Start Here : Explanations.

 

There are two pages here:

'The Routes’ is a list of the bike rides and explains how to use them. 

‘Other Stuff’ contains background notes on the landscape and history of the area as a whole.  This avoids my having to repeat the story in every set of route notes.

The dictionary defines 'pootle’ as 'to move somewhere slowly and with no real purpose. This website is home for a collection of bike routes created with an eye for scenery, variety, interest and amusement, aimed at my fellow pootlers and slow cyclists. Most are 30- 40 miles long and either circular or start and finish on the same railway line out of a North London terminal. There are a few longer rides which I treat as overnight trips but which could be done in a long day by the super-fit or electric bike users. All are accompanied by detailed notes on the sights and places that I found interesting.

You should be able to import / upload the linked GPX files into whatever mapping app you prefer to use. Most of them facilitate the import of the route itself but their appetite to show you the details on POIs etc. that accompany my routes varies. Sometimes there is a bone fide technical reason for this, but usually it is just because they want to crowbar you into eyeing the ads in their weed-infested online Walled Gardens.   

It certainly can't be down to a lack of space. Apart from the ads, in order to lure you in they offer analysis of surfaces and restrictions scraped off the interweb. This is usually inaccurate and misleading, being produced by analysing open source maps with an algorithm that can't see the territory let alone ride a bike. Your best source of route information is here. 

As it stands you have two options. You can use the material on the website, starting from the 'Bike Rides' page. There you will find links to:

* The website blog post with a GPX file and background and waypoint details for each route.

* A pdf note and schematic map based on the (seldom updated) version published on the Outdooractive site & app. Outdooractive is a good second choice. For road closures, Google Maps is your best bet. Use their 'Traffic layer

* Alternatively use the link or fund the same route on the OS, Bikemap,  Route You, Google Maps, Ride with GPS and Komoot apps. In each case the amount of my detail they carry will be limited but the quantity of algorithmically produced fluff will not.   

I have written a review of these services here. Link: Mapping Apps Review  In summary, they only vary in their degrees of imperfection. Personally, I use Outdooractive partly because for a modest sum you can access OS maps.

Please, please do point out any errors and omissions.