Good Route Wanted

[Guest]

After considerable time searching the Internet and not getting exactly what I am after I thought I would try here. Has anyone got a good route for the End to End trip (Lands end to John o'Groats) I am looking to stay clear of motorways and will be happy to detour a little to pick up good things to see or places really worth staying the night. Looking to complete the trip within a week sometime around June.

The more detail you can supply the better. Any help appreciated especially if you have done the trip and can alert me to any pitfalls I should watch out for.

Many thanks John

[Ali in Austria]

Have you tried BBR?

http://www.bestbikingroads.com/

[TC]

fozzie and Gin did it on 125's a while back. it looked like a really good adventure. something i would love to do with my kids.

I think your route will depend on time and cost.

whichever way you go write a blog. and take loads of pictures

[mealexme]

as you will be coming past me, I can reccomend a couple of roads, you can join them how you want.

First off, the A38 from salt ash to the M5 is dual carriageway and boring, so heres a couple of alternatives

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid= ... 67ed&msa=0

Liskard - Dartmouth:

If you want to go further than dartmouth, there is another ferry and its a couple of quid. I cant remember the exact amount, but this route will have another, 50p, ferry ride.

Starting from liskard, go south to the next roundabout and take the turning for Torpoint for what is locally known as the torpoint twisties. I have only done it a couple of times (in the wet, once with oil on the corners) and it is a fairly fast road with nice sweeping bends. This is such a bike orientated road that the road was re-vamped with the help of police motorcyclists to move road furniture out of the way (just in case people come off) and put up loads of these

http://starttrafficmanagement.co.uk/image/cache/data/bollards/verge-post-bollard-250x250.jpg

on corners, and removed hedges so its easier to follow the road with your eyes.

Then a 50p ferry ride into plymouth, if you need food there is a burger place called jaspers. Its very motorcycle friendly with plenty of parking, and other bikers no matter what time of day it is, nor what the weather is like. Its a bit hard to find as its not sign posted and involves riding through some bollards onto the pavement, and round the back of a large building, but its right on the harbour wall with beautiful views of the harbour, lovely food and decent prices. http://www.capn-jaspers.co.uk/menu.htm

The road then out of plymouth is alright, but there are a few towns and non-NS speed limits, but it all leads to slapton key. If you are in the area, its worth trying to get down there.

Its not a fast road, but has beautiful views. Also, if you park up in the carpark on the left (rather than the pub carpark) and walk back along the seafront to the pub, they do awesome fresh fish food. You can sit outside and enjoy the sea air too. They are more cooked meals than takeaways, and I have no idea of prices.

Liskard- Mortonhampstead:

Liskard to tavi has some nice roads. A few are narrow and a bit technical. I wouldnt recommend one part of the road in the wet as its under trees, on a corner and on a very sharp hill.

Most of the route though is decent on the bike, I did it on my Bikesafe course and had a fun day out. The only other thing though is there are a fair few miles that are double solid lines, and no place to overtake which means if you are stuck behind a timid driver (like I was once, who didnt like corners) you can be in for a very long ride.

If, however, the conditions are right, the roads there are perfect.

Tavi - Princetown

This is an amazing road if you are into fast riding. If you are not into fast riding, it may be a bit hard to resist the throttle on this road. However, I should probably mention now that most of the roads on the moors are 40mph limits, which means that majority of the bikers I see up there are easily doing twice the limit. If you are not into speeds, then the next stretch of road is probably what you are looking for.

In princetown there is a pub called the plume of feathers. they do meals at the normal prices, but large portions.

Princetown to Mortonhampstead is the road for everyone, but be aware of sheep/horses/cows etc as they do like to run onto the road without warning.

The roads here are a mixture of straight and twisty. You can do one of two things on the strights. Use the hills and the fact you can see for miles to your advantage and absolutely blast through them, using it as a chance to overtake any cars without fear of police or hitting any animals on the road

Or use this opportunity to sit back and relax. The views are amazing, you are surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but grass, trees and wildlife. There are also a few gravel car parks to pull up in and look around. You can get pretty close to the wildlife here too.

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG443.jpg

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG444.jpg