Which route?

I love maps. They are brilliant. A decent OS map will keep me quiet for hours.

I just adore looking at the maze of roads and obscure footpaths, the little details like picnic stops and post offices (although most of the latter have probably closed by now) and the little mug symbol denoting a pub or inn (hopefully also not closed down).

It's odd really because although I like looking at maps I am not very good at navigating with them. In fact I have to do that thing which seems to infuriate some chaps where I turn the map around so that it lies in the same direction I am going. Then I know that "left" on the page means "left" on the road and vice versa. To me this makes perfect sense, in fact I can't see why you would read a map any other way. But it seems that I am apparently lacking an "internal mapping facility" which allows one to do this inside ones head. This is a skill which, whilst impressive, is totally beyond me.

The End to End gives me a great excuse to spend inordinate amounts of time looking at maps. This is because there are a huge number of possible routes. And I don't mean silly one's like going via the Norfolk Broads or taking in Tenby on the way. Even going in a relatively direct route there are a large number of options to choose from.

I don't suppose Andy Wilkinson who completed the End to End in 41 hours, 4 minutes and 22 seconds took the scenic route. If on a tight schedule or if speed is your thing, then the quickest route is to follow mainly A roads. They are usually the most direct and good signposting means it is difficult to get lost. They will get you from A to B in probably the shortest time and mileage. The downside is that they are busy and are often heavy with goods traffic They usually bypass local towns and villages and local places of interest and the scenery is also often not great.

An alternative is to follow Sustrans National Cycle Network routes. There are a network of these across the country. Route Three for example will take you all the way from Lands End to Bristol. The drawback with these is that they are really designed for leisure cycling and often meander miles out of the way in an effort to keep off main roads and so forth. Some routes are on gravel footpaths or along towpaths which can make progress very slow indeed, especially when navigating around small children, dogs and other obstacles. Although they are great for a day out, we had doubts about following them if we were going to make any meaningful progress up country. If we had another month then maybe...

The other option is to stick to B roads. There are downsides with this option too. B roads are not necessarily safer for cyclists than main roads. Cars often travel too fast on narrow, winding roads. It is also easy to get lost in the patchwork of minor roads, necessitating frequent stops to check map and compass reading (especially with my navigational skills!). The upside is that you get to see more of the countryside, the pace is less frenetic, and the traffic less heavy than on the main roads.

As we have four weeks available (most End to Enders complete the trip in between 14 and 21 days), and as I would describe our cycling style as “ambling with plenty of rests”, we have decided to plot a route which combines the more direct parts of the NCN Routes and minor roads where possible. In some places we may have to ride on A Roads but we are going to try and avoid this where possible.
This narrows the choices down a bit. I have purchased Phil Horsley’s Land’s End to John O’Groats book which sets out some suggested routes along minor roads. Armed with this book, a road atlas and a marker pen it's time to get to the pub to settle down for a good map reading and beer drinking session.