Route request for visitor

[Mark_h]

Kind folk of the Western provinces; I seek your guidance.......

I'm taking the bike down to Cornwall (Liskeard) from Basingstoke. I usually do the journey in the car. A303 - A30 - Bodmin then turn left. But that's hardly an interesting route on a bike. Can't afford to take all day to get the there but I was thinking.

Salisbury - A354 Dorchester - A35 Lyme Regis - Coast Road Lyme to Sidmouth to Budleigh then up again Skirt south of Exeter - Coast road Torquay Dartmouth Kingsbridge then Plymouth and in. Is this a mess of 40mph double white lines or a sensible route? Any simple additions?

Coming back I was considering wiggling north towards Ilfracombe then Lynton along coast to Bridgewater then stay north of the 303 all the way back east sort of Glastonbury - Frome - Amesbury - Andover etc/.

What do you recon?

[Huwbee]

You must take in the "Torpoint to Treruelfoot "road A388 I think.About 5 - 15 miles your side of Liskeard. Really good road but dont push it too much as it has bitten quite a few over the years.

[fizzwheel]

I quite like the A30 from Salisbury to Shaftesbury and then the A350 will take you to Blandford where you can pick up the A354, just before you come into Shaftesbury you can go to Compton Abbas and they have an airfield there where you can get a cup of tea and some cake. Also you take a short detour up the "Zig Zag" from there, you want the B3081 to Cann Common have a look at the google map, it should be obvious where the Zig Zag is...

A35 to Lyme isnt a very exciting road, you'd be better off going down into Weymouth and then getting on the B3157 which takes you through Abbotsbury & Burton Bradstock into Bridport and then go to Lyme Regis or West Bay from there.

The B3157 follows the coast much more closely and the views are stunning, where as the A35 isnt as twisty or as much fun and has bits of Dual Carriageway in it.

Your route back from Lynton / Lynmouth will take you along the A39 which is OK if theres no traffic on it, if its busy its horrible, it has lots of double white line sections and if the traffic is heavy it can be challenging to make progress, which is OK if you like that sort of riding but I just get fedup with it.

HTH

[Huwbee]

Can endorse fizzwheel comments re B3157, was a regular user of the road on 4 wheels and always said to myself would have been a blast on a bike -enjoy

[Mark_h]

Thanks. Took the great little road from martin's town to abbotsbury then b3157 into. Bridport- very nice.

Today heading east again stopping over somewhere like tiverton.

Probably liskeard to tavistock then b3357 to two bridges take a left to mortonhampstead then see what happens from there. Either wiggle around dartmoor or head for the north coast. Any suggestions?

Apparently there is a bit of a biker venue on the b3357 so I'll see if I can find it.

Look out for a silver sv1000 silver soft panniers and a red tank bag give me a wave!