The Inside Info

Explore

A great way to find a new route is to cycle around the roads between your location and destination. Look at a map to get a rough idea of road layout and just enjoy exploring.

This is best done at the weekend when you have some time. You could also just pick different roads for your commute and just plan in a bit more time for your commute home. The weekend option can also often lead to the discovery of something new like a café, pub or simply a spot of nature you were not aware of.

Online help

A great online tool is CycleStreets (also available as an app). You enter a starting point and end point for your journey. The tool will provide you with three different options:

• fastest route
• balanced route
• quietest route

It will also estimate how long the route will take.

We would recommend CycleStreets over Google Maps. Google Maps is a good place to start route planning, but it can sometimes send you up some stairs for example. It is great if you want to most direct route available.

You could also plot your own route online, save it and use your mobile phone for turn-by-turn voice navigation. There are quite a few programs/apps out there for free that work well. Try Strava or Ride with GPS.