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Comment by ZenoArrow | Hacker News Reader

As was mentioned in the audio clip, the usefulness of the routes depends on the surrounding cycle network. Since these cycle paths were built, the cycle network in the UK has grown, so some of the routes could prove more immediately useful now than they were in the 1930s.

To give you an idea of the scale of the current UK cycle network:

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map

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That's a misleading map. The majority of NCN routes are just ordinary roads. Just because somebody put a few signs up doesn't make them safer than other similar roads. They're often narrow, overgrown at the sides, and full of potholes. In most cases I'd rather cycle in urban areas. At least there the traffic is slower and more predictable. And the off-road routes are frequently impassible for all but mountain bikes because of mud.

Don't miss http://cycle.travel/ which uses OpenStreetMap data to build bike friendly routes (accounting for surfaces and traffic and hills and so on).

Made by HN user Doctor_Fegg.

Or similar osm-based http://www.bbbike.org/ with more international coverage

They do different things - bbbike is for route-planning within select cities, cycle.travel aims to do whole-country networks so you can ask for (say) NYC to SF and get a route back in seconds.

That's fantastic, thanks for the link. I particularly like the idea of suggesting cycle-friendly circular routes, when you have no destination in mind.

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