South Wales Devon And Cornwall

The Brecon Beacons and Cambrian mountains of central Wales are riddled with fantastic biking roads. Its generally reasonably quiet and even the main A roads offer some great riding. The A438 from Newtown to Llandovery is terrific. Go onto Google maps and check out the bends between Newtown and Crossgates. Avoid morning and evening commuter periods and you'll have a ball. There are some great B roads routes on the eastern edge of Brecon Beacons between the Black Mountains and Ross on Wye as well. Coming from Cheshire its worth wending your way through Shropshire and down the Welsh borders by B roads.
I regularly have a week in the Brecon Beacons. There's plenty of campsites and B&Bs and it doesn't get as busy as west Wales or Snowdonia.
In Wales its really a case of studying a good ordnance survey map and plotting any twisty rural route. If it looks like it'll be good, it probably will be.

If you pass through the Beacons you have to ride the Black Mountain pass from Llangadog to Brynamman on the B4069. Every body does it and for good reason. Early morning on a clear day is best before the tin box sight-seers get out and about and while other bikers are all in the West End cafe in Llandovery having breakfast.
Pembrokeshire and west Wales are generally busier than the Brecon Beacons but the Preseli Mountains are worth riding through if you're over that way.

To get into south west England I'd ride the twisty A466 through the Wye Valley to Chepstow. Its a popular route but in May shouldn't be too bad (as long as its not bank holiday). The A40/A449 from Abergavenny to the M4 are the shortest route to the severn bridges but very boring. Better to take the scenic route through the Wye Valley. The quickest and easiest route west is to join the M5 and head to Bridgwater. Rural north Devon is very fine biking country and the coast is packed with interest. Avoid the A39 North Devon link road between Bridgwater and Minehead. Its is busy and boring dual carriageway much of the time. Its much more interesting where it runs across Exmoor, especially the twisty western end but it gets busy and there are cameras. Better to dive off into the back lanes and get lost. You'll largely have them to yourself. Exmoor is another biking must. The moorland roads around Withypool are great and off-season fairly quiet. Dartmoor is equally good if the weather's kind. Again just set out and go and lose yourself.

Devon generally us quieter than Cornwall but the south Devon Riviera region can get very busy especially at weekends and its easy to find yourself crawling along single track roads stuck in traffic.

 

Polperro/st Ives/padstow/st mawes the list is endless,,did this back in 98/99/2000

 

I live in Hayle, Cornwall and can say with some confidence... Dont even bother with Cornwall unless you fancy seeing a few nice beaches on your trip. The roads down here are rubbish. Narrow as a smartie tube, endless traffic, tractors dropping tonnes of mud all year round, nearly all roads have high hedgerows so mostly blind corners. I ride my bike less living in Cornwall than I did in Manchester. Cornwall is basically one big farm.

Dartmoor is worth a drive over as you do get some solitude, great vistas and some good fast flowing open roads. Sections of the A39 are good but again, farm access points every 1/4 miles keep you on constant alert.

Wales is your best bet, apart from Scotland it doesn't get any better.

 

We did a moped run (Honda Expresses) for a Kidney cancer Charity last year Lands End to London.
Stuck mainly to the South Coast roads right to Hayling Island, then North to Windsor (via Loomies Cafe, of course).
We loved it and all said we would come back and do it again. The views are amazing and yes the roads are small, but worth it.
Note I drove a Sprinter Van (brake downs, night time security and support)and only had one or two near misses each day.
Some of the roads were so tight both mirrors folded themselves flat at the same time!!!

 

I bought my Hyperstrada from Camborne a few weeks ago. The weather was pea soup all through Devon / Cornwall so I didn't see a lot. But it didn't look very biker friendly tbh. Lovely part of the world, but I wouldn't swap the roads with you.

 

stay in hay on wye and do a roundtrip ( one day) hay, Brecon, Llandovery, Lampeter, Aberaeron, Aberystwyth, Devils Bridge, Elan valley, Rrhadyr, Llandrindod Wells, Builth Wells, if to extend for more days venture from Aberystwyth, up North, Portmeirion, Snowdonia, or go South, Tenby, St Davids, all Fab roads, and if the weather is nice, and it is the weekend, I might join you, ( if you're slow enough lol)

 

The Atlantic North Coast road is an absolute peach, especially if you do it at a time when there is less traffic.

 

That's averaging 35mph.

 

+1 for the Atlantic North Coast road. Did a few days in Devon and Cornwall in October last year, stunning roads and little traffic as it was off season.

Downloaded and App called Scenic and got some inspiration using some routes from Ride.co.uk