Journey Planning
Before setting off on any significant journey I like to consider different options, for example, is it better to travel to Spain directly from the UK, taking the ferry from Plymouth or Portsmouth or to take one the shorter ferries to France, then drive across France to Spain. Usually the answer depends on available time and personal preference, but I still like to check the options and see how they compare.
There are other considerations when booking ferries, that is the subject of a separate article about getting the best ferry price.
How I plan journeys
Like most things, journey planning begins with a blank sheet of paper that soon has hyroglyphics scattered over it. Here is an example from a recent trip, when we were travelling from Piedrahita in Spain, to Santander to catch the ferry back to the UK.
The options were to visit Salamanca then travel via Leon, or to go via Sesovia where there is a well-preserved Roman aqueduct. The distances were very similar, about 30km in fact.
How I find distances
Being motorhome travellers, our aim is not necessarily to travel by the fastest route. Each route can have its own special considerations but some of the things we look at very carefully are . . .
- avoiding road tolls
- choosing a scenic route
- availability of suitable overnight stops with facilities
- intermediate destinations
- known festivals - some to be embraced, some avoided
- daily travelling distance
We used to rely on a sat nav, but there were major disadvantages, firstly the maps were never up-to-date, second address entry was a major problem, and finally there was no indication of traffic or congestion. A couple of years ago we switched to google maps, and sometimes Apple maps and have never looked back. The sat nav was sold at a knock-down price.
Of course using google or Apple maps does depend on having an internet connection, but that's generally seamless across Europe now, we have found that even in remote areas it is very unusual to be without a good data connection.
Our preferred mapping system is google maps, that's what we use unless there is a special reason. The information available is amazing, down to street addresses, campsites, tourist attractions etc. Where things are not listed you can easily add them.
Multi-stop journeys are easy to plan and if you take a wrong turning you are rerouted with incredible speed.
Disadvantages of online maps
The major problem, at the time of writing October 2018, is that you can't set your vehicle size and be routed on wider roads. That has proved a problem on more than one occasion when we have been routed on extremely narrow roads, in one case we were touching the bushes on each side at times. We have also encountered low bridges - so you always need to be aware of your vehicle's height.
It is possible to buy a sat nav that is designed from heavy goods vehicles, we have not tried one yet. If we had significant problems we might consider it.
Our chosen route . . .
Finally we picked Segovia, with the aqueduct, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip, so that was a good choice.