When I need to design a bike route in an area I've never been before, there are several things I do. First, I Google the larger towns/cities at the beginning/end and attach the words cycling route I.e. "Bologna to Ferrara cycling route". Sometimes this search will pull up a tour day that someone has already done and entered into some sort of online journal. I also check the sites Ride with GPS and Map My Ride. If I am still coming up empty, I will get on Google Maps or Microsoft MapPoint and design a route. I try to stay on secondary or frontage roads (less traffic) and follow waterways like creeks and rivers, or railroad routes (reasonable grades). I have a Garmin 705 and Patty has a Garmin 800. Both of us bought the City Navigator micro sd card which inludes detailed maps of Italy and Greece. I would be the first person to tell you that I don't utilize my Garmin to its full capabilities, but I will be creating and downloading any routes I think we might use. The other day I plugged the sd card into the slot and downloaded the route from Bologna to Ferrara...when my Garmin asked me "Where to?" and I responded with a click on the above route, it told me I was a little more than 5600 miles to the start...fortunately a plane ride will take care of a big chunk of that.
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