App for navigating a route/circuit of fun b-roads?

[457892345]

Since i started driving two years ago i had always seen it just as a method of travel. I had always wondered what the point was in being ''into'' driving in the uk, the road network and policing make it impossible to enjoy and track days are more geared toward specialized cars with rollcages etc than just going for a quick hoon in your daily for an hour. What with all the costs and hassle it puts most people off and it did me.

One day my friend showed me a well known local b-road and suddenly my perception changed. Finally there was some fun and meaning to driving, after searching on google earth i started to find more and more but the problem is following them irl and staying on route...

This led to me making custom route maps with way points to show me where to go but my preferred navigation app google maps doesn't like it at all and make it impossible due to it ending the route with a screen at every way point.

After spending a few hours in other nav apps i realized none of them really allow for this and Ive ended up using a cycling/road biking app called ''Komoot'' to plan circuits out on the pc and then follow them on my phone in the car, the biggest issue being the map it uses doesn't zoom in to the lane view as you are driving as google maps does so seeing the layout of the route isn't nearly as easy at a glance. (helpful in twistys).

tldr : Does anyone use an app to make custom b-road driving routes and if so what do you use + why?

Edited by 457892345 on Tuesday 13th February 04:09

[littleredrooster]

I've done it for the past 15 years or so for our continental bike trips long before apps were invented!

I use Garmin Mapsource or Basecamp to plan the route on the computer, then download it to my satnav. Job jobbed.

I have no doubt that Garmin or TomTom could sell you something similar for your phone.

Go into the 'Roads' forum on here to get suggestions for routes.

[vonhosen]

I use myroute-app for creating tracks & loading them to my TomTom device (for the Bike), that solution works great.

On 1st March the myroute-app team are releasing a phone/mobile satnav application for that you can do the same, plan your routes & the run them on your phone.

https://navigation.myrouteapp.com/en


my route-app are the same guys that invented the freeware PC platform TYRE that route planners have been using for years to create TomTom & Garmin routes.

[solidtraveller]

457892345 said:

tldr : Does anyone use an app to make custom b-road driving routes and if so what do you use + why?

Edited by 457892345 on Tuesday 13th February 04:09

Trying to do this on the phone seems impossible for me. As soon as I miss a point while in route I loose the whole pre-planned route..

Is the sat-nav option the only way of doing this?

i've seen on the Tom-Tom a 'curvy' route option.
Is this option making a b-road route automatically for you?

cheers

[mellowman]

I think the app Scenic will do exactly what you're after - amongst other functionality, it allows you to import or create a particular route and to resume that route if you are diverted due to closed roads/roadworks.

You can also import .gpx files exported from Google Maps and other apps, like Best Biking Roads.

[shalmaneser]

TomTom phone app has a functionality called 'Winding Roads' which automatically routes you via interesting roads. Scenic appears to be offering similar functionality

[Riley Blue]

Have a look at https://www.plotaroute.com

I've only just found out about it so haven't yet used it to plan a route but it looks promising even though it's not intended for car drivers. I've saved some of my existing car routes using it with no problems.

[croyde]

Or use a map

[Riley Blue]

croyde said:

Or use a map

I find an OS map tends to obscure the windscreen.

[croyde]

Very true.

I was thinking back to my van courier days back in the 80s.

Any cross country routes I'd study my road atlas and make notes on a piece of paper and stick to the dashboard of my van.

Big cities, I'd stop at a services before the exit and go into Smith's and look at the local AtoZ and memorise the address.

Since the advent of Sat Navs, I always use one for at least traffic and cameras, my brain has turned to mush.

I was a motorcycle courier before I got my car licence so I must have just memorised routes as the paper would have got wet

[Riley Blue]

In the past I've done the same, written road numbers in sequence on an A4 sheet and taped it to the fascia. It got me around Europe many times without too much off-route meandering.

Nowadays, like you, I use the Waze app, not the least because its speed readout is more accurate than the flickering needle in my Riley.

Navigation on a planned 'B-road bash' is by tulip diagrams with my long-suffering O/H reading out distances and directions. We've just toured Wales that way, an interesting experience as her Scottish brain's interpretation of Welsh place names was er... interesting...