Recommended Cycling Maps . . . for a few nearby countries
Great Britain
Ordnance Survey - well-known and much respected - however, there’s a yawning scale gap in Ordnance Survey’s national mapping that precisely coincides with the cycle-tourist’s needs. Other publishers have the odd map or few at a more appropriate scale, as do OS themselves; but do not be misled by their so-called Touring maps, they’re little more (or even less!) than a big-print OS Road Map.
Apart from Mike Harrison’s Herefordshire – sadly a one-off – the best general cycling map I’ve yet seen in this country is Harvey’s1:100k Yorkshire Dales, also a one-off, but I expect Harveys may map a few more areas in similar style. They also publish some excellent mountain-biking maps of Yorkshire and Dartmoor that rate off-road trails for difficulty according to the CTC grading system.
Goldeneye publish fairly good maps of some popular cycling areas at 1:126k (half-inch to the mile), but they’re a bit lacking in contours and omit the odd road.
The Sustrans maps by Sterling Surveys won a design award and are good so far as a strip map goes, which is not too far away from the route described.
The only publisher to map the whole country at a sensible scale for cycling is Philip with their Navigator Britain motoring atlas – of all things! At only £20 and a 1:100k scale (1:200k in northern Scotland) it maps every road and byway, even rough ones, and a sprinkling of gradient arrows – on minor roads too – is some compensation for the lack of any other clues regarding hills.
Ireland
The Irish Ordnance Surveys, Northern & Eire, join forces to produce the 1:250k Holiday Map and 1:50k Discovery series. Just four Holiday maps cover the whole island and are as good or even slightly better for cycling than the British OS Roadmap.
Like Britain, the 1:50k alternative involves more paper and expense than is wanted by a visiting cycle tourist. The Discovery maps are good for fixed centre holidays.
France
The Michelin 1:200k mapping used to be the long-distance Francophile cyclist's favourite. You could buy it in either small easy-to-handle Local maps or big value-for-money Regional maps. But in 2003, Michelin changed the design and scales of both series. Regional maps were scaled down to anything from 1:250k to 1:300k, so as to fit a whole administrative region on each of 17 maps, in the process losing a lot of minor roads, spot heights and other detail useful to cyclists. And although the Localmaps have been blown up to between 1:150k and 1:180k (the scale varies so as to fit whole Departments in each of 44 maps) they also lost the attractive and useful hill shading. You still get meticulous gradient arrowing of anything over 5%, on almost all the roads fit to print, but with this dumbing down, Michelin has lost much of it's appeal to cyclists. Both series involve extensive overlaps, so one carries a lot of excess paper and cost.
France, like Britain, has a very dense network of country lanes and the best way to discover them all is with the aid of IGN "Top 100" 1:100k maps (74 sheets cover the country). They’re a bit drab but fully contoured and information-packed with few wasteful overlaps. The also depict unsurfaced tracks and paths, but for serious off-roading you’ll do better with IGN “Top-25” 1:25k maps.
Belgium
Michelin cover Belgium in two 1:200k maps that are just like their Local maps of France. For more detailed exploration Belgium also has their own IGN (means National Geographic Institute) publishing 1:100k maps (19 cover the whole country) that are a bit nicer to look at than the French and have tourist information printed on the back. But most useful to us is the series of 9 Geocart cycling maps on which cycle paths are highlighted.
Netherlands
A myriad of cycling maps are published in Holland, but for touring the ANWB 1:100k series is best. No contours, but this is one place you hardly need them. Most importantly they show the cycle paths. Without that information you can have a very boring trip beside main roads, seeing quieter paths heading off through the fields and woods to places unknown, possibly to your destination by a shorter route (thanks to a canal bridge not marked on your motoring map) and certainly by a quieter and prettier route. More detailed local cycling maps are readily available in all parts of the Netherlands and although it’s not really a mountain-bikers paradise, there are maps for this too wherever the terrain gets a bit more lumpy.
Denmark
For long-distance tours and planning the Marco Polo 1:200k Road Maps will do, but Denmark is another well-provisioned cycling country where you miss out if you don’t know where those paths go. Detailed cycling maps are available for each district which depict the whole network of cycling facilities and recommended routes, on a scale of 1:100k. They’re hard to buy outside Denmark. Best source is the Dansk Cyklist Forbund: www.dcf.dk
Germany
Germany has not just one but two national series of cycling maps. Fully contoured cycling maps are published by BVA at 1:150k and endorsed by ADFC (like CTC). These provide a highlighted network, with signposted long-distance routes especially highlighted. It’s like the Sustrans net but more direct and with all the gaps filled in.
The Haupka 1:100k is endorsed by the BDR (like our BCF) and colours roads according to traffic density. No contours so it looks rather flat, but lots of gradient arrows give some clue to terrain.
BVA also publish more detailed local cycling maps at 1:75k or 1:50k, but these do not provide national coverage.
Switzerland
Switzerland is probably the best-mapped country in the World with detailed topographic mapping at every useful scale-point. It’s also a cycling county with Kümmerley & Frey Velokart maps at 1:60k covering the northern two-thirds plus the southern tip. The contour interval is a bit wide but there are plenty of gradient arrows on the comprehensive network of highlighted cycle routes. The rest of the country is mostly snow-covered granite, but the few roads and cyclepaths between the mountains are depicted well enough on the all Switzerland Velokart at 1:300k.
If you're not so interested in following the cycle paths, Michelin's 1:200k mapping covers the country in 3 large, generously overlapping sheets, that show almost all the roads with lots of spot heights and gradient arrows plus dramatic hill shading.
Italy
Touring Club Italiano 1:200k maps provide the most suitable national coverage for cycling, in 15 sheets by administrative region.
Spain
Geocenter 1:300k are probably the best general roadmaps for this country, but do not show the smallest roads. The new Michelin Zoom 1:130k are good for the few areas they cover. Elsewhere get the IGN (yes Spain has one too) 1:200k Provincial maps. Or invest in SGE (military) 1:50k maps. Recently re-designed, they are now somewhat drab to look at but up-to-date and sufficiently detailed for off-road exploration.
Austria
There are various local cycling maps of this country, but the only suitable national series seems to be the Freytag & Berndt 1:150k road maps. Some cycle paths are highlighted, 8 maps cover the country.
