Route Planner

[Littgull]

I know there have been loads of previous threads about route planners but can anyone suggest a route planner website where you can put in at least 50+ en route places between the start and finish points.

I've looked at cyclestreets but this seems to just allow start and finish points. Likewise, other sites seem similar or you can only input a small number of en route places.

I don't have GPS and I'm not planning to purchase it so it'll be down to pen and paper notes.

I'm planning a route from where I live in Littleborough (near Rochdale) to Torquay (my home town) for early August. I'm aiming for quietish roads whereever viable (e.g. B roads) and looking to minimise long big inclines as much as possible. Avoiding big hills is not due to lack of capability but more due to time constraints. I'd want to complete the journey in 2.5 - 3 days maximum. Also the journey would be by road bike or tourer so off road tracks only suitable for mountain bikes would not be feasible.

I've had a look at a Sustrans CYCLE UK route map of England (bought about 4 or 5 years ago) and broadly come up with the following route Littleborough, Oldham, Macclesfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Devizes, Ilminster, Honiton, Exteter, Dawlish, Torquay.

I realise this is by no means the shortest route but it appears to maximise sustrans routes (according to the map). I'm not sure what the total mileage is but would imagine it is 300ish.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[vernon]

If you've looked at loads of previous threads then you'll have exhausted what is available. There isn't a planner that will do everything that you want.

Here's one suggestion.

Try using google maps set at pedestrian setting to get the minor roads.

Transfer the route to mapmyride to get gradient profiles.

My other suggestion is to buy a cheap road atlas, tear out the pages that you want. Draw straightlines between major way marks and choose the b roads that best follow the drawn lines.

As for choosing Sustrans routes unless you are a very timid rider with an aversion to moderate traffic then i'd shun them. Some of the routes ar far from direct, are hillier than is necessary and are sometimes poorly surfaced. They are fine if you are not in a hurry and want to see bits of the UK that no one else sees very often.

 

[Littgull]

Many thanks, Vernon, some really useful guidance. I hadn't thought of using google maps 9pedestrian) - I'll give that a try.

Cheers.

 

[ColinJ]

I use MemoryMap on my computer and the same method that Vernon mentioned except that I avoid B-roads too where possible! I have the whole mainland UK at Landranger scale (1:50000) in one seamless map that I can zoom in and out of.. It is perfect for planning routes away from urban areas, but not good for towns and cities though that doesn't bother me because I avoid them too where possible! It is easy to show the gradient profile of a route and check intermediate distances. Bit pricey though.

I don't understand why anyone would want to do without gps when it makes navigation so easy and lets you relax and enjoy the ride... (Tear pages from the atlas for backup)

 

[Littgull]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for reply.

I agree GPS would be the ideal solution but the initial cost and the fact that I am very unsavvy with technology is a major put off. I can just about manage to set the paramaters on my bike odometer and that's about my limit!

 

[Dave Davenport]

I don't understand why anyone would want to do without gps when it makes navigation so easy and lets you relax and enjoy the ride... (Tear pages from the atlas for backup)

Because some of us are: Too idle to learn how to use these new fangled electronic gizmos / Suspect that one day they may all turn on us and take over the world (Skynet could make you ride off the edge of a cliff) / Have a bit of a fetish for paper maps.

 

[dellzeqq]

it's not a fetish, Dave, it's respect for tradition (removes six Landranger series maps from under pillow....)

I'm with Vernon. Google maps pedestrian option is a very good starting point - but I carry paper with me. That could be a map, but it could be a kind of coded annotation, or a combination of both.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I confess to a small paper map fetish (but I could give them up any time I wanted to, guv <sniff>), but GPS can't be beat for just allowing you to sit back and enjoy the scenery while a gadget takes care of the navigation.

 

[ColinJ]

Don't get me wrong, I love maps, but I prefer to do my map reading at home and not on the bike. I use maps to plan my rides and all the gps does is to help me follow the planned routes. I don't have a fancy gps with sat-navigation capabilities - I am in charge, not the machine.

I got into this after a scenic 200 km audax ride in the Yorkshire dales which I navigated the traditional way using a route sheet. When the ride was over, my strongest memories were of staring at the sheet and my bike computer!

 

[bluemint]

I'm with you colinJ. I'm a bit paranoid about taking the wrong turn and just let the magic arrow on my gps let me know I'm going the right way. I use bikeroutetoaster and plan every meter to give me the quietest possible ride.

I have used paper maps before but i could get barely a mile without doubt creeping in and having to check and that was just on my day rides. I also have more detailed maps on my phone if I need to work out an alternative route as my Garmin is a little old and the maps are hard to read.

If I took paper maps they would be destroyed long before my gps ever ran out of power I reckon.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Don't get me wrong, I love maps, but I prefer to do my map reading at home and not on the bike.

Yep, exactly that. Maps are for planning, GPS is for riding.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Yep, exactly that. Maps are for planning, GPS is for riding.

Ah, that explains the differing view, I don't do any planning.

 

[400bhp]

I know there have been loads of previous threads about route planners but can anyone suggest a route planner website where you can put in at least 50+ en route places between the start and finish points.

I've looked at cyclestreets but this seems to just allow start and finish points. Likewise, other sites seem similar or you can only input a small number of en route places.

I don't have GPS and I'm not planning to purchase it so it'll be down to pen and paper notes.

I'm planning a route from where I live in Littleborough (near Rochdale) to Torquay (my home town) for early August. I'm aiming for quietish roads whereever viable (e.g. B roads) and looking to minimise long big inclines as much as possible. Avoiding big hills is not due to lack of capability but more due to time constraints. I'd want to complete the journey in 2.5 - 3 days maximum. Also the journey would be by road bike or tourer so off road tracks only suitable for mountain bikes would not be feasible.

I've had a look at a Sustrans CYCLE UK route map of England (bought about 4 or 5 years ago) and broadly come up with the following route Littleborough, Oldham, Macclesfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Devizes, Ilminster, Honiton, Exteter, Dawlish, Torquay.

I realise this is by no means the shortest route but it appears to maximise sustrans routes (according to the map). I'm not sure what the total mileage is but would imagine it is 300ish.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Buy a GPS (off ebay), then sell it afterwards on fleabay. You'll lose very little.

 

[ColinJ]

PS You can definitely do better than ... Tamworth, Nuneaton, Coventry, Leamington Spa ... I'll dig up the route I took from HB to Coventry tomorrow and suggest something for that section.

 

[vernon]

I confess to a small paper map fetish (but I could give them up any time I wanted to, guv <sniff>), but GPS can't be beat for just allowing you to sit back and enjoy the scenery while a gadget takes care of the navigation.

It can be beaten when for one reason or another your GPS can't pick up a signal to allow it to operate. The only time I set off without a map (because i thought I didn't need one and that I had GPS on my phone) I got hoplessly lost and added around 12km to a 100km DIY audax because my phone couldn't lock onto enough satellites to pin down my position.

More often than not maps are mot needed on any of the rides that I do because I have use maps to mentally rehearse the route and an RAC map of the region is normally sufficient backup to get me out of trouble. It also doesn't suffer from signal loss and flat batteries.