Advice on plotting out long routes

[alexb]

I'm planning to work up a route from London to Ludlow.
There are a few places I might like to visit (Wallingford springs to mind), but other than that how should I go about it?

What I'm really after is advice on sources for putting together short lengths of route which I could then string together. It did occur to me to do this using bits of audaxes, but some audaxes wind unecessarily or seak out hills just for fun, others however are genuinely beautiful and this is what i would like to seek out.

So, some advice if possible. A starter - what route out of London? Via Windsor/Olde Windsor - this is what I was thinking, using Richmond Park.

[Greenbank]

I'm planning to work up a route from London to Ludlow.
There are a few places I might like to visit (Wallingford springs to mind), but other than that how should I go about it?

My advice is to make a quick stab at it, post it and wait for people to comment.

How direct a route are you looking for? Are you planning on doing it all in one day?

Thinking about some bits I'd go Windsor, Bray, Maidenhead, Henley, Wallingford, Witney and use a Dean/Severn Across type route over through Stow-In-The-Wold, Tewkesbury, Ledbury, then B4214 up to Bromyard and Tenbury Wells. Not sure of the best route from there to Ludlow though.

[gordon taylor]

My method is to get an OS 1:250000 map and draw a straight line on it between the start and finish. Then use the yellow and white roads to follow it fairly closely.

[αdαmsκι]

A starter - what route out of London? Via Windsor/Olde Windsor - this is what I was thinking, using Richmond Park.

Depends where you starting. From Kew I've used this route to get to Eton area. The only nasty bit was the 1 km stretch on the A3113 between the A3044 and the M25 junction

[clarion]

My method is to get an OS 1:250000 map and draw a straight line on it between the start and finish. Then use the yellow and white roads to follow it fairly closely.

+1

With a copy of the Big Sites Book (C&CC guide) handy.

[Greenbank]

As for getting out of London, here's how I usually do it to go SW, but it goes reasonably close to Shepperton...

Bicycle Path - L2C at Bikely.com

I'd probably turn right onto the B376, go through Staines, and over onto the A308 to Windsor. Turn off onto the B3028 before Maidenhead, Cookham, Marlow, Frieth/Fingest, Watlington, Benson, Abingdon, Cumnor.

[alexb]

I'm planning to work up a route from London to Ludlow.
There are a few places I might like to visit (Wallingford springs to mind), but other than that how should I go about it?

My advice is to make a quick stab at it, post it and wait for people to comment.

How direct a route are you looking for? Are you planning on doing it all in one day?

Thinking about some bits I'd go Windsor, Bray, Maidenhead, Henley, Wallingford, Witney and use a Dean/Severn Across type route over through Stow-In-The-Wold, Tewkesbury, Ledbury, then B4214 up to Bromyard and Tenbury Wells. Not sure of the best route from there to Ludlow though.

This is pretty much my roughed out route at present. Given your suggestion, I'll rough it out an bit further and then throw it open to the pack.

[nuttycyclist]

My method is to get an OS 1:250000 map and draw a straight line on it between the start and finish. Then use the yellow and white roads to follow it fairly closely.

Pretty similar to how I used to do it.   Don't forget to firstly kink the straight line to cross motorways/rivers/train lines as these are the main barriers to your route.


Now I use digital mapping, (Mapsource, googlemaps, etc) and the method is to plonk the start and finish points down, then scroll along the route and drag and drop it onto roads that I think I'd prefer.

[rogerzilla]

I draw a straight line and pick the nearest B/C roads.  This is probably why any ride of mine involves at least one monster climb