My last tour was somewhere that did not have any bike maps, bike routes from organizations, bicycling guidebooks, etc. It was just a place on the map with a scattering of touristy spots. Thus, no pre-determined "best" route that was picked by others for a bicycle tour.
I mapped out a rough plan on Mapsource (computer based GPS mapping program by Garmin that is no longer supported). And I also included a few short cuts in case I was behind schedule and needed to make my flight home. But that was only a generalized plan. The only firm points on that map that I needed to take were a few bridges and a ferry, otherwise routing was flexible. Sometimes I took the roads on that general route and sometimes not.
But on the ground, every night I would look at where I wanted to go the next day, which almost always was a campground. Sometimes I just told my GPS (Garmin 64) to take me there (usually used bike touring option, minimize elevation option). But sometimes if the route looked less than desirable would compare other options.
The list of options that I used was as follows:
- GPS (Garmin 64), sub options for different routing:
- Cycling (this appeared to avoid bike trails).
- Cycle touring (I think this favored mapped trails more).
- Automobile
- Komoot bicycle routing (Android app on phone, only useable on-line).
- Maps.Me (Android app on phone, can use off-line)
- Car routing
- Bicycle routing
- Paper map.
And at one time or another I used every one of those options. Twice I chose the route that looked best on the paper map even when no electronic options picked that. I think the electronics tried to use national or provincial roads over local roads, but sometimes a local road is in good condition and is more direct.
I did not have the ability to transfer routing from my phone to my GPS, if I wanted to use a route I saw on my phone, I would pick a few points and set my GPS to take me to those specific points. Then my GPS would do the routing between those points.
Also, I had on my GPS two maps that I could pick from for routing decisions (1) Open Streets national automotive routing map, (2) Open Streets cycle routing map, Sometimes did not like the route on one, chose the other.
And on a couple days, just chose to take a gravel trail that none of the electronic methods suggested, but I knew the trail was there, so chose to take it.
I know that there are a lot of other options on-line, but I am almost overwhelmed already with how many different options I have, I do not need more.