thanks for the link to the tourducanada - i have thought about joining a group but for some reason (possibly sheer bloodymindedness) i would really like to haul my own gear and do it all myself...

east-west is starting to sound like the best direction - thank you!

The individuals that I've known, tend to cycle on or close to the TransCanada highway (highway 1). Please study a detailed road map of Canada...Canada is huge and in some provinces there aren't many decent highways (with shoulders) to choose for route planning.

my plan was to do general route-planning from this side of the atlantic (i am not sure what people did before google maps - and their "terrain" option!) but i thought i might do the actual map-buying in vancouver - i think there are at least two dedicated travel bookstores/mapstores (so says my guidebook, anyway) as the only readily available maps of canada in the uk are whole-country ones.

i was hoping to leave in june (probably late june) and make it across in under 3 months. i think i'll be camping most of the way for financial reasons - though i will be budgeting for stays in hostels, when they're to be found, and student accommodation if available, and i plan to keep some money back so i can stay in motels from time to time if need be.

thanks for your advice. much appreciated!