Finding hotels

I'm a little confused by the option for finding accommodation along a route. The symbol ££££ suggests to me more expensive hotels than just a  single £, but in the area I'm looking at (Puglia, Italy) some fairly low-cost hotels only appear when the ££££ is selected. But some pricier ones appear when ££ is selected.

On an associated issue, all the hotels link direct to Booking.com (which I already use quite a lot) - do you get commission per click from them, or from the hotels? I'm intrigued, but maybe you aren't able to say!

NCN 68 north of Haltwhistle

Hi Richard

I'm trying to plot a route along a section of NCN 68, from Haltwhistle to Bellingham, but cycle.travel won't let me! It appears to think there's a gap in the track just north of where the surfaced road ends (north of 'Robin Rock Drift'); any attempt to route north of there results in a huge diversion through Simonburn.

Do you know if there's any reason for this? It's plotted OK on your Pennine Cycleway guide.

Thanks

Chris

OSM updates

Richard, I am wondering how often your routing algorithm updates information from OSM. Some months ago I added a road and a bridge to OSM (both had been in existence for years, but not shown on the map). Now, if I try to use it on cycle.travel, it's impossible (the route takes me 3 miles round to an alternative bridge). It's a really good route for cyclists because it avoids a busy A.30 roundabout.

If I try to route on Viewranger, or MapMyRide, or Google. it lets me use the bridge. It's at 50°07'51.6"N 5°30'26.2"W (Longrock, about 2 miles East of Penzance - see 'missing bridge' route).

Feedback from CTC thread

Hi Richard, as promised I have a couple of points I'd like your comments on:

a) use of 'tracks' for cycle autorouting: you mentioned that autorouting in Spain is difficult because of the underlying OSM data, but it's a problem sometimes in the UK too: e.g if I create a route from Keighley to Ilkley, the suggestion is to go over a big hill and includes a length of track (which OSM suggests is 'dirt') - whereas there is a much less hilly route, on minor roads and an NCN, around the hill. I understand that things marked as 'tracks' can vary quite a bit, but wouldn't it be possible to give the option of avoiding 'tracks' altogether (unless perhaps they are also marked as NCN routes?)

b) detours to avoid main roads: see my route 'porthleven' for an example. I ride to Porthleven from Truro fairly often, and mostly your suggested route is good. But if you look at mile 15 (around Wendron) there's a totally unnecessary loop away from the B3297. The route goes on this road anyway, for a greater distance than the bit it avoids. Is it possible to add an algorithm that allows the use of a bit main road if that road has to be used nearby anyway?

I am a (retired) programmer so know how difficult these things can be! If any of your code is open-sourced I may be able to help....but anyway thanks for what I still think is the best cycling autorouter around.

Best autorouting

I have been trying many autorouting apps for cycling over the past few weeks and this is by far the best. So many others take you on off-road tracks when there is a good alternative on minor roads: no good for road bikes. It's also one  of the easiest sites to use. The addition of photos to see the state of any off-road trails etc.is brilliant.

One request - any plans to extend to Europe?