Roads In Cornwall And Devon

good luck doing 200 miles in only 5hrs in the area

 

Watch out for caravans - the place will be heaving - head to inland Dorset and Somerset instead .

I do like Croyde Bay though !

 

north Cornwall is stunning, i dont remember the roads being particularity good for getting a move on but the scenery rocks.

 

The B3230 from Ilfracombe to Barnstaple is pretty good so are pretty much all the B roads and back roads across Exmoor.
Yes it will be busy though. There's lot of great riding in Devon on the unmarked road and they're generally quiet. Tourists get lost so avoid them and tend stick to sat-nav routes but there's plenty of good width windy and scenic alternatives between the A roads. Try exploring the area between the A361 the A371 or between the Torridge and the Taw between the A371 and the A386. The Blackdown Hills on the Devon/Dorset border is pretty good too.
Cornwall is nice to look at but I don't think the riding is as good as Devon. There's a lot of narrow roads with high banks and crawling traffic. Devon is definitely a county to strike off and get lost in. If you've got a route recording sat-nav so you can trace where you've been, so much the better.

 

My favourite route through Devon and Cornwall from Taunton toward Newquay via the B3227 to Stibb Cross, A388 to Holdsworthy, A3072 to Stratton. I then pickup the A39 Atlantic Highway down to St.Columb Major.

As mentioned above, it's not much fun in the peak holiday periods (although the B3227 is not a tourist road, they use the A361) and watch out for tractors and the mud on the road they pull out of the fields.

 

Thats a cracking loop that you have mapped out if you do it when it's quiet. The twisty road that goes north from Tiverton A396 and then across and down the North Coast past Lynton is one of my favourite trips in the UK. The A39 down past Bude is awesome at night when it's quiet since you can get some big speeds and see for miles over the undulating hills.

 

We’ll be staying not far from Watchet over the weekend but the runs are being sorted by someone else so I’ve no idea where we will be going. This will be our 4th visit to the area, for good reason Andy

 

Looking at your map, you can see the A361 North Devon Link Road between Tiverton and South Molton. This is a totally new road, built about 30 years ago and carries heavy traffic. The good thing about this is that the old A361 is still there and carrying virtually no traffic, as it is now redundant.
Again, looking at your map, you pick it up half way between Tiverton and Dulverton at the left hand extreme of the kink you can see.
The climb up from the river to the ridge is just glorious with fast sweeping bends and the road is generally fast and sweeping but with some tight bends mixed in.

 

There’s likely to be 10 or 11 of us on a mixture of bikes heading out Friday morning from Reading but you won’t be able to miss a (very) loud Mk1 1200 Multistrada in the company of an 11 plate red Diavel Andy

 

Edited for predictive text errors!

 

I live near Chumleigh so smack in the middle of your route. Some decent roads but as said the coast road will be busy with sightseeing tourists. Last year on the bank holiday, there were a few mobile speed camera's entering villages between Minehead and Taunton so watch out if that forms part of your travels. Last time I was up there the road surface from Dulverton had not faired the winter too well and was sketchy in places with lots of dirt and gravel on it. None of the locals ride the atlantic Highway (bideford - bude etc) in holiday times or summer, unless it's the evening. Too much traffic to make enjoyable progress although if you come off at Bude and go via Holsworthy to Launceston it's usually quieter.

If you have time ride from Winkleigh to North Tawton and then on to Dartmoor. As well as a great café at Winkleigh (Zuki's), the road from Winkleigh until you hit the a30 at Whiddon down has some great sections.

Dartmoor might also be busy in places as they are prepping for the 10 tors the following weekend. My Brother is Dartmoor search and rescue and is up there doing exercises and setting out markers with the Marines and the Air rescue over much of the weekend.

Someone mentioned Stibb Cross etc. If you head from Stibb Cross towards Bideford this weekend, be careful at Frithelstock as the local camera partnership are scheduled to be there at some point on the exit of the village looking towards Bideford. (one of them is a customer of mine and he mentioned it)