How Do You Find "Nice" Cycle Areas And Routes

[Witterings]

How do people go about finding what I'd describe as "Nice" cycle ares and routes ... what I mean by this is reasonably scenic and ideally little to no traffic.

There's some great cycling around where I am but most of the routes I’ve got to know are through being here many years and having local knowledge.
The only other place I've cycled extensively is The New Forest where we happened to be staying down there years ago and walked into a shop where by chance I saw a map of local cycle routes but if it wasn't for that wouldn't have known they were there nor where they were.

I know there are apps for plotting routes but these aren’t really what I’m after as you have to know the route you want to follow in the 1st place.

How do you identify whole areas that actually have some “good cycling” and how do you then find routes to follow in that area.

If anyone happens to know of an app that only shows you downhill routes as well that’d be even better .. in fact I’d probably upgrade from the free version

[avalonian]

https://cycle.travel

[meic]

I know there are apps for plotting routes but these aren’t really what I’m after as you have to know the route you want to follow in the 1st place.

Cycletravel will plot round trips for you. If you fancy a gratuitous ride mostly avoiding traffic it will offer them in mileage ranges of your choice.

[pwa]

You could pick your way through the Audax UK calendar of events. Some of the events have route information that you can use even if you don't turn up for the event.
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/18-445/
The route will have been designed and tested by someone with knowledge of the area and, usually, a fondness for nice roads and lanes.
The AUK site has a list of Permanent rides. Find a list that includes the area you have in mind and look at the routes suggested.

[geocycle]

https://cycle.travel

+1 fantastic resource.

[cotswolds]

Goldeneye do a good series of cycling maps. https://www.goldeneyeguides.co.uk/cycling/

I've used the Cotswold lanes one and it gives good choices. They're nice maps to use for cycling at a sensible 1:100,000 scale.

[Witterings]

Cheers everyone ... just had a quick look at cycletravel (at work so will have a proper look this eve) and 1st impressions what a great piece of kit

Does it automatically choose quieter / cycle routes rather than main roads?

[cyclop]

In my humble opinion,there is no substitute for an O.S.(ordnance survey)paper map.Old school,yes ,but a fantastic mine of information.I,ve even chosen places to live on the strength of O.S. map information.Is there a good network of minor roads?Are there some decent hills?Is the topography interesting?
Half the fun is concocting your own routes using these gems.You soon get a feel for distance and time taken .

[meic]

Does it automatically choose quieter / cycle routes rather than main roads?

Yes, apparently it has data about traffic volumes which it calls on.

[pwa]

Cheers everyone ... just had a quick look at cycletravel (at work so will have a proper look this eve) and 1st impressions what a great piece of kit

Does it automatically choose quieter / cycle routes rather than main roads?

Test it on routes you know. In my area it does seem to direct me onto quieter roads, even if that adds distance. If it works the same everywhere it is a good starting point.

[meic]

I would say that it is overzealous in that respect. However, if you are doing a circular ride just for the sake of a ride, it doesnt matter one bit that there is a much, much, easier, shorter route possible.
What does matter is that it can take you somewhere that is absolutely filthy and trashes your bike.

[peetee]

+1 for reading OS mapping. I love pouring over them and often notice things I haven't noticed before, even after decades of use!
It used to be fairly easy to work out traffic density by understanding your local areas employment and industry distribution. However, the advent of digital route planning has created some quite unexpected rat-runs in my area (south Hampshire) that see more than their fair share of speedy delivery vehicles.

[Vorpal]

Another good resource for routes which hasn't yet been mentioned, is other cyclists.

I've 'found' a number of routes by asking people that I thought would know an area, riding with a club, or posting requests on social media.

Of course, the above mentioned, Goldeneye maps, OS maps, and cycle.travel are also good resources.

My favourite way to find a new route, though is by exploring

[mjr]

Cheers everyone ... just had a quick look at cycletravel (at work so will have a proper look this eve) and 1st impressions what a great piece of kit

Does it automatically choose quieter / cycle routes rather than main roads?

Test it on routes you know. In my area it does seem to direct me onto quieter roads, even if that adds distance. If it works the same everywhere it is a good starting point.

I think it does, and when trying to evaluate an area, I use cycle.travel in two ways:
1. zoom into the 1mi scale and see how many red-edged white lines (cycleways), and coloured dotted roads (cycle routes) there are - the more, the merrier.
2. pick a point and a fairly short distance (12 miles for a medium-sized city) and click "suggest a ride" repeatedly - if it mainly finds the same two routes repeatedly, that's not a good sign. Lengthen it to 20 miles to evaluate a wider area. In a good area like the Netherlands, it usually seems to settle on about 3 groups of 3 routes, looking roughly like a 3-segment circle, give or take obstructions like sea.

[Cugel]

+1 for reading OS mapping. I love pouring over them and often notice things I haven't noticed before, even after decades of use!
It used to be fairly easy to work out traffic density by understanding your local areas employment and industry distribution. However, the advent of digital route planning has created some quite unexpected rat-runs in my area (south Hampshire) that see more than their fair share of speedy delivery vehicles.

+ another 1

I've got rid of all the paper maps though. For just under £18 per year, you can have full access to every OS Map of the UK on your PC or other device. With a big screen and easy zooming (with auto-change between different scale maps) it makes the examination of any area very easy. There are also road maps, route maps, aerial views, street maps ..... They're as up-to-date as they can be, unlike some of my ancient paper maps were.

Other facilities keep being added. You can find various routes made by others or upload your own, for example.

In any area with which I'm totally unfamiliar, I print out a couple of paper maps extracted from the OSMap website. They can cover exactly the area you need at exactly the scale you want. Put them in a thin folded plastic cover in your jersey pocket - although I try to memorise them anyway so I don't need to take them out. (But I always do).

Cugel