I use William Silvester's The Solo Wargamer book for distances, detailed map features places of interest.
Then a series of random dice rolls to ascertain opportunities and threats at each given location as the party arrives.
Use a few random table books to generate potential jobs and then a dice voting system to choose whether to do them or not.
Finally set up playing table and terrain using cards as per The Solo Wargamer.
It sounds complex but is actually very easy.
At some point I might post up a sequence so people can see how it works.
Edit: apologies Graham for stealing your thread.