Route Planning

[JoeRowing]

I may be late to the party with this - I was trying to plan a long, non-dual carriageway route and calimoto.com seems like a fantastic tool for A7 routes!

[Tony Griffiths]

Appears to work well. Here's the approach to Dover - one I find tricky to navigate through small villages when main roads are blocked. Both Garmin and TomTom motorcycle satnavs also have a twisty-route option - but these are expensive, £350 to £400, water and vibration-proof units. The app only works on iPhones with IOS 15 or later i.e. many older iPhones can't use it.

[Denis Sweeney]

Tony not tried this route but having had to travel to Dover on the Eurotour this year I used AA maps and google earth to plan a route avoiding motorways and very limited use of dual carriageways. Have used this rote twice and gave a copy to others who had problems on their drives through to Dover.
My route is only from Rainham Kent to Dover and back as that's where we live.
It would be sensible to check the route out on goggle earth yourself to familiarise yourself, but it certainly worked for us and looks to be more direct than the route you had shown. 
If you are staying overnight in Dover and need to have a safe storage for your car or if you have trailered your car down there is a company we have used called Relyon Parking CT17 0HL.
I have no connection to this company but they only charged £20 for an overnight stay and dropped us off at our hotel and picked us up in the morning to take us back to our car all in the one price. 
Cheers

[Tony Griffiths]

Relyon Parking CT17 0HL.
I have no connection to this company but they only charged £20 for an overnight stay and dropped us off at our hotel and picked us up in the morning to take us back to our car all in the one price. 
Cheers

Thank you Denis - most useful information. The "twisty route" is just that - and certainly not the shortest that a human could find using maps to avoid motorways and dual carriageways. It's the lazy man's solution!

[Dave Mann]

    My route planner

[Adrian Payne]

I use Routino.org and select moped as vehicle. Removes motorway and fast roads.
Adrian.

[Chris KC]

Plan your optimal route - or even alternative routes - using Google Maps then download as a .gpx file, which you can then upload into "My Routes" in Tomtom "MyDrive". I use Tomtom Go basic (about £125) with a showerproof case (intended for bicycles). 

n.b. I still hate the thing, but if you have a distance to cover this approach works pretty well.

[JoeRowing]

i usually plan, make a route card and then go, trusting to a sense of direction and luck

[Tony Griffiths]

My route planner

That's like the one I used in the stone age - and I still have the latest edition, just in case of an EMP. It's absolutely the very best set of motoring maps available with terrific detail (but sadly it can't warn you of speed cameras, find a fuel station, book a room or a table, show hold-ups ahead and plot a traffic-free route around them - in a fraction of a second).

[Howard Wright]

Hi All

Last Christmas I treated myself to a year’s subscription to the OS maps app on my iPad.  I wondered about how useful it would be but I’ve found it invaluable.  Not only do you get roads and routes but also footpaths and a general idea of topography.

I’ll be renewing in December.

Cheers

Howard