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City to City Routes - Page 2
steve3742 
| 28 Jul 09:05 |
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Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 7 Bike: My Profile | Hi. It's always struck me as strange how hard it is to get cycle route information about cycling from one city to another. Even nearby cities. Like Nottingham to Derby - only a twenty mile route but it's actually quite hard to find (on the internet) details of how to cycle there. It's part of Cycle Route 6 and you could buy the Sustrans Derby to York map - but it seems a lot of hassle to go to for a relatively short route (and am I the only one who thinks that getting details on Sustrans routes is quite hard? The major routes are covered by their map series, but info about the minor ones like route 15 or 64 isn't too easy to get.) Anyway, I thought it'd be a good idea if everone who's a member here posts rides from the town/city where they live to the adjacent ones. That way, we could build up a database of routes that could all join together. So, for example, for Nottingham I could post details of Nottingham-Derby, Nottingham-Leicester, Nottingham-Loughborough, Nottingham-Newark, Nottingham-Lincoln and Nottingham-Sheffield. And someone who lives in Leicester could post Leicester-Nottingham and also Leicester-Northampton. Then the Northants guys could post Northampton-Milton Keynes and Northampton-Oxford... well, you get the idea. Eventually, it would be possible to plot a route from Sheffield to London. Cycle routes are different from the results you'd get from AA Routemaster or similar. We prefer to ride away from the main roads and we often have the option of taking short cuts that cars can't. Local knowledge will often give you these details, but local knowledge is, well, local. But if everyone posts [b:95cf0164c7]their [/b:95cf0164c7]local knowledge, we'd soon have a good cycling database. What does everyone think? For my part of the deal, I'm going to post the Nottingham-Derby details soon (that's the Sustrans route - would there be copyright problems?) And I'm planning a cycling holiday around Lincolnshire soon so I should be able to post Nottingham-Newark and Newark-Lincoln (which, of course, combine to make Nottingham-Lincoln) along with some others in Lincolnshire (assuming the Lincolnshire people don't get there first.) So, anyone else who's got any knowledge of cycle routes, post away. |
| My Latest Route: Aug 2006 Nottingham to Newark | |
| Magna | 01 Feb 17:54 |
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Joined: 01 Feb 2008 Posts: 1 Bike: | I want to know a good Newcastle-London route. I hope to copy Alan Shearer in the summer who is undertaking this in 2 days for Sport Relief. |
| kingal86 | 22 Mar 20:34 |
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Joined: 22 Mar 2008 Posts: 2 Bike: | The only online directions software of much use to cyclists is the Multimap.com directions set to "Walking": however they essentially treat you as a car moving at c. 3 miles an hour, and still send you up a lot of main roads. It does cut out all the motorways however, and does help give a rough idea of a rote's distance and can help in planning with a map. One of the things I find is it's hard to tell from a map how busy a road is, or how crazy or dangerous a roundabout or other junction would be for a cyclist. After all, the odd dual carriageway and single A road are actually quite quiet, while some B roads are busy nightmares, which you'd never know from the map. |
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Murray Barnes
| 25 Mar 10:57 |
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Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 64 Bike: My Profile | kingal86, I recently discovered another option: Via Michelin, which has a "by bicycle" option hidden away in there. I tried it out for a route from Glasgow to Perth, and it suggested cycling on the A9, which was a bit disappointing, but the rest of the route was probably ok. |
| My Latest Route: Jul 2008 Great Glen Cycleway | |
| Roger | 25 Feb 10:50 |
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Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 1 Bike: | Iid be interested in a Nottingham Loughborough cycle route. Is there a an attractive quite speedy one or do I have to mess with the A60? Roger W |
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Leafy
| 02 Jun 17:24 |
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Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 9 Bike: My Profile | I have just added Nottingham-Derby route 6, although it's awaiting moderation at present. I will also put up the short link route from route 6 down into Nottingham city centre at some point - route 6 doesn't actually go all the way into Nottingham, it skirts the city centre. The link route is very short and easy but I didn't want to plot it as part of route 6 because officially it's not part of it. I agree about Sustrans though. I got their guide to route 6, Derby-York, and it's just so damn vague about everything. I know it covers a long way and therefore proper detail isn't always feasible but I need more to look out for that just a kink in the road! I have resorted to contacting local councils for their cycle maps as they very useful - as mentioned above, you can't go from a normal map because they show the best routes for cars, whereas there may be better, prettier, more suitable routes for cyclists. Indeed, there usually are and these cycle maps show them. They usually show where there are on-road, off-road cycle paths, and where there aren't cycle paths they show quieter alternative routes to busy roads. I guess you lot probably know that already though, and the main downside to these maps is that if you are planning any long journey it would take loads of these maps - I am currently planning to cycle Nottingham to Stoke-on-Trent (about 50 miles as the crow flies) and for that I need maps of South Nottingham, Derbyshire, East Staffordshire, Staffordshire Moorlands, and Stoke-on-Trent. If nothing else it's to give me a good idea of what to expect and even if I don't take them with me when I eventually make the journey, I will use them a lot in planning. It's my first time submitting a route so I hope it's adequate. |
| My Latest Route: Jun 2010 Wesport Lake to Stone Via Trent & Mersey Canal | |
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soren
| 03 Jun 16:08 |
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Joined: 09 Jan 2010 Posts: 90 Bike: My Profile | Happy, I had a look at your Newcastle to Edinbourgh route, I notice it is on A class roads, are you able to comment on how cycle friendly they are? |
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Leafy
| 28 Jun 16:14 |
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Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 9 Bike: My Profile | Incidentally, I tried to submit a route for the city centre link from Nottingham train station to route 5, but it wouldn't let me because it was under 5 miles. Bah! |
| My Latest Route: Jun 2010 Wesport Lake to Stone Via Trent & Mersey Canal | |
