If you’re a pedes­tri­an, some­times it seems as though you’re the last to be con­sid­ered. Oth­er modes of trans­port get all the big bucks while we get to stum­ble along on our own, catch­ing our heels on the cob­ble­stones and dodg­ing the seem­ing­ly inter­minable earth­works.

So it’s nice to see that there’s a ded­i­cat­ed Cycling and Walk­ing jour­ney plan­ner from the Greater Welling­ton Region­al Coun­cil. I par­tic­u­lar­ly like how it tells you the ele­va­tion of your route so you can see whether an appar­ent short­cut is going to be like scal­ing Ever­est or not. There is also a calo­rie counter, which I guess helps jus­ti­fy your morn­ing tea when you’ve got to work.

I exper­i­ment­ed with the route from my house to work, and the default sug­ges­tion was def­i­nite­ly the most prac­ti­cal for the unath­let­ic, though not the short­est — it knows about the tracks over Mt Vic, but you have to drag the route over the moun­tain your­self.

Def­i­nite­ly worth explor­ing, even if you’re a ded­i­cat­ed walk­er, if only so you can boast about the dis­tance to your lazy mates.