Sustrans routes

[srw]

but from where I live (which may be the issue) I see no useful routes...say from Essex south tot he coast or west & around london etc

From west of London (Rickmansworth), there are a series of mostly flat traffic-free paths via Watford, St Albans, Hitchin, Hertford to Ware. I haven't carried on eastwards, but they do into Essex. Presumably that also means you can use them to go West around London!

They're not perfect - I'd take a map (the 1:100,000 OS maps are fine) - but without sustrans they wouldn't be nealy as findable.

 

[Over The Hill]

I live in Basingstoke and did work in Reading a car ride of 22 miles. Tried an occasional commute so went on the Sustrans cycle route as the main road is a pig.
Got there eventually after 35 miles and no I did not get lost!
Yes the route avoids the main road but it also seems to just wander around aimlessly all over the place. OK for a sunday ride with the kids but not if you want to get anywhere.
Next day I worked out my own route and it was 19 miles, at one point I was going along a bit towards Reading and found I was on the sustrans route that was supposed to be going to Basingstoke!
So now I avoid them. Mostly I find you can tell what a road will be like from a good map.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Mostly I find you can tell what a road will be like from a good map.

'tis wot I fawt 2

 

[Danny]

Sustrans routes follow quiet roads where possible, but provide off-road cycle tracks where the alternative would be to go on a busy main road.

So the point is that you can follow an entire Sustrans route knowing that it will either be on quiet roads or on completely traffic free dedicated cycle tracks. Usually they follow the most scenic route as well.

Obviously you can plan your own route from a map - but in my experience it isn't alway easy to work out which roads are going to be really busy, particularly in parts of the country you don't know well.

Sustrans maps are pretty well designed and about the right level of detail for cycling. They also provide a useful route profile for each section you are cycling.

So why not try a Sustrans route and see what you think?

 

[John Ponting]

I don't believe Sustrans claim to be all things to all people.

They do state that

Sustrans is the co-ordinator of the hugely popular National Cycle Network. Offering over 12,000 miles of walking and cycle routes on traffic-free paths, quiet lanes and traffic-calmed roads, there is now 75% of the UK population living within two miles of a route! The Network is well signed. It connects towns and villages, countryside and coast throughout the UK

The National Cycle Network forms more than 12,000 miles of walking and cycling routes and over one-third are completely traffic-free, perfect for all, including families and those new to cycling.

I personally have to ride more than a kilometer to an NCN route. I can then chose 3 different directions. I'm sure it is not quite so convenient in some remote areas.

 

[wafflycat]

Sustrans.. *blech*

 

[srw]

Sustrans.. *blech*

Oh dear - a fundamentalist. Explain thyself! This thread has been surprisingly reasonable up to this point.

 

[hubbike]

The sustrans map itself is almost completely useless. I like to use their routes when I come across them by accident. If they are sign posted to where I fancy going then I can get a change of scenery, pace etc. I also use the same tactic for canal paths, disused railways not on the sustrans network.

I think it is an important charity which touring cyclists should benifit from in the future. For now they just seem to be catering for commuters and short trips.

 

[srw]

Be careful - there is more than one type of sustrans map. The "main" map of the whole country is not particularly helpful, apart from as an overall indication. There are also 1:100,000 strip maps of many of the big routes, and the routes are also plotted on OS 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 OS maps.

As I posted above, they can be useful for touring - there's a long strip of traffic-free paths across Hertfordshire which I've used as the basis for a trip to Suffolk, and I've also used the route from the Chilterns towards Oxford, taking in another traffic-free path.

 

[Over The Hill]

Problem seems to be that there are two needs:

1. An A to B route that will get you there without running the gauntlet of a main road
2. A nice Sunday morning bike ride in the countryside.

Problem I see is that the Sustrans route I have used (Basingstoke to Reading) is 2. when I am looking for a 1.

IF it wanted to be 2 then it would be a circular route. Who on earth would cycle to Reading if they did not need to?

So they really do not do what is on the tin.


I am really REALLY worried - Waffly and I agree on something!!!

 

[dodgy]

Sustrans need to make the mapping more accessible, you can view the routes online but it's an awful experience. The maps don't provide enough contrast and you can't drag them around, it's simply not up to what we now need and expect in the age of digital mapping.

Dave.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I agree the didgital mapping thing on their site is hopeless. I took time to try and make sustrans mapping work for me but it just isnt useable. BRT, MMR etc are far superior.

 

[dodgy]

Fortunately the good people at openstreetmap are gradually putting all the NCN onto their digital mapping. So if you've got any GPX traces of paths that don't show up on conventional digital maps (Google etc) then upload them to openstreetmap and eventually we'll be sorted.

 

[John Ponting]

I totally agree with the failure of digital mapping on Sustrans. A look at their 'bookshop' shows where thay have put their priorities. The route guides can be excellent with full detail strip maps as well as pointers to camping or lodging places, food stops and bike shops. Not the stuff of explorers.

I still use AutoRoute for basic route planning with the options set for the vehicle that I'm planning for. It's the one I grew up with and the one that I find easiest to move around. Horses for courses.

This thread reminded me that I have a very good (but old) book of cycle routes in Britain - published by Pan/Ordnance Survey in the '80s. That claimed to have a comprehensive network of traffic free on and off road routes. Failed by not having a good overall map of the country, or even of main areas (East Anglia etc). Probably because the book was around A5 so it could fit into a Carradice Long Flap.

A reasonable source of routes (let's call them ideas rather than routes) are County Council web sites. Download a few in pdf and pick the ones that join up to form an idea of a planned journey. Use the bits that fit and ignore the bits that don't.

 

[marinyork]

The OS Landrangers do a reasonable job of the sustrans routes. They also warn you which bits might be bog/martian surface/narrow path and which bits are tarmaced. I'd really not bother with the 100 000 to 1 jobs but the online is appalling clunky when compared with newer generation mapping stuff online (or even previous generation).

I disagree very much with them being quiet roads when on the roads. Nor are they necessarily scenic either. It's someone's opinion, normally an extreme and unbalanced one.

John Ponting I know that's what they quote as their purpose but as soon as they get a news outlet they'll be bossing people around, hogging the limelight and misrepresenting. Ordinary cyclists as soon as they get their sustrans hat on are the same and go all swivel-eyed and spouting political agendas.