not all of the time.

On my normal range of about 30 miles from home I don't take a map because I pretty much know all the roads anyway.

Tracklogs for pre- and post-ride analysis.

 

I ride purely for pleasure, and exploring without maps is half the fun. Most of the time one is only lost for a couple of miles before seeing a roadsign to somewhere recognisable.

 

It's the Landrangers for me, the 1:50,000 ones. All the roads and details I need.

 

Me too. Ideal for cycling.
Back in the day when I used to do longer rides, I used to tear the necessary pages out of an old road atlas. Great if you're sticking to A and B roads and you can easily carry enough pages to cover an awful lot of ground.

 

I hate being lost, especially on a bike since any detour will involve Tim Moore's special "shag battering bollock-sodding kilometres" which are necessary as soon as you have to retrace your steps.

 

thanks for that...seems like the o/s 1:50000 is favorite as I say we have been using the 1:25000 series but find that sometimes they contain a little more detail than we need

 

+1 - just print out what you need, fold, and put in jersey pocket, much easier than lugging around a complete OS map. One of the scale settings is pretty much OS detail anyway.

 

Landranger and Pathfinder are on there.

Also AtoZ for street names.