I am due to depart for a 4 week tour of the South West & South of England from 3rd June (cant wait ) ... I do not own a Sat Nav system, but would like to print a route off the PC to take with me ..... With so many different Routefinders online , does any offer a "Caravan Friendly" (or perhaps "HGV friendly") route option ??
Well from experience there are no caravan friendly roads in this area - or very few - to get a caravan friendly route.
Most of the on line planners that I've used suggest the same routes that you'll get on a sat nav with the added inconvenience of not being able to reroute once you get to a road and find it unsuitable.
I'd suggest pick one and then check against a local map and get a few alternative routes handy just in case.
I have a feeling cc and c&cc have route planning facilities but it wouldn't surprise me if they now just use a typical on line route planner
Via michellin works well I use it a lot and have it set for with caravan, also give you a choice of routes motorways, non motorways, ecomony and secnic. We dont have a stat nav so use this site just print off the routes I require I also use it in Europe. You can also save your routes to a folder on the site which is handy.
Quote: Originally posted by mike142sl on 21/5/2007
I think the 'with caravan' option just helps to calculate the costs per mile etc and the time aken to cover the journey.
You're right. I've just set a route to a local site (with caravan) and it took me down a track which a caravan should never enter!!!
Yes, Viamichelin's caravan option appears just to alter the journey times. I just planned a route with it and it took me down a very narrow local lane which I would not use with the caravan.
I emailed TomTom some time ago, and they replied saying that their development team were looking at including an "avoid minor roads" option on future models of their sat navs. This would be really useful for us, and HGV and coach drivers, so hopefully we'll see it on the market before long.
Doesn't help you now though - I'd recommend an Ordnance Survey LandRanger map - you'll see every gradient marked, and the detail will show you exact location of the site etc.
I use MS autoroute for both pre-trip planning and hooked up to GPS in the car.
It can be set to avoid certain classes of road where possible
Motorways & limited acces roads, Major roads, Minor roads, Toll Roads and finally ferries can each be set with sliders to love them or hate them and all points in between. I regularly use it for student drivers at work and it certainly does a good job of avoiding motorways when told to.
I know a couple in a motorhome who use microsoft autoroute , you can convert your laptop into a sat nav. Hook up a gps receiver to put on window then to laptop and you can get voice command directions and map of route on your laptop screen. They have the advantage of a wide dashboard on motorhome to site laptop. Or i suppose if you have no room in vehicle you could put laptop under seat and have a speaker attached to just to listen voice directions or an understanding OH to have laptop on lap. The same couple then use laptop with a usb freeview attachment as a tv.
Quote: Originally posted by kipperkid on 22/5/2007
Mappy.com lets you specify you are a lorry.
And with a caravan, but as per viamitchelin, this just effects the costs and journey times etc rather than avoiding roads. There is an option to avoid mountain passes though.
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Topic: Caravan Friendly Routeplanner ??
) ... I do not own a Sat Nav system, but would like to print a route off the PC to take with me ..... With so many different Routefinders online 
, does any offer a "Caravan Friendly" (or perhaps "HGV friendly") route option ??
