Cycling UK Forum

Thanks for the advice

Bob

Does anyone have an opinion or a comment as to the differences between the Hirsch http://www.donaldhirsch.com/dieppeparis.html London - Paris route and the one on cycle.travel one?

Cheers

I'm grateful for all the advice regarding Garmin Touring-supplied routes. HC kindly suggested using cycle.travel as a mapping site and then downloading directly into the Garmin. I had a look at that site, and it seemed to be remarkably easy to use both for route planning and established routes.

Many thanks

I bought the Garmin Tour Plus unit and it came loaded with maps.

Thanks again for any advice as to how good the cycle routes are that you are given when you ask for a route from one place to another.

Are Sustrans routes, including the Trans Pennine route for road bikes, available for GPS? The Sustrans website provides no information.

Thanks

The loss of Chris is dreadful. I had no idea that the change of status from club to charity for the CTC would lead to this. In fact, I suspect that the new focus of the CTC as a cyclists' rights campaigning organisation from what it was (a club of like minded cyclists who wanted to band together to share touring and related cycling experiences) was not fully understood at the time that most of us agreed to the changes. Most certainly I valued the club as a club - an organisation where members could share our love of cycling while at the same time give and get advice, fellowship and many other things. I always knew that expert help was available from the staff ie Chris. But now, instead of Chris, we have a huge and enormously expensive infrastructure for campaigns which most likely overlap with Sustrans, TfL, LCC and so on. I would be interested in seeing the percentages of our expenditures. I'll bet anything we are spending a great deal more on the campaigning front than we are on the touring or even general cycling. And if that's true, I suggest that few of us were aware that this would be the result of the debates a few years ago. It is almost seemed that our club has been stolen from us. I don't know if it was a deliberate policy right from the start, but I feel hoodwinked and I don't like it one bit.

I have just bought a Garmin Edge Touring Plus and am wondering how good are the routings that are supplied on the unit, for the average tourist. Does anyone know what the criteria is for those routes? The device does provide some 'minimising' options including altitude for offered routes but it would be difficult to really judge the Garmin-designed route in its entirety as it is presented on the screen. I ask this because while it might be best if one could spend time custom making a route before starting a tour, that might not be possible. Or something else might mean that after you have set off, perhaps days later, unexpected opportunities or circumstances might require you need to modify things. Advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

I've just returned from a fabulous trip to Brittany. To get there, I used the ferry from Cork to Roscoff then cycled from Roscoff to Huelgoat using the Velodyssey (both road and velovert) on the first day, by road from Huelgoat to Port Launay the next day and then Port Launay to Douarnenez, again by road, the next. It was a super trip although the hills never stop - but then you get the bragging rights, don't you! One caution, if you use the Velodyssey from Morlaix south, it's unsealed surface can get really muddy when it rains. As well, it was perhaps a bit boring and I missed cycling through the villages.

I was fortunate to have pre-booked wonderful accommodation at each stop. There were excellent meals along the way and super friendly motorists - unlike the usual selection of four-wheeled jerks so often found on the roads of Northern Ireland. And when I got lost, which I did more than a few times, people were more than happy to give directions or, in two cases, actually guide me to the looked for roads.

I can be contacted at bobzeller@btinternet.com if anyone wishes more information.

Bob