Places To Visit

[Fladdem]

In Cornwall!

I'm heading down there next Wednesday on the 400, I'm B&Bing and crashing at a student house for a few nights in Falmouth.

I want to come in the top, stop off near Ilfracombe, which ain't Cornwall, I know, on Wednesday night, make my way around the coast to Port Isaac, meandering a bit by Thursday, then straight down to Falmouth for the Friday night, stop there until Sunday, then I want to go to Lands End and Lizard and back on Sunday, before heading back round by Plymouth somewhere to stop a Monday night and Tuesday travel home. That leaves me Wednesday to recover and ease myself back into work with the two day week before having a five dayer after the holiday.

So, as I'll be moving about 70-100 miles a day, plus whatever I do in each area just exploring each night, I wanted to call in on places on route, please bear in mind that I'm a shit tourist. The BCF crew went to the Needles on the IOW trip and it was cool but my attention span is limited and I soon began thinking about riding more again.

Mostly, just looking for ideas to begin googling. I've been told that stating to organise a route on Saturday evening when you want to leave on Wednesday morning is a bit daft but, I'll wing it and see what happens.
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Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[Itchy]

Ah so you're like me then. I go touring but don't go sight seeing.

Torpoint to Windy Ridge? Not ridden it in what 7 years but it was a nice 10 mile stretch and the ferry was free for Motorbikes.
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[chickenstrip]

I've just come back from a few days exploring Cornwall, and know what you mean about the sightseeing. It's something I like to do, but can get bored with - the road starts to call! So I tend to give a place a quick once-round with the camera and move on.

I stayed at a B&B in Callington which I found gave me easy access to the places I most wanted to head for; Looe, Polperro etc on the south coast, but also wanted it to be handy for Dartmoor. It meant my rides to Land's End and Lizard Point were longer, but I still managed them with time for stops along the way.

You can do Land's End the easy way along the A30, but a much more interesting way is the B3306 coast road from St. Ives. It's no hooning road - narrow in places, with a remote feel, but enjoyable, with good sea views here and there; the land rises to rocky tors on your left as you head down, tin mine relics along the way. The A30 itself, from LE to Penzance is quite a nice, twisty stretch and was my exit route.

For Lizard Point, I just used the main road from Helston, A3083, which is also good fun for the most part - takes you past RNAS Culdrose. You can get the bike all the way down to the gift shop and cafe right out on the point - don't be fooled by no access signs etc, there is a small car park at the bottom of the little lane.

I went into Falmouth for Pendennnis Castle, but got there too late on the way back from LE in the evening; didn't see anything else about the place that appealed, but didn't really explore it.

Some of the road down to St. Mawes was good, on the other side of the estuary.

Actually, what I found was that having sightseeing destinations helped me find some nice roads to ride. Heading south from Trerule Foot (Windy Ridge/A38 roundabout - the Torpoint road Itchy mentions above), you can turn right for Looe, and some of it is an interesting ride through woods and farmland - very winding, a mix of two-lane and single track, not wide. Also, I enjoyed the lane from Hessenford down to Seaton - not a long stretch and again winds down to the sea through the woods. But I was visiting places remembered from my childhood, that I had never ridden on a bike before, so some of these places might not be on your destination list.

If sea cliffs and remote headlands are your thing, head down to Rame Head - sunset was spectacular from there. You park in the gravelled car park by the coast guard station, and walk right out to the old chapel, with beautiful coastal views - pretty quiet in the evenings. Doubt it would interest you, but the old church you pass on the way has original headstones of sailors killed in the Battle of Trafalgar, but alas, the light had faded too much for me to find them this time.

Off the A390 in the south, the B3359 from East Taphouse down to Looe is a really enjoyable ride - had some fun on that one!

I'm not really keen on tourist-crowded seaside towns, and avoided places like St. Ives and Penzance apart from as waypoints on my routes, but at this time of year, places like Looe and Polperro aren't too bad, and as I said, figured in my childhood (my mum was born and raised down there, and had many relatives there once upon a time).

Most enjoyable bit for me? Parking the bike up and walking some of the coast path, along the cliff tops - wild Cornwall at it's best, and you don't have to amble far to leave the crowds behind. A mile out of Polperro heading west, no one about, and great views

On the way home, I didn't fancy the A30 or the A38, so split it down the middle across Dartmoor - took a little longer but a much more enjoyable exit route. Took me from Callington, through Tavistock, over the moors and out to Exeter.

If you look on pages 55/6 of "Where Have you been on your bike" in "General Bike Pictures", lots of photos of where I went.

Hope you get decent weather for your trip; I got lucky and enjoyed perfect weather, which obviously made for a much more enjoyable time.
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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[Fladdem]

Thanks mr chicken.

I haven't got anywhere sorted as of yet to stay, the idea is to just wing it and see what happens. I'm hoping to head back up through the Moors on the way back to Warwick. And on the way down, I was thinking of ways to avoid running down the M5, but I'm not very good with directions at all. The bike also doesn't seem to like a sustained throttle, on the way back from the Isle Of Wight, the bike was spluttering by Newbury, it broke down near Oxford, but has absolutely nothing wrong with it, once I got off the M40 and took the back roads home from Banbury, I even went miles off-route and chased some lads on 600's over to Daventry before going home, but it was running like a champ after a bit of a thrashing up and down the box again. Weird.

So seeing as you're in Oxford, how did you get down there?

I've been to Pendennis, I went there in February, I think, I'll probably visit again, maybe find some other places, the reason I'm stopping off at Falmouth is to give me a day off the bike for a bit and to drink excessively with some mates. A mate of mine has given me an OS map of Cornwall, so that will be handy, maybe do some green laning down there! Maybe not.

Yes, all preparation is being left to the last minute. I've decided I just need places to stay and then just head to them using signs and finding any old route at the time.
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Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[chickenstrip]

Here's the B&B I stayed at:

https://www.keadeen.co.uk

Booked it on the Thursday for 4 nights starting that Saturday, £35 a night. Was a nice little place down a tiny Cornish country lane, good breakfasts, clean tidy rooms.

Quite a long run to get there, so I headed down through Swindon (Maccy D's breakfast ) and through Marlborough for the A303, then just followed that onto the A30. Short bit of M5 just to scoot around Exeter, then continued A30 to Launceston, turned left down A388 to Callington. For Falmouth, I suppose you'd get on the A390 then.
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[arthurmo]

If you've got the time ok a lot of time on the way down avoiding motorways from Warwick you could take the A46 and onto the A422 through Inkberrow down toward Worcester and then head over the Malvern Hills (b4218 is great) through to Ledbury down by Hole in The wall then follow the A40 down to Monmouth and pick up the A466 through the Wye Valley.

That only takes you down to Chepstow/ Bristol side of things but is a great ride plenty of twisties and some nice views.

Iflracombe to bude get off the A39 @ Higher Clovelly and theres some mad small roads down into Bude through Elmscott and South Hole.
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[devonboy]

If you are going to Illfracombe turn off at Bridgewater use the A39 and B3234 along the Exmoor coast road.

[c_dug]

One of my favourite remote-ish beaches in cornwall is Kynance Cove. Not sure what it would be like this time of year, but if you're the type to be even slightly impressed by the power of nature then it's worth checking out in the hope of some big waves, they bounce of the cliffs on both sides of the cove and come back together in massive crashes.

If nothing else it'll be a quiet and pretty place to stop. Good place to get some nice photographs. It's probably 15 minutes walk from the carpark down to the beach, and you can only really get onto the beach while the tide is out, but there's some nice views from the top of the cliffs too.
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