Cycling Routes

[lemmy]

I came across a site which others may find useful.

I put my home -> Kingston shopping run in and it came up immediately with the slightly longer traffic avoiding route I have fine honed carefully over the course of time. I'm not sure whether to be annoyed or pleased!

You can download routes to GPS and all sorts of goodies

This is it

 

[indalo]

Had a cursory look at it Lemmy and it looks as if it might be a useful tool so I've added it to my favourites on my computer. Good find!

Regards,
Indalo

 

[deadmonkey]

This site doesn't work for everywhere, but it's brilliant where I live (north of Bristol) - Cycle Route Planner | Bike Routes | Cycle Routes | Transport Direct

You can choose quietest, quickest or most recreational and can even export for use in a gps if you so wish, although this may need converting depending on your gps, which can be a challenge

 

[vhfman]

I had a look at the cycleroutes.com site. Planned a short local route specifying quietest journey; it gave me possibly the steepest hill to climb (~1:3 slope 33%) and most dangerous route with hairpin bends and parked cars. I defiantly would not ride the route it showed. But that is the problem with all these route planners they don’t have local knowledge. I would go another mile or so out of my way to find a less steep gradient and quieter route.

cycleroutes.com gradient profile, not sure how accurate the heights are with these map programmers.

Chris

 

[deadmonkey]

Ignore my comment about transportdirect.info, that's the site that your cycleroutes link is using for their route planning.

vhfman - the only obvious way of getting it to use your route would be to use the advanced options and tell it to go via your preferred location.

 

[lemmy]

I tend to use these facilities for routes I don't know rather than ones I do.

As you say, they don't have local knowledge but like GPS, they need to be all the while recognising their limitations.

 

[Viscount Orange Biscuit]

I'm gonna have to stick to local knowledge, nothing for Norfolk, we must be to far out interseting for when on holiday mind.. cheers

 

[wharfitude]

I should have read Viscount Orange Biscuit before trying. I thought I'd get a quiet route from the sticks where I live to Norwich. It wouldn't accept just Norwich so I added Castle Meadow (in the centre). It then wanted to know what address in Castle Meadow so I chose one at random. It then wanted to know which of several occupiers at that address I wanted to visit (what difference could that make?) I picked one and it then came up with an error message. "At the moment we are able to plan cycle journeys in a limited number of areas. To find out which areas are currently available please go to the FAQ on cycle planning." Load of rubbish in my view.

 

[deadmonkey]

I can do postcode to postcode from my house 10 miles to the friend I lift-share with and it comes out with three routes which are all good alternatives. I followed the quiet one yesterday and it was very interesting, certainly not something I would have found otherwise as some of the roads don't have signs saying where they lead to or what they are called

Wharfitude I think you must have had the search set to Address/Postcode, if you want a more flexible search (one that doesn't force you to choose a house) then on the radio buttons choose Town/District/Village. I'm sure the result will be the same, as in the Cycle Planning list to the right it doesn't include Norfolk, but I don't want you giving a false impression of the quality of the site based on your exprience, if you're in one of the areas on the list it can be great

 

[Bikealot]

I have seen this site before but then it was obviously a work in progress. It has now added several more counties including my own. The route it gave me from home to work is a good one. The only issue would be that for a short part of the suggested route is down a steep cobbled street. A nearby metalled alternative would be much safer.

Like Satellite Navigation systems user discretion is required! Blind obedience to the instructions should be avoided. It might be something to use in conjunction with say Google street view.

 

[wharfitude]

Wharfitude I think you must have had the search set to Address/Postcode, if you want a more flexible search (one that doesn't force you to choose a house) then on the radio buttons choose Town/District/Village. I'm sure the result will be the same, as in the Cycle Planning list to the right it doesn't include Norfolk, but I don't want you giving a false impression of the quality of the site based on your exprience, if you're in one of the areas on the list it can be great

Yes, you're right of course, thanks for that - I didn't scroll over to the right and missed the list of counties, and didn't have the button set correctly. I tried it again for Bristol Temple Meads to Bedminster, a route I rode on a Brompton for years. Its route was about 80% similar to mine, but included a long hill that is quite unnecessary. It also avoided going through Victoria Park, which is quicker and safer even if you get off and walk (which nobody does).

 

[deadmonkey]

Yes, I certainly had a couple of spots where I stopped and used my mobile to open google maps and check the roads I was on, but the quickest route it suggests is pretty much the way I go each day.

I've also used it for the door to door planner as well, which combined bus and train to far away lands