London to Penzance

A friend and I thought we might take a week off over the summer and cycle from London to Penzance.
Can anyone here offer any handy hints that may not seem obvious? We're also wondering - are there
any maps available that will have a good level of detail (we want to do it on minor minor roads,
avoiding As and Bs wherever possible) that don't mean us having to buy 12 Landrangers? And, what
potential routes are good / bad?

any advice gratefully received

MG

 

You could plan a crude route on a road atlas, then get detailed maps from www.streetmap.co.uk but
these are copyrighted, so you'll have to make notes based on what you think is a good route. You can
zoom to street-level, 50,000 landranger & larger scale. (Tip, you will normally see a 3x3 grid. Look
at the address line where it says z=1 or z=3 or z=5, depending on scale. Chenge the number to 2 ,4
or 6 to get a 5x5 grid for that scale).

I agree that Landranger are bst for cycling, but are a bit expensive when you need 12.

Niv.

"Matt G" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> A friend and I thought we might take a week off over the summer and cycle from London to Penzance.
> Can anyone here offer any handy hints that may not seem obvious? We're also wondering - are there
> any maps available that will have a good level of detail (we want to do it on minor minor roads,
> avoiding As and Bs wherever possible) that don't mean us having to buy 12 Landrangers? And, what
> potential routes are good / bad?
>
> any advice gratefully received
>
> MG

 

In message <[email protected]>, Niv <[email protected]> writes
>You could plan a crude route on a road atlas, then get detailed maps from www.streetmap.co.uk but
>these are copyrighted, so you'll have to make notes based on what you think is a good route. You
>can zoom to street-level, 50,000 landranger & larger scale. (Tip, you will normally see a 3x3 grid.
>Look at the address line where it says z=1 or z=3 or z=5, depending on scale. Chenge the number to
>2 ,4 or 6 to get a 5x5 grid for that scale).
>
>I agree that Landranger are bst for cycling, but are a bit expensive when you need 12.
>
>Niv.
>
>"Matt G" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> A friend and I thought we might take a week off over the summer and cycle from London to
>> Penzance. Can anyone here offer any handy hints that may not seem obvious? We're also wondering -
>> are there any maps available that will have a good level of detail (we want to do it on minor
>> minor roads, avoiding As and Bs wherever possible) that don't mean us having to buy 12
>> Landrangers? And, what potential routes are good / bad?
>>

Under the Streetmap T&C (should you care) you are allowed to make one print copy for you own
personal use. But that's a lot of printing out to do at a reasonable scale. (same for the OS and
Multimap sites AIUI)

Actually the OS 1:250,000 scale maps are ok, as they do show pretty much most minor roads as well,
though not much info on the gradients, just basic relief shading. It's the only real practical
alternative I can think of. (cheaper to by an OS road atlas and tear the pages out than buy the
maps though)

Me I'd buy the Landrangers, one because I like all the extra detail and info they provide, and
secondly because I'm a bit of a map addict and will find any excuse to buy another map.
--
Chris French, Leeds

 

Matt G <[email protected]> said:

> We're also wondering - are there any maps available that will have a good level of detail (we want
> to do it on minor minor roads, avoiding As and Bs wherever possible) that don't mean us having to
> buy 12 Landrangers?

O/S do a series of maps called "road" and "tour" that are a bit more detailed and larger scale than
your average road atlas. Supplementing those with Landrangers or Explorer maps for areas of
interest will probably suit you.

Have a look at http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ under the Map Shop. Sorry I can't provide a deeper
link but they have some kind of weird frameset/session ID thing going on which means that links
don't work

Regards,

-david

 

>>>>>>>>>>> snip

> >> good / bad?
> >>
>
> Under the Streetmap T&C (should you care) you are allowed to make one print copy for you own
> personal use. But that's a lot of printing out to do at a reasonable scale. (same for the OS and
> Multimap sites AIUI)
>
> Actually the OS 1:250,000 scale maps are ok, as they do show pretty much most minor roads as well,
> though not much info on the gradients, just basic relief shading. It's the only real practical
> alternative I can think of. (cheaper to by an OS road atlas and tear the pages out than buy the
> maps though)
>
> Me I'd buy the Landrangers, one because I like all the extra detail and info they provide, and
> secondly because I'm a bit of a map addict and will find any excuse to buy another map.
> --
> Chris French, Leeds

There is of course the alternative of buying the CD based maps from Anquet or Memory Map - they both
enable printing so you can take the bits that you need for the route and throw the pages away as you
finish with them! Both systems also have pretty smoky ways of drawing routes and getting route
profiles etc.

Yes, I know they are expensive BUT (taking Anquet as an example) half of the country in 1-50,000
(that's about 100 printed maps) is £120 - compare that with buying printed maps at whatever they are
each, and you get the bells and whistles. (AND if you are like me, wherever you want to go is ALWAYS
in the corner and you have to buy 4 maps!)

Usual disclaimer, no connection etc .... just like the idea of digital print-your-own maps

RG

 

David Nutter <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:

> O/S do a series of maps called "road" and "tour" that are a bit more detailed and larger scale
> than your average road atlas. Supplementing those with Landrangers or Explorer maps for areas of
> interest will probably suit you.
>

One thing to note is that the "tour" maps have no indication of gradient, but te "road" ones do
(by shading).

I've recently bought the "road" map of Wales and west Mids to use for cycling. Haven't done it yet,
but I intend to compare coverage with the couple of Landranger maps in this area that I also have.

Toby

--
Remove spamtrap to reply by mail

 

> We're also wondering - are there any maps available that will have a good level of detail (we
> want to do it on minor minor roads, avoiding As and Bs wherever possible) that don't mean us
> having to buy 12 Landrangers?

get an OS road atlas, asnd tear out the appropreate pages

Jeremy Parker

 

"chris French" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> Me I'd buy the Landrangers, one because I like all the extra detail and info they provide, and
> secondly because I'm a bit of a map addict and will find any excuse to buy another map.

me, I'd spend an evening in the public library making notes and then go buy the couple of OS maps I
thought particularly helpful.

T

 

In message <[email protected]>, RG <[email protected]> writes
>
>
>There is of course the alternative of buying the CD based maps from Anquet or Memory Map -
>
<snip>
>Usual disclaimer, no connection etc .... just like the idea of digital print-your-own maps
>
Indeed, I like the idea, esp. with the additional facilities for route planning etc. etc.

But.....

It's no replacement for a proper map in your hands, so would end up with both knowing me......
--
Chris French, Leeds

 

RG, have you actually got these Anquet maps? I was thinking of getting them to go with my GPS (or
possibly the OS stuff at an extra £40). The idea is to plot/plan offroad routes and download to the
GPS. Also some new road routes I'm new to. Are they any good etc etc.

TIA, Niv.

"RG" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> >>>>>>>>>>> snip
>
> > >> good / bad?
> > >>
> >
> > Under the Streetmap T&C (should you care) you are allowed to make one print copy for you own
> > personal use. But that's a lot of printing out to do at a reasonable scale. (same for the OS and
> > Multimap sites AIUI)
> >
> > Actually the OS 1:250,000 scale maps are ok, as they do show pretty much most minor roads as
> > well, though not much info on the gradients, just basic relief shading. It's the only real
> > practical alternative I can think of. (cheaper to by an OS road atlas and tear the pages out
> > than buy the maps though)
> >
> > Me I'd buy the Landrangers, one because I like all the extra detail and info they provide, and
> > secondly because I'm a bit of a map addict and will find any excuse to buy another map.
> > --
> > Chris French, Leeds
>
>
> There is of course the alternative of buying the CD based maps from Anquet or Memory Map - they
> both enable printing so you can take the bits that
you
> need for the route and throw the pages away as you finish with them!
Both
> systems also have pretty smoky ways of drawing routes and getting route profiles etc.
>
> Yes, I know they are expensive BUT (taking Anquet as an example) half of
the
> country in 1-50,000 (that's about 100 printed maps) is £120 - compare
that
> with buying printed maps at whatever they are each, and you get the bells and whistles. (AND if
> you are like me, wherever you want to go is ALWAYS
in
> the corner and you have to buy 4 maps!)
>
> Usual disclaimer, no connection etc .... just like the idea of digital print-your-own maps
>
> RG

 

"Niv" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> RG, have you actually got these Anquet maps? I was thinking of getting them to go with my GPS (or
> possibly the OS stuff at an extra £40). The idea is to plot/plan offroad routes and download to
> the GPS. Also some new road routes I'm new to. Are they any good etc etc.
>
> TIA, Niv.
>
> "RG" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > >>>>>>>>>>> snip
> >
> > > >> good / bad?
> > > >>
> > >
> > > Under the Streetmap T&C (should you care) you are allowed to make one print copy for you own
> > > personal use. But that's a lot of printing out
to
> > > do at a reasonable scale. (same for the OS and Multimap sites AIUI)
> > >
> > > Actually the OS 1:250,000 scale maps are ok, as they do show pretty
much
> > > most minor roads as well, though not much info on the gradients, just basic relief shading.
> > > It's the only real practical alternative I can think of. (cheaper to by an OS road atlas and
> > > tear the pages out than buy the maps though)
> > >
> > > Me I'd buy the Landrangers, one because I like all the extra detail
and
> > > info they provide, and secondly because I'm a bit of a map addict and will find any excuse to
> > > buy another map.
> > > --
> > > Chris French, Leeds
> >
> >
> > There is of course the alternative of buying the CD based maps from
Anquet
> > or Memory Map - they both enable printing so you can take the bits that
> you
> > need for the route and throw the pages away as you finish with them!
> Both
> > systems also have pretty smoky ways of drawing routes and getting route profiles etc.
> >
> > Yes, I know they are expensive BUT (taking Anquet as an example) half of
> the
> > country in 1-50,000 (that's about 100 printed maps) is £120 - compare
> that
> > with buying printed maps at whatever they are each, and you get the
bells
> > and whistles. (AND if you are like me, wherever you want to go is
ALWAYS
> in
> > the corner and you have to buy 4 maps!)
> >
> > Usual disclaimer, no connection etc .... just like the idea of digital print-your-own maps
> >
> > RG
> >
> >
>
>

In reply to the question whether I have the CD maps, the answer is "Not et" - I have the free demo
of Anquet with some sample mapping and have also bought one of the CDs from MemoryMap - my mind is
not made up which is better, partly because the packages are different in terms of coverage and
price - features seem much the same .... I will report back when I take the plunge!

RG

 

Have you had a look at the NCN long distance route maps?

You could buy London - Reading - Oxford [Kennet & Avon Canal] Bath - Padstow Bude - Land's End

See http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/

Good luck

Kirby