Byroad
Byroad is a free route planner made by a cyclist for cyclists. It knows the difference between a proper cycle path and a pavement with a bike painted on it, shows you what kind of road every mile is on, and makes club rides easy to share.
Open the planner Watch the 60 second guide
Free to use. Sign in with Google. No adverts, no tracking, nothing sold.
Most planners treat every blue sign the same. Byroad weighs up the surface, whether the path is signed, whether it is on the National Cycle Network, and how often it would have you stopping at side roads. A good path wins. A pavement that gives up at every junction doesn't.
Each route is coloured by road type: main road, B and minor road, lane and street, cycle path, unpaved. The totals sit beside the map, so "mostly quiet lanes" is something you can check before you set off. Click any stretch to see exactly what it is.
A climb profile under the map, coloured by gradient, with the steepest pitch marked. Tick Fewer hills, set a limit on how steep you'll go, and the route reshapes itself. Time estimates use your own average speed, which it remembers.
Plot the way out and tick Loop back: Byroad finds you a different way home, so a there and back becomes a proper loop with some variety in it, and you see somewhere new on the return. Prefer to retrace your wheel tracks? Out & back does exactly that.
Flag a spot the map gets wrong, such as a path that is really a muddy track or a junction worth avoiding, and mark areas your own routes should steer clear of. The organiser sees every flag in one place, so the fixes reach the map and the club.
Export any route as GPX or a TCX course for your Garmin, Wahoo or phone, turns included, and name the café so the computer calls it out on the way. Add Byroad to your home screen and it opens like an app, with My location for starting from wherever you are.
Pick the kind of ride you want and Byroad weighs every road and path to suit. Here is the same journey planned four ways.
Every number behind these choices is published. See how Byroad plans routes, dial by dial.
Byroad started because one club needed a better way to share Sunday's route. It still does that job first.
Maps and roads come from OpenStreetMap, which is kept up to date by people who ride these roads. Routes are worked out by BRouter, an open source engine, running on Byroad's own server with Byroad's own settings for each style and map data refreshed every month. If a road is wrong, fix it on OpenStreetMap and everyone benefits.
The full weighting table behind every route style is published here: how much a dual carriageway costs against a lane, what a crossing is worth, when a path is treated as a pavement. Disagree with a number? Say so.
Sign in is with Google and Byroad asks only for your name, email and picture. There are no adverts, no analytics and no tracking cookies. Routes are private unless you share them. The privacy notice says exactly what is held and why, in plain English.
Byroad is made in Swansea by Ben Wheeler, a building surveyor by day who rides, volunteers with British Cycling, and got fed up with route planners that sent club rides down the pavement. It is a hobby project run for friends, clubs and anyone who finds it useful, and it is free.
It is built for South Wales first, because that's where it gets ridden and checked, and it works anywhere in Great Britain.
Questions, ideas, or a club that would like to try it: hello@byroad.co.uk.
Byroad is free and will stay free. It costs about £6 a month to keep the server on; if it has planned you a good ride, a coffee is lovely, and never expected.
Works in any browser. On your phone, choose Add to Home Screen and it behaves like an app.