A39 - any good?

[Mark_h]

All,

I recently spent a couple of cold damp weeks staying near Bude. Had to go up and down the A39 a bit in the car with the family. Looked like a fantastic biking road. If I were to obtain a weekend pass to go down and have a general blat around could anyone recommend some roads I would be a fool to miss and also is the A39 actually as much fun as it looks?

Also looking for a decent route across from the M3 that is a bit more interesting than the very boring A303.

Any tips?

Cheers,
Mark

[mattSV]

Mark - I spent 3 days last summer touring Devon & Cornwall, found some cracking roads.

Left Southampton and went cross country via Zig-Zag hill (Shaftesbury way I think) and then towards Yeovil, Taunton & Exeter, and then headed north across Exmoor following a river (River Exe I guess?). Then down in to Lynmouth for an ice cream, and then picked up the A39. Day 2 we took the A39 all the way to Lands End (via Newquay), and giggled pretty much all the way - cracking bit of road, with some nice twisties to play on. Went from Lands End back along the south coast of Cornwall and stayed in Looe over night. Day 3 we crossed Bodmin & Dartmoor (via Princetown I think) and then headed for Exeter, took the coast road all the way back to Southampton

[Rich]

A fantastic road, like mattSV i took the A39 all the way to Lands End. It has all a biker could want, twisties, straights, sweeping bends and high outlooks over the coast. On a nice day the road is great but on a not so nice day the higher ground can have alot of mist and fog, it makes the ride abit of a drag. If your thinking of doing the route i'd plan to do it next spring, summer and have a good couple of days to help you enjoy it.

[fizzwheel]

Matts right Zig Zag hill is just outside Shaftesbury.

[tee jey]

Forget the A39 Bridgwater to Minehead as it's too busy. However the following are a good crack.
A358 Taunton to Minehead.
A396.
B3224 and B3358 across Exmoor.
A399 and A377.
Avoid the A361 as it a boring truck road and quite heavily policed.
A39 Lynmouth to Bude is v good. Stop off at Hartland Quay for lunch.
A3072 Bude to Crediton is also interesting.

Have fun.