right route and map to use
ccccp
Posts: 4
Hi everybody
I'm planning to cycle from London to Belfast and have a problem to choose right road and maps to use.
So calling for help from experienced gurus.[:)]
I'm planning to cycle from London to Belfast and have a problem to choose right road and maps to use.
So calling for help from experienced gurus.[:)]
0
Comments
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Sustrans routes
On condition that you can read a map and like the senic off main road route0 -
Welcome ccccp. How were you planning to cross the Irish Sea? By ferry obviously but which route?
I cycled from Chester to Belfast (via Dublin and Anglesey) about a month ago so I can offer some tips if that is your route.0 -
Probably the first move is to decide which ferry route best suits your needs.Then look at www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure
click on Browse Products
click on OS Travel Map Road
Buy the appropriate sheets, draw a straight pencil line between the places you want to visit and follow the nearest roads, avoiding the Blue and Green ones.0 -
Hi there
I'm planning to use Stranraer - Belfast ferry no Dublin go tough-)
please if you got any tips this will help,we can share the cake after-))
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by KeithG</i>
Welcome ccccp. How were you planning to cross the Irish Sea? By ferry obviously but which route?
I cycled from Chester to Belfast (via Dublin and Anglesey) about a month ago so I can offer some tips if that is your route.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Brains</i>
Sustrans routes
On condition that you can read a map and like the senic off main road route
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
WOW thanks this definitely helps didn't know they exist any idea on the print version instead of pdf. Did you use them before are they good?
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/default.asp? ... 96516118590 -
Try to keep off the main road that goes through Dumfries, the A75. The way the lorries drive along there is terrifying.
close encounters of the huge, (very)fast, windy kind.
george
_________________________________
Trip
www.pedalpatagonia.co.uk
2 Bikes
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/imjibi/Bikes0 -
cccp,
This was also part of my earlier tour.
There is a Sustrans route which will take you (rather indirectly but pleasantly enough) from the Solway Firth/Gretna going West along the coast towards Newton Stewart where you are then forced onto a 15 mile section of the A75 which is doable (I've done it anyway and don't remember it as being particularily dire) tho there is a possible detour South to Wigtown (pretty wee place on the coast on the A714 and then West on the B7005 which is hilly and scenic) and then North to Glenluce and then a shorter stretch on the A75 again.
The A6 north out of Penrith is OK for a fast route North to Carlisle as it runs parallel to the M6 which carries most of the traffic. Far from being a scenic country road but OK and will take you North quickly, then follow a section of the A7, busy but wide to Longtown and then West on the A6071 to Gretna and so on. There was an odd off road section at one point but mostly it's on B roads and cycle tracks, incidentally, there's a great ice cream place at a dairy near Borgue, which is East of Kirkcudbright, do stop.
Sustrans Maps are very good but too pricey for me. I make do with a freebie national Sustrans map which details the numbers of the routes (useful) and an old road map at about 1:250,000 or 1:200,000. These are very cheap and disposable if you get them from charity shops or the budget book shops.0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by ccccp</i>
Hi everybody
I'm planning to cycle from London to Belfast and have a problem to choose right road and maps to use.
So calling for help from experienced gurus.[:)]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Try plotting a route with viamichelin using the bike option www.viamichelin.com
If it suggests using the A74 that bridges the gap between the M6 and the M74, avoid it like the plague. It's the scariest bit of road that I've ever ridden on - a motorway in all but name. Go through Longtown.
You can buy cheap road atlases. Buy one and mark your chosen rout on the pages that are relevant then tear them out of the atlas for use as you head north. You can discard them as you ride of the edge or keep them for future use.0 -
Definitely use pages torn from a road atlas. As for route an outline might be:
stay east of A1 until Scotch Corner (eg Lee Valley, Cambridge, Boston, Humber Bridge, Darlington would be near (on?) your route) then Alston, Longtown, Dumfries. I would go via Dalry to Newton Stewart (that section NCN too scenic for my tastes) and then as above.
Not exactly tourist country so plan your accommodation0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by ccccp</i>
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Brains</i>
Sustrans routes
On condition that you can read a map and like the senic off main road route
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
WOW thanks this definitely helps didn't know they exist any idea on the print version instead of pdf. Did you use them before are they good?
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/default.asp? ... 9651611859
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Sustrans Maps are available either from the Sustrans web site or in good book or bike shops.
A lot of 'serious' cyclists don't like the routes as they go to great lenghts to avoid any main roads and alsways take the route of least resistance.
For the occasional cyclist, or those who are not confident on main roads they are brilliant.
Sustrans routes definatly are more plesant cycling as long as you are not in a hurry.
The one proviso with the routes is you need to be a good map reader, and you need to have the map in front of you at all times, so you need a bar bag with a map cover or something similar, you will need to learn to read a map on the move, otherwise you will be stopping at every intersection0
