Is anybody aware of a good (preferably free) online resource or app for route planning outside of the UK? Something like Bike Hike would be ideal; my main area of interest is the Alps, but would be good to know what is available for trips further afield as well.

I just use bike hike abroad and ignore the small OS window. By swapping between Google map, satellite view and openstreetmap view I found all the trails to plot my routes in the Suisse Normande and the Dordogne.

Google earth here.

open cycle map is ok , only used it once or twice in alps and not for bike packing just for finding day loops and link ups between dh areas

For the French Alps I use:

http://www.utagawavtt.com/

.....it's a source of uploaded routes but also has full scalable access of the IGN mapping which is really great/detailed/accurate.

I then either download and edit the .gpx tracks I want or plot things on there and plot on bikeroutetoaster is similar.

That French site looks really useful, except I haven't got a clue what I was doing, not speaking any French! When I tried to download a route (part of the TMB) it then re-directed me to another site, mapsgalaxy, that wants to install some software on my computer - is this normal? Bit concerned about inviting a virus onto my hard drive...

Sorry, not got time to dedicate to this tonight but.....

Just Google translate the whole site and no, that's not cool that something is trying to install software, don't do it!

i use wikilocs

Ok, you need to click "Voir la fiche" once you've selected the route you want to look at from the map.

Then, when you're on the page for that route you need to scroll down to 'Actions' and select "Télécharger le fichier GPS" which will start the download.

The thing you clicked is an advert for something 3rd party and dodgy looking.

Hope this helps.

Gairy.

Many thanks Gairy, I'll give this a go when I get home in a few days. Maybe see you in Cham in Sept (doing the trip with Slugwash)?

Google Earth here mainly, worked all the way through South America!

RidewithGPS used it for TCR and didnt have any problems in the 1200km I managed.

I've used bikehike with map or sattelite view and elevation in the small window, google earth for general planning and cross-referencing, likelihood of rideability etc. I start with pins in google earth and then refine it with bikehike.

For the French Alps and beyond, this is probably the most useful starting point I've found, as it's basically a map-based meta site which aggregates lots of other route sites. Everything from individual sections of trail to multi-day trips, graded my technicality if the source site has the grading available:

http://www.vttrack.fr/

Untick 'Dossiers MBF' if you're not zoomed in very far.

Very excited to have found this great 'Xmas treat':

www.outdooractive.com

Full of inspiration for my Transalp trip coming up next summer.

Another big +1 for Wikiloc, being based in Spain I have found it to be a great resource and it couldn't be simpler to find and download routes if you have something like a Garmin Edge. You simply input the town or village closest to where you fancy riding, refine the search in terms of route length and activity and it lists previously uploaded routes using google earth and in many cases photos of the terrain. I don't know why it's not widely used in the uk, perhaps it's because we're strava mad here.http://www.wikiloc.comis the way to find it and it's well worth joining to enable the uploads.

Another one for Ridewithgps here. It seemed to have become the de facto standard for us English guys doing the Transcontinental Race. However, some of the foreign guys I'd spoken to used different applications. Previously I was using GPSies but to be honest the resolution on the exported gpx file and the speed at which a route could be created just wasn't anywhere near as good as Ridewithgps.

You can Street View the selected area if need be but you can't always see if a road is unpaved especially if the Street View isn't available in that country. Bosnia, for instance where I found out to my detriment that I had about 20 or so kms of gravel trail to ride having assumed it would be tarmacced.

It's pretty good at creating off road routes too if you select another map, eg. OSM Outdoors and ensure "optimise for cycling" is selected. You can manually draw lines, have them automatically click to follow roads, bridleways, etc, add POI's. I haven't tested RidewithGPS with extended overseas off-road excursions yet but would imagine it'd be as useful as it is in the UK.

In addition I like the way I can categorise certain types of rides by creating events and it'll filter against a list of rides using key words picked from the title. It's a quick and easy to use system which I find helps to get me out on my bike and riding new routes quickly.