Bike magaizine - Mainland UK Figure of 8 - 1600 miles

Wapping · Dec 24, 2011

Bike magazine has recently been publishing a 1600 miles figure of 8 loop, centred on Hawes.

I thought I would map it out, not least as foreign visitors to our shores may find it of use. Is it perfect? No of course it's not, nor does it claim to be. But as a reasonably easy to follow taster of what chunks of mainland UK might offer it's probably not too bad.

Richard

Davy F · Dec 24, 2011

What happened ?

Wapping · Dec 24, 2011

Apologies... The files are getting corrupted somehow on download DropBox.... So I have deleted them.

At the moment I have no idea why DropBox is refusing to open the .gbd files. It will open old ones quite happily and one of the three new routes. But on two of them it goes into a deep decline.

Wapping · Dec 25, 2011

Best I can do at the moment

Back from a day feasting in London W1.

Two of the three damned files refuse to open properly when hosted on DropBox, so I have had to do my best using an alternative method.

Here are the routes, converted into tracks on Wikiloc then hosted on their site.

You should (though I haven't tried) be able to download the tracks to a GPS device or to Mapsource. As the file conversion is sometimes a little bit approximate you may need to pull the routes around a little to match the roads exactly. That shouldn't be too bad.... Anyway, it's good practice for mucking around in Mapsource and you really cannot break it.

If I can find (or if anyone can suggest) a good alternative file sharing site to the usually very reliable DropBox, I will have a go at pinging up the original Mapsource files again. I may contact Cap'n BHT on his yacht to see if he'll upload the files to this thread, which will save me chopping them up into bitesized chunks.

SOUTH LOOP - 717 miles

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=2336496

<iframe frameBorder="0" src="http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=view&id=2336496&measures=off&title=off&near=off&images=off&maptype=S" width="500px" height="400px"></iframe>

NORTH LOOP - 876 miles

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=2336495

<iframe frameBorder="0" src="http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=view&id=2336495&measures=off&title=off&near=off&images=off&maptype=S" width="500px" height="400px"></iframe>

Applecross loop extension - 35 miles

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=2336491

<iframe frameBorder="0" src="http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=view&id=2336491&measures=off&title=off&near=off&images=off&maptype=S" width="500px" height="400px"></iframe>

Doh! Dummy that I am, I forgot the easiest way! .... Here, is the Wikiloc converted track file back into Mapsource, to make life much easier.... :blast

Still a bit of fun to muck about in Wikiloc and a nice way to display Garmin routes in user friendly Google maps.

rce · Dec 26, 2011

Good job, I have re-assembled and seems to work OK on Dropbox

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21844858/Bike Mag.gdb

Wapping · Dec 26, 2011

rce said:
I have re-assembled and seems to work OK on Dropbox

Thanks.

Yup, that works fine. I have uploaded your file to and downloaded from my space in Dropbox, all without a glitch. I have no idea why I had a problem with the other two original files. Hey-ho, one of life's great mysteries.

Rushy · Dec 26, 2011

Wapping said:
I have no idea why I had a problem with the other two original files. Hey-ho, one of life's great mysteries.

Historians & philosophers may disagree

Rasher · Dec 26, 2011

Wapping, did you try GPX format?

I do all my planning on Tyre these days, it works far better than Mapsource and as a freebie is fantastic, I load them into Mapsource when nearly complete to do the finishing touches such as find the Hotel (Mapsource will have the exact spot whereas with tyre I am relying on a postcode in Google maps) and add in fuel stations.

JohnnyBoxer · Dec 26, 2011

Afer all this strife, is anyone actually going to ride the routes :augie

rce · Dec 26, 2011

JohnnyBoxer said:
Afer all this strife, is anyone actually going to ride the routes

I will probably give some sections a go, now in one file fairly easy to cut and paste sections to a new route

Odd bits like using the Edinburgh ring road are madness when going slightly west misses all that crap out

Wapping · Dec 26, 2011

JohnnyBoxer said:
Afer all this strife, is anyone actually going to ride the routes

I probably will... a good crack in a day

JohnnyBoxer · Dec 26, 2011

Wapping said:
I probably will... a good crack in a day

Hawes is only 30 miles away, tell me when you're coming

Wapping · Dec 26, 2011

rce said:
Odd bits like using the Edinburgh ring road are madness when going slightly west misses all that crap out

I thought it a bit odd. Maybe I just hit the via point button and let Mapsource route it around city to the next known point :augie

I'm no great expert on Jockland

Looking at the mag properly I can see that their route did go to the west.....

I'll tidy it up sometime, it won't take long.

There's also a glitch I noticed in the second leg. I thought the chopped out version was too long... and it is. By I accident I left two via points in BEFORE Inverness.

Here it is fixed but still wi' the Glasgytown detour o'er the east

JohnnyBoxer · Dec 26, 2011

Wapping said:
I thought it a bit odd. Maybe I just hit the via point button and let Mapsource route it around city to the next known point I'm no great expert on Jockland Looking at the mag properly I can see that their route did go to the west.....

I'll tidy it up sometime, it won't take long.

There's also a glitch I noticed in the second leg. I thought the chopped out version was too long... and it is. By I accident I left two via points in BEFORE Inverness.

Here it is fixed but still wi' the Glasgytown detour o'er the east

Use the A7 via Selkirk and Hawick,then Bonchester Bridge to Carter Bar on the A68 - cracking road and little used by much traffic and brings you out West of Edinburgh on the bypass

Wapping · Dec 26, 2011

Rasher said:
Wapping, did you try GPX format?

I do all my planning on Tyre these days, it works far better than Mapsource

I like Mapsource, as it forces me to look at a proper paper map at the same time. I guess I have just got used to its little foibles over the years. i know lots of bods say that it doesn't look like a map, and they may well be right.

It's easy enough to save as .gpx in Mapsource. The glitch I had was simply due to a corrupted file. I think I bust it myself, uploading one file, then trying to upload two more at the same time.... self-inflicted as many of these thing are. I have just uploaded and downloaded a much larger file without any prob's.

Tyre I do use from time to time to help the peasantry with Tom-Toms... or those that don't (or won't) possess a map

Wapping · Dec 26, 2011

JohnnyBoxer said:
Use the A7 via Selkirk and Hawick,then Bonchester Bridge to Carter Bar on the A68 -......

Good man

I'll fix it.

JohnnyBoxer · Dec 26, 2011

Wapping said:
Good man I'll fix it.

My Highland default route, I can leave my house all the way to Edinburgh without the need for anything more than a single carriageway A road for 200 miles to Edinburgh.................bliss

The first dual carriageway I hit, is the Edinburgh bypass

Wapping · Dec 26, 2011

JohnnyBoxer said:
M A road for 200 miles to Edinburgh.................bliss

The first dual carriageway I hit, is the Edinburgh bypass

.... and I'm an hour from France

To get there is shite, mind.

rce · Dec 26, 2011

My route around Edinburgh from the border, like Johnny I have a route from here to Scotland without hitting any dual carriageways, in fact I can now do a back route trip from near Watford to Orkney near enough from memory without touching much in the way of dual carriageways.

Here's my route http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21844858/Avoid Edinburgh.gdb

JohnnyBoxer · Dec 26, 2011

Wapping said:
.... and I'm an hour from France

To get there is shite, mind.

Yep but look what else you have to contend with

I would love to be closer to the Continent, but couldn't stand all that hustle and bustle

Hull is an hour away (over the quaint Wolds) and so is the Newcastle ferry

On the other hand, I have a plethora of awesome biking roads - tarmac and trail within 25 yards of my house :augie

If you're doing the Northern loop of this, give me a bell

Bike magaizine - Mainland UK Figure of 8 - 1600 miles

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