West Country - recommendations on roads, cafes and pubs please

GreyHairedWombat

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A group of us are biking in mid-September from Essex to Devon and Cornwall over 5 days. We normally ride across Europe but various health and personal issues prevented us this year. Accommodation booked for Taunton (day 1), then Newquay (day 2) and 2 nights in Torquay (day 3 & 4). Planning to ride there and back via M3/A303. Would appreciate any coffee or lunch stop recommendations on route.

Intend to ride along coast from Taunton to Newquay day 2, then Newquay south either towards Lands End or the Lizard then to Torquay day 3. Day 4 circular ride out around Devon. Day 5, Torquay back to Essex.

Whilst I have tried searching our forums struggled to find anything up to date. Currently planning routes using from Southwest 660.com and Bikers Britain by Simon Weir. Any recommendations on roads, cafes and pubs would be much appreciated
 
Stayed at Beesands a couple of years ago - lovely wee spot - nice pub & lovely food including fresh seafood.

Slapton Sands is an interesting stop (Exercise Tiger disaster WW2)

Blackpool Sands - lovely spot with a nice cafe.
 
Dunkeswell Aerodrome nr Honiton on A30 has a Cafe and live entertainment with planes & skydivers as you keep the Tosser body in shape with good food & cakes.

Al.
 
I’ve ridden and driven the A303 more times than I care to remember; if it’s a Friday don’t bother. Any other day, avoid 3pm to 7pm. The more interesting route is the A30, albeit slower. Honiton has lots of Main Street eateries, Okehampton doesn’t; Bodmin is better than Launceston, Tavistock is a world heritage site but dog knows why :nenau
 
oblertone said:
I’ve ridden and driven the A303 more times than I care to remember; if it’s a Friday don’t bother. Any other day, avoid 3pm to 7pm. The more interesting route is the A30, albeit slower. Honiton has lots of Main Street eateries, Okehampton doesn’t; Bodmin is better than Launceston, Tavistock is a world heritage site but dog knows why :nenau
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Agree about the A303 which, like the A35, is best avoided at any time at this time of year. The A30 Yeovil - Crewkerne - Chard - Honiton has some nice bike-friendly bits and is a *lot* quieter. +1 ref Honiton which has a load of cafes to pick from and relatively easy to park.

Day 3 Newquay to the SW tip and back to Torbay sounds like a lot of work for 1 day TBH especially if you hit traffic on minor roads and you could miss some of the better/slower bits eg the coast road thru Kingsbridge, Slapton & Blackpool Sands towards Dartmouth.

There's also the road Tavistock - Yelverton - Two Bridges - Postbridge - Moretonhampstead and then on towards Exeter (or v.v.). It's across Dartmoor which is slow but great views.
 
GreyHairedWombat said:
A group of us are biking in mid-September from Essex to Devon and Cornwall over 5 days. We normally ride across Europe but various health and personal issues prevented us this year. Accommodation booked for Taunton (day 1), then Newquay (day 2) and 2 nights in Torquay (day 3 & 4). Planning to ride there and back via M3/A303. Would appreciate any coffee or lunch stop recommendations on route.

Intend to ride along coast from Taunton to Newquay day 2, then Newquay south either towards Lands End or the Lizard then to Torquay day 3. Day 4 circular ride out around Devon. Day 5, Torquay back to Essex.

Whilst I have tried searching our forums struggled to find anything up to date. Currently planning routes using from Southwest 660.com and Bikers Britain by Simon Weir. Any recommendations on roads, cafes and pubs would be much appreciated
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I live in Cornwall and recently did a route for a guy who was traveling down from Wiltshire. Attached is the route I suggested. I would definitely be taking in the road from St Ives around the coast to St Just and on to Lands End. Its a cracker.
 

Attachments

If you PM me the dates you're in 5, if I'm free I'll gladly take your group out for the day. I'm away for some of September so we'll see if the dates work. The good roads tend to be away from the coast as that gets busy, but mid September shouldn't be too bad. Depends whether you want scenic but nadgery, or balls out rapid B roads.... Or anything in between
 
Dirty Ming said:
If you PM me the dates you're in 5, if I'm free I'll gladly take your group out for the day. I'm away for some of September so we'll see if the dates work. The good roads tend to be away from the coast as that gets busy, but mid September shouldn't be too bad. Depends whether you want scenic but nadgery, or balls out rapid B roads.... Or anything in between
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We will be in the West Country from 11th to the 15th
 
GreyHairedWombat said:
We will be in the West Country from 11th to the 15th
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Gimme a shout if you want me to lead you on a route, or if you just want a heads up as to where to go and do your own thing. Glad to help you avoid all the other tourists 😏
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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