Planning scenic routes?

[Mrbez]

Hi guys,

Probably a daft question, but is there a way online that I can plan scenic country rides?

I have only lived where I am at the moment for 4 months and pretty much know my way to work and back. I've taken the bike out and just cycled, and usually I am on main roads etc.

Ideally I would like to stick to country roads and quiet roads where I feel I can enjoy the view. Living in buckinghamshire (amersham) I am sure that there are plenty of routes round here that I could cycle.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Pikey]

If you have an Android phone get the bike hub app and ask for your route to be "quietest", I don't know if they do the same thing online anywhere.

 

[briantrumpet]

... or get the OS 1:50,000 maps for your area - plan and try out a few routes - you soon start working out how to read the routes for scenic-ness. Or if you like planning stuff on the computer, you can get the free program Mapyx Quo, and buy the OS maps for peanuts.

 

[Globalti]

A 1 in 25,000 Explorer map would be a fantastic investment; you would learn all kinds of things about your area and find all kinds of great routes to ride.

 

[Grizzly]

It depends on how you want to do the planning. You can use Google Earth to plan a route, you can plot a track and then use street view to get an idea of the route and the scenery. http://www.cyclestreets.net/ is easy to use, put in your start and end point and it will give you 3 routes from A to B, I cant guarantee that the routes will be scenic though. others are http://www.bikehike.co.uk/ and http://www.mapmyride.com, if you Google what it is you are looking for as there are loads out there.

 

[srw]

The 1:50,000 map which has Amersham at its bottom right hand corner (Aylesbury & Leighton Buzzard) is the one to get. As long as you avoid the A413, the A404 and the A355 (which are horrible) pretty much all the local roads are usually reasonably quiet. A good route starts from the top town and goes out along Copperkins Lane through Hyde Heath, then on towards The Lee, from where you've got dozens of options - either down off the ridge towards Aylesbury or in either direction along the edge of the Chilterns. There's also good cycling towards Windsor, but if you go towards London you pretty soon get into uninspiring suburbia.

My favourite online mapping is bikehike.co.uk because it shows OS and google maps side-by-side, but I find mapmyride easier to use.

 

[brokenflipflop]

It's getting bloody complicated this biking lark

 

[danger mouse]

+1 bikehike

 

[Xiorell]

Google maps > Sattelite view.

I normally judge how I am feeling and how far I think would be nice, then plan a route around that, then plan diversions to shorten that route if I find it to hard going for some reason, and diversions to extend it if I get out and feel particually good.

 

[Nebulous]

I like google maps or ride with gps, but as long as you can find your way home there's a lot to be said for just exploring. Find a nice bit, try to stay less than 10 miles from home with a circular route - then next time add a bit more. Planning can be overrated in my view!

 

[Arch]

I'm an OS Landranger (1: 50,000) person. Easy to carry with you, so you can explore on the fly. Up to date ones will have some cycleroutes marked, although the quality of off-road sections can be a gamble. I like to stick to the little roads - yellow, or white. I can do whole day rides around York pretty much avoiding A or B roads.

Learn to read the contours too!

 

[ColinJ]

A 1 in 25,000 Explorer map would be a fantastic investment; you would learn all kinds of things about your area and find all kinds of great routes to ride.

Explorer maps are great for MTB rides and walking but they are too detailed and don't cover enough area for road riding. 1:50,000 OS Landranger maps are ideal for the road, the only shortcoming being detail in big towns/cities which Google maps or any of the other online mapping sites will give you.

I'd always recommend buying your local OS maps (I have local paper ones plus the entire country as one huge digital Landranger map!) but for further afield, it is useful to know that Bing Maps has an OS option (click on London Street Map, top left and you will see the OS option).

 

[briantrumpet]

Explorer maps are great for MTB rides and walking but they are too detailed and don't cover enough area for road riding. 1:50,000 OS Landranger maps are ideal for the road [...] I'd always recommend buying your local OS maps (I have local paper ones plus the entire country as one huge digital Landranger map!)

Agreed. Even in the areas I've got digital 1:25,000 maps, I still plan using 1:50,000. I tend to choose a route using Mapyx Quo, then get a gpx file using Bike Route Toaster and drop that into Quo. That then means I can print out just a page or two of A4 with the route marked on it, for any bits that I can't remember once I'm on the road. You an buy the whole of the UK at 1:50,000 for Quo for about £100.

 

[ColinJ]

You an buy the whole of the UK at 1:50,000 for Quo for about £100.

Well, it currently seems to be £95.99 + VAT (website link) but that is still a lot less than the £175-odd that I paid for my Memory Map version.

 

[briantrumpet]

Well, it currently seems to be £95.99 + VAT (website link) but that is still a lot less than the £175-odd that I paid for my Memory Map version.

You can still get it for £80.63 inc VAT if you put in the code PYB30 for the next couple of days (that's a 30% discount). Quo is a considerably cheaper way of getting full OS digital maps than Memory Maps, even at normal price. And the program itself is free.