Specific route when touring or wherever the road takes you?

[travellingwest]

Just from reading one or two answers to others' questions, I wondered how many of you have a specific journey/route in mind when planning a tour and if so, does that involve visiting something in particular ie a museum or historic building, or a particular cycle route here or in Europe?

Or are you the kind of person that packs up, heads out, with maybe only a vague idea of where you want to go?

 

[Vantage]

I was never a wandering soul so stuck to predetermined routes...even on normal day rides. The unknown sends me into anxiety attacks

 

[ianrauk]

I'm a follower not a leader.
All the tours I have done have been with friends who devised the routes. I'm much happier doing things that way.
Though on long day rides I'm happy to go into the unknown. Touring is a different matter.

 

[Oldhippy]

I pick a destination and depending on what interesting things I see along the way, interesting photos, buildings, side roads determine how long it takes me to get there. Or not and end up somewhere else entirely.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Plan an overall route, book accommodation a few days ahead, replan if we decide to change.

 

[presta]

Apart from deciding North, South or West, visiting familiar walking areas, and ticking off hostels I hadn't done before, I didn't have much planned beyond that. I didn't want bookings that meant I'd be forced to chew what I'd bitten off, so I just made it up as I went along, and changed my plans if a hostel I wanted was full. For example, I recall sitting in the common room at Haworth considering Kettlewell for the next day, so I rang to check they had beds. The following morning after I'd decided on a route I rang to make a definite booking and the beds had all gone in the mean time. No problem, I just went to Earby instead. I'd sometimes book the first two or three hostels from home though, because there aren't enough alternatives if one's full.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

Varies and not an either/or.

When I leave home I have my 1st night destination campsite booked but nothing beyond that.

Normally I will decide tomorrow's destination each evening and create a route (I use cycle.travel) for follow a set route for that day.

However, sometimes I might end up on a longer distance cycle route eg La Vélo Francette or eg LF Waterlinieroute or La Vallée du Loir à Vélo (V47) or a Eurovelo in which case each day is sort of determined by the cycle route at least for as far as I intend to follow it eg EV6 but just across France, not on into Switzerland and beyond. Though even on a cycle route each evening I'll still plan tomorrow's route, load directions to GPS as campsites are often away from the cycle route. Plus some sections on some route are a bit short on campsites and I don't wild camp (or at least haven't yet).

Being retired I'm fortunate in that I set out with no duration in mind though these days limited by Schengen visa though in reality much longer than that and weather can get worse. So I head off and when I've had enough head for home.

 

[raleighnut]

Most of my touring has been in the Peak District/Dales but for some reason I often get lost in Derby City Centre, mind it could be I'm pished suitably refreshed by then

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The roads I travel are as important as the destination. Now that we have street view I’ll often take a peak at roads to see if it’s the sort I like. But as per others I remain flexible and the destination for the night isn’t fixed too far in advance. With online booking that’s fairly straight forward a few hours ahead. Before Streetview and online booking I’d look at a paper map looking for the type of roads might suit, and book via telephone. If mid week and not a school holiday time I’ll be more laid back about having anything booked.

 

[travellingwest]

Most of my touring has been in the Peak District/Dales but for some reason I often get lost in Derby City Centre, mind it could be I'm pished suitably refreshed by then

No, it's easy to get lost on Derby. I always used to driving 🙄

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

I rarely head out for a ride without planning which hills I'm going to climb, how I ride between them isn't set in stone at all, but I'll plot a few ideas on Google maps or Garmin Connect before heading out. Very rare I'll have a route sent to my GPS computer though, unless ridng somewhere I'm unfamilar with.

 

[Gillstay]

Went to Slovenia and just decided anti clockwise and off we went. Took the map out of the travel brochure on the plane.

Went to France and just went south. If we were both there then neither of us was lost. Two days in bought a map, the two days later gave half of it away to a lady who was lost. Great fun.