What online maps do you use for trip planning?

[alcam]

I never plan jack shitte .. I am a biker and go with the flow

Easier with a canoe

 

[barryd]

I'm sure that you've posted about the date/destination issue before.
I've never used Bing Maps and not sure that I like it, but it does permit you to put a start date and to add destinations. Tested using Chevaly (Taninges), Ramaz (Mieussy) and Vanne (Mieussy) and the D308 (closed until May 2025, so used a mid-June date).

Brilliant! Never thought of Bing Maps but it allows you to put a leave at date in for multiple locations. Takes a while to figure it out but other than that its very similar to Google Maps. Can't image why Google make it so hard as it must be an easy fix. A fair few people asking about it when I googled about.

Yes I did ask before and I now remember, I think it was @mark61 that pointed out the leave not option but it only works for single destination journeys which is daft. Thanks.

 

[barryd]

Result! Bing maps also allows you to enter multiple trip points. Well more than the feeble 10 that Google maps allows. Its a bit clunky as you add them and it zooms back out each time. You also have to be careful it doesn't decide to reorder them for a faster route. I dont think it understands circular touring. It doesn't seem as detailed as google maps either but maybe you can change that.

Rough plan now created. Now the hard work begins of sussing out suitable stopovers with plan B and C's Ill know most of them from before though although I bet many have changed.

 

[Boris7]

I’d just chuck my s**t in the van and go.

 

[barryd]

I’d just chuck my s**t in the van and go.

I think many do that. Not me though. I like to find the best spots either near a fantastic alpine ride for the bike or somewhere by water for the Kayak. We tend to stay a while as well. I wouldnt be so fussy just for a one nighter. By February I suspect ill have a folder of Aires and wild camping spot PDFs for each department we visit on that route. Just stay until we get bored, bang in the next set of GPS coordinates and off to the next spot. We will of course go "off piste" and it will likely change but I do like a good trip plan. I think I get it from my dad who was a headmaster and planned school trips and our holidays just the same. They were brilliant trips though. When I was 15 he and my mother took me on my first tour of Europe over the Summer holidays and I fell in love with it then. How the hell he planned all that without the internet though!

 

[alcam]

Result! Bing maps also allows you to enter multiple trip points. Well more than the feeble 10 that Google maps allows. Its a bit clunky as you add them and it zooms back out each time. You also have to be careful it doesn't decide to reorder them for a faster route. I dont think it understands circular touring. It doesn't seem as detailed as google maps either but maybe you can change that.

Rough plan now created. Now the hard work begins of sussing out suitable stopovers with plan B and C's Ill know most of them from before though although I bet many have changed.

That is , most certainly, a tour de France

 

[TJBi]

I’d just chuck my s**t in the van and go.

Novel idea; at the risk of turning this into another toilet thread, most people try to ensure that there's no s**t in the van before setting off.

 

[Nabsim]

I don't plan and whenever I get anywhere near to a plan I go somewhere else lol

However...

If memory serves Via Michelin used to let you plan routes

 

[Boris7]

I guess it’s a personal thing, don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do a trip. What ever makes you comfortable is what you should do.

I’ve booked a ferry to Bilbao simply to make sure I start when it fits my calendar and tbh I’m thinking of changing the date, not booked anything else, about a few days before I’m ready to come home I’ll book a ferry back.

But I guess others like to have a plan, when I did route 66 the first time it was different, I booked hotels for each night, but that didn’t work for me. Much prefer spontaneity.

 

[Canalsman]

If memory serves Via Michelin used to let you plan routes

Indeed it does.

It calculates toll costs too which can be handy if you choose to use them.

 

[marchie]

I use the Garmin Camper 780 [updated the mapping sotware today] and Elaine usually has Google Maps switched on, because Garmin will take you off a motorway if the A road is 10 yards shorter, and I cannot find a setting to specify quickest journey time over shortest distance. On the drive to Lincoln for the floor repair, Garmin took me off the motorway about 16 miles earlier than Google recommended, so we wasted perhaps 15-20 minutes driving parallel to the A1M [about 100 metres away, but with traffic islands every 400-600 metres ...]

Steve

 

[exwindsurfer]

I enjoy planning, I only plan a route though, never places to overnight. Rarely, if ever follow the plan exactly anyway.

Still use google maps. I prefer adjusting the route on screen to typing in added destinations, which means I can set a departure date.

Google sometimes won't navigate along tracks I've got from Wikiloc, unless I change to walking or cycling, and that just makes a right mess of the whole route. Only plan for fun, so couldn't careless.

 

[trevskoda]

Easier with a canoe

Ah but he could be up the creek without a paddle.

 

[TJBi]

I don't plan and whenever I get anywhere near to a plan I go somewhere else lol

However...

If memory serves Via Michelin used to let you plan routes

However, I don't think that it will let you specify vehicle dimensions and weights, so may pose some problems with low bridges, weight restrictions...

 

[Moonraker 2]

None, I don’t like to plan trips, I prefer to just go with the flow.

That said I did spend 40 years driving around Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia for a living so maybe it’s a bit different in my case.

I’ve booked a ferry to Bilbao in July and I’m going to Antibes from there, but that’s easy, get off ferry, turn right, keep the sea on your right and sooner or later Antibes will find you.

??? Surely if you get out at Bilbao and turn right, with the sea on your right, you end up at `a Coruna.

 

[mark61]

??? Surely if you get out at Bilbao and turn right, with the sea on your right, you end up at `a Coruna.

Continue on from A Coruna, keeping the sea to your right, you will eventually get to Antibes.

 

[Boris7]

Continue on from A Coruna, keeping the sea to your right, you will eventually get to Antibes.

And Naples.

Oh and Novi Vinodolski (now theres a thought !!!) been a few years.

Bugger Mark, you might have just changed my plans mate

 

[Tim120]

Planning what could be a three month jaunt France/Spain/Portugal starting in mid Jan.
Much thought given... first night, pub stop near tunnel... sorted

Apologies no mapping mentioned.

 

[Boris7]

Dog and Partridge in Stifford is good before the tunnel Tim.