This Summer sees quite a few trips planned for members of the Quarrymen. This one is from Phil, the comms officer.
Having not camped for over 25 years and never toured on a motorcycle, I decided to make my version of the Snowdonia 360 and NC 500 – The South West 550. Touring the entire north and south coastline of the South West Peninsula of England. All on my Triumph Bonneville 865. Kit arranged and bike loaded I set upon my way. (bringing a mate along for the fun)
The first leg was to ride from Dorset to Minehead. A trip of about 1 hour and 50 minutes. Sadly a motorcycle and a BMW had collided, at 10:30 that morning, closing the M5. The result of this was massive tailbacks everywhere and a vary hard trip, navigated single lane roads full of parked cars. The trip ended up taking close to 4 and a half hours.
Thankfully we arrived at the campsite in daylight and managed to start setting up the tents. Distance travelled so far 95 miles.
Having not camped for over 3 decades, the wealth of lightweight (ish) kit surprised me. I managed to arrange all the gear from friends to include a tent, ground sheet, tent carpet, table, chair, sleeping bag, air mattress, camping cot, table and cooking items.As this felt more like glamping than the camps I used to do I went all out and stuck some fairy lights up on the front of the tent. There was logic here though as it was a dark sky site, with no lighting at all, and I wanted to be able to find the tent after the likely early hours wee break most men of a certain age are used to.
Camp all set up it was time to address fuel, both so the bike could start day 2 full and so we could go to bed with a full stomach. We had decided to only cook on the camping gear for breakfast, so trip into Minehead was in order.
Just 4 miles away and a great little place to visit (my first time) we noticed lots of little features around the town, like the image on the left in the towns local YMCA.
This was a trip planned with short notice, after I realised I would not be able to make the French trip some brothers were undertaking. The two main goals for day 2 were to visit St Nectans Glen and Lands End. All following the coastal roads.
Needless to say this would have made a boring day of just riding so we elected to stop off at Ilfracombe – another first time visit for me. It has this rather strange statue in the harbour.
After a couple of other minor stops we reached St Nectans Glen. This was not what we expected! An hours hike through a hand made path in full motorcycle gear to see a waterfall.
It is a very impressive spot but one for car tours. The hike there and back was hard and there was actually a lot to see and the venue deserved a whole day visit, which our schedule did not allow. Very tired we headed top the next part of the route.
We did get to see the waterfall though.
More minor stops for leg stretching took place, mainly due to hitting the A30 during a major rebuild and traffic you would not want to see. Eventually we reached lands end about 6pm after perfecting our filtering skills on fully loaded bikes.
Yet another first for me but, doing the route on a budget meant we waited for the official photographer to leave (who takes the other sign home at night!!!!) and took the photo we both wanted. Distance so far – 329 miles.
The camp for night 2 was just 5 mile from The Lizard so, after an evening curry (do not eat curry when touring!!!!) we decided to start the run home with a quick visit and photo at England’s most southerly point.
This is a National Trust spot and is a lot less theme park like than lands end. It is also some really nice roads to ride down to get there.
parking is tight and very limited at the end though so we were glad we had set off very early.
The main plan for the ride home was to ride through the centre of Dartmoor, rather than round the edges like most routes normally take you. headed inland a bit we succeeded but had skipped breakfast.
I had heard of a motorcycle themed roadside café on the Cornwall side of Dartmoor so we decided to head there to have breakfast. A great meal (themed on bikes) with a little motorcycle garage filled with used vintage gear too. Very cool and worth finding for yourselves.
By this point we had realised that this trip needed a couple of extra days. We were both in pain after about an hour in the saddle to limped out way home, vowing to do it right next time.
We made out way to Lyme Regis and covered our favourite coastal route, all the way back to Swanage. Once again meeting traffic like you have never seen. By now our filtering skills are so honed we tore though the traffic and made it home with final distance of 575.5 miles covered, with no motorway or dual carriageway used.
I learned a lot from the trip overall. Mainly not to try and cram too much in and that this run needed at least one extra night for two riders and two extra nights if there are more. Otherwise you are just riding instead of enjoying the benefits of motorcycle touring – seeing the country we live in. The trip was awesome though and I think I am hooked on exploring. I am writing this, totally shattered, and just a couple of hours after getting home. I am already planning the next trip, with less gear and also an overnight alone, to see if this is something I can do on a whim, when I have a night free or the wanderlust kicks in.
I highly recommend having a go if you have not tried it before.
Notes / Lessons learned
- an air mattress on the floor is as comfortable as with a cot – ditch the cot.
- Sleep with the natural day. Go to bed when dark comes and get up at dawn. Campsites are noisy if you want a lie in.
- Backpacking tents will be easier to carry.
- Buy a down sleeping bag. Synthetic is Summer only.
- Take your time. The riding is only half the adventure.
- Do it as often as you can – even done badly – it is fun.