London to Cornwall...

TooFar

Hey,
Setting off on a trip to Cornwall in a couple of weeks, any advice welcome.
Anyone done this ride before and got any tips on good places to stay/see. I'm planning on going due south then along the coast, getting parallel with Dartmoor then going up and through it to cornwall.

I've got a new bike since last time I did this sort of thing, a Biachi C2C Via Nirone. Anyone had experience with this bike on long load carrying rides?

I've got 6 or 7 days to it in so no rush, taking a telescopic fishing rod and just going to have some fun!

Also, any recommendations on a small/light lock to take for when I'm in the pub sitting at the window looking at my bike?!?

Thanks in advance!

ronstrutt

TooFar wrote:

Hey,
Anyone done this ride before and got any tips on good places to stay/see. I'm planning on going due south then along the coast, getting parallel with Dartmoor then going up and through it to cornwall.

As to the route, avoid the coast whatever you do, unless you really enjoy climbing. After heading this way on several occasions, this is the route I've perfected. I live at Woking so my route starts from there. It's a fairly relaxed, quiet lane job, so not the fastest or flattest by any means but exceedingly pleasant. You can either get to Woking by train from Waterloo (25 mins) or cycle down using the old Portsmouth Road through Kingston, Esher and Cobham. It'll take you about three days to get there (to Cornwall from Woking, that is, not from London to Woking!).

Woking - A324 to Farnham - either the A31 to Winchester or Well - Long Sutton - Upton Grey - The Candovers - Totford - Itchen Abbas - Winchester - Farley Mount - Kings Somborne- Horsebridge - West Tytherley - West Dean - Alderbury - Salisbury (night 1) - Wilton - Barford St Martin - Dinton - Chilmark - Tisbury - Semley - Gillingham (hard G) - Buckhorn Weston - Templecombe - Milborne Port - Sherborne - Yeovil (ideally via Bradford Abbas) - pick your own route through the lanes to Taunton (night 2) - Wiveliscombe - Bampton - South Moulton - Torrington - Holsworthy - Bridgerule - Week St Mary - Hallworthy - Crowdy Reservoir - St Breward - Camel Trail to Bodmin - then Cornwall's your oyster!

As to what to see, much as I hate to say that Sustrans can do anything good, their Cornish Way cycle route does take a lot of beating and it takes in many of the best places to visit in Cornwall.

Have a wonderful time!

chronyx

ronstrutt wrote:

TooFar wrote:

Hey,
Anyone done this ride before and got any tips on good places to stay/see. I'm planning on going due south then along the coast, getting parallel with Dartmoor then going up and through it to cornwall.

As to the route, avoid the coast whatever you do, unless you really enjoy climbing. After heading this way on several occasions, this is the route I've perfected. I live at Woking so my route starts from there. It's a fairly relaxed, quiet lane job, so not the fastest or flattest by any means but exceedingly pleasant. You can either get to Woking by train from Waterloo (25 mins) or cycle down using the old Portsmouth Road through Kingston, Esher and Cobham. It'll take you about three days to get there (to Cornwall from Woking, that is, not from London to Woking!).

Woking - A324 to Farnham - either the A31 to Winchester or Well - Long Sutton - Upton Grey - The Candovers - Totford - Itchen Abbas - Winchester - Farley Mount - Kings Somborne- Horsebridge - West Tytherley - West Dean - Alderbury - Salisbury (night 1) - Wilton - Barford St Martin - Dinton - Chilmark - Tisbury - Semley - Gillingham (hard G) - Buckhorn Weston - Templecombe - Milborne Port - Sherborne - Yeovil (ideally via Bradford Abbas) - pick your own route through the lanes to Taunton (night 2) - Wiveliscombe - Bampton - South Moulton - Torrington - Holsworthy - Bridgerule - Week St Mary - Hallworthy - Crowdy Reservoir - St Breward - Camel Trail to Bodmin - then Cornwall's your oyster!

As to what to see, much as I hate to say that Sustrans can do anything good, their Cornish Way cycle route does take a lot of beating and it takes in many of the best places to visit in Cornwall.

Have a wonderful time!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

I'm in Addlestone, and have been trying to sort a route that will be good on a bike and will take 3 days for a while. It's hard to know where to start!

Thanks for posting that, it really has made my day!

purlfrost

Thanks very much for the route. I set off from Farnham which I reached by train from Waterloo station, thus avoiding cycling through busy commuter roads.
The journey was really enjoyable and not too difficult, until Taunton. I made the mistake to try to reach Cornwall using small A roads only, when I really should have stayed on the main road all the way, which in fact wasn't too busy. I had to deal with hill, after hill, after hill, after endless hills, with a south westerly wind in my face and driving horizontal rain. It took me 9 hours to reach Holsworthy, by which time I was completely exhausted. Didn't quite make it to Cornwall, but good enough for my first long cycle trip. When my knees are back to normal, I'll be definitely looking for another trip.
Word of warning regarding cows!
I was climbing a very narrow country lane when this herd of cows started coming towards me. I didn't think much of it and carried on. Well, it appears that cows don't like cyclists, and according to the farmer who I had a chat with afterwards, especially not when they are wearing bright yellow jackets. I almost ended up being trampled by panicked and stampeding cows, who were desperatelly trying to get as far away from me as possible, litterally climbing over one an other. I had no option but to jump off the bike and climb over a fence.

epic38

RE: LONDON TO CORNWALL

Recently used this route (not the 3 day timescale though!) to take a last minute trip out West on my 'hybridized' 03 Epic Comp with two mates.... I'll say no more with regards to saddle pain, the fact I didn't use a racer/tourer or the 34llbs of weight from my tent and panniers!
The route itself was excellent and opened up some really picturesque and historic places which maybe otherwise by-passed on route if traveling car.
If you're doing it in three or four nights then b&b is a reasonable way to go otherwise I found there were good campsites on route, particularly near Gillingham (with a hard G - they liked that!). Found Blackmore Vale Campsite near by was very helpful to cyclists; bought new pedals here and the owner put them on for me with no charge(try that in London). The Masons Arms at Odcombe near Yeovil was also an excellent stop over having b&b and a small campsite to the rear with very good/clean/new shower/wash facilities, more importantly they serve cooked food till 9.30ish A massive plate of egg and chips was most welcome after a long day in the saddle.
As you may guess from my bike and kit weight I'm no pro and we did stretch out the original route to seven days doing more frequent stops, getting as far as we could within that time and ending up in Chard.(annoyingly near the Devon border!)
Planning to go again early spring/summer next year but with at least half the weight and the right bike!! I''l either go for something fast and stay in b&bs all the way or a decent tourer and load up the panniers again for camping.
Thanks to both the original post and to the reply after trying it out - reading your posts inspired me to get on my bike again.
Cheers.

Aaron_Tennant

My plan is to ride a bike from Falmouth in Cornwall all the way to London

as part of my final year of my degree we have to run a media campaign
to raise awareness for a cause or charity.

I decided that I would like to create a campaign that revolves around me
cycling to London, and having lost a cousin to cancer last year, I would love
to raise money for this.

Here is my dilema, I will be aiming for around a 7 day cycle around mid November, I will need a new bike as I do not have one fit for the task any help in finding one for this purpose would be great.. Or if anyone has one they would donate to the cause ( a long shot but worth asking) would be greatly appreciated !

fitness, I am relatively fit but will have my work cut out for me over the coming weeks. I would like any hint tips and suggestions as some of you seem to have already done this before. Oh and route suggestions are very welcome, b&b's ect

And thanks for your time

Aaron

(please ignore any typing errors as I'm using an I phone not the easiest to type with )

mididoctors

ronstrutt wrote:

TooFar wrote:

Hey,
Anyone done this ride before and got any tips on good places to stay/see. I'm planning on going due south then along the coast, getting parallel with Dartmoor then going up and through it to cornwall.

As to the route, avoid the coast whatever you do, unless you really enjoy climbing. After heading this way on several occasions, this is the route I've perfected. I live at Woking so my route starts from there. It's a fairly relaxed, quiet lane job, so not the fastest or flattest by any means but exceedingly pleasant. You can either get to Woking by train from Waterloo (25 mins) or cycle down using the old Portsmouth Road through Kingston, Esher and Cobham. It'll take you about three days to get there (to Cornwall from Woking, that is, not from London to Woking!).

Woking - A324 to Farnham - either the A31 to Winchester or Well - Long Sutton - Upton Grey - The Candovers - Totford - Itchen Abbas - Winchester - Farley Mount - Kings Somborne- Horsebridge - West Tytherley - West Dean - Alderbury - Salisbury (night 1) - Wilton - Barford St Martin - Dinton - Chilmark - Tisbury - Semley - Gillingham (hard G) - Buckhorn Weston - Templecombe - Milborne Port - Sherborne - Yeovil (ideally via Bradford Abbas) - pick your own route through the lanes to Taunton (night 2) - Wiveliscombe - Bampton - South Moulton - Torrington - Holsworthy - Bridgerule - Week St Mary - Hallworthy - Crowdy Reservoir - St Breward - Camel Trail to Bodmin - then Cornwall's your oyster!

As to what to see, much as I hate to say that Sustrans can do anything good, their Cornish Way cycle route does take a lot of beating and it takes in many of the best places to visit in Cornwall.

Have a wonderful time!

Torrington -

---

>Holsworthy via B3227 through Langtree on to Week st mary via pyworthy?

a endless platter of relentless 16% ramps

:twisted:

Walstein

I just got back from this route.

Prior to doing it, and concious of what has been said above, I checked out all the distances using a gpx planner. I clocked it as 75 miles day 1, the same on day 2, and 122 miles on day 3. Therefore I changed where we planned to stay each night: we chalked up 100miles the first day to stay over in Shaftesbury (cutting South from Semley), 95 miles on day 2 to end up in South Molton, and 75 miles of aforementioned hills on the last day.

The first day is brilliant, lovely B roads, great scenery and the 100miles wasn't too much of a stretch. The end of the second day is a bit harder, but there is some great scenery again, and one particularly good hill climb towards bampton that is through a forest with a stream running down the side of the road.

The third day is difficult (it also poured with rain when we did it), but I would definitely say the B roads are worth doing. The hills are hard but manageable, and you can get into a good rhytm once you've done a few. There were two in particular, just as you approach Torrington, that are tough, cranking up to 25%!! I was the only in my team to get up those, but the others were happy enough walking it and they completed all the hills for the rest of the day.

If you cycle fairly regularly, I'd say this is a good route to do (one of our friends was a pure mountain biker, and had never gone over 40 miles in a day). It has some enjoyable hills to conquer and some lovely B roads that bisect beautiful countryside

Also, Belgrave B&B is really worthwhile stopping at in South Molton (home made jam and porridge, dorset cereals, poached eggs on toast, it was a great start to the final day)

Good luck!!

Mikey23

I know that Torrington south Molton terrain and it isn't easy at all ...

briantrumpet

An alternative route from Shaftesbury to Lands End: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1705171. I've done all of these roads, but in two separate trips, and most are pleasant, if you're happy with A roads (but ones that aren't too busy). The route uses a big chunk of the old A30 from Honiton to Exeter, and Exeter to Launceston, which is a great road, and quiet. There are no 25% hills, but a few long drags, such as the A30 at Yarcombe, and the climb round dartmoor and on to the north Cornish coast. It's worth making the St Ives detour around the coast at the end as the scenery is so stunning, but it has a few sharp little hills.