Heading off to Cornwall this weekend for a bit of a change of scenery. I'm taking my road bike and looking to do a ride on each day of between 50 and 100Km. Does anyone have any suggestions for road rides or resources for routes? Cheers!
Whereabouts in Kernow are ye heading?
Anywhere. Got the GF, the van and 2 bikes.
You'll ride from one end to the other and back again in a day 😆
Have you sorted a place to stay or are you kipping in the van?
Was going to kip in the van somewhere secluded and get a nice dawn to wake up to.
head down Sennen way then... look at the atlas & ride along the coast.
huge and varied county.
down my way, far west, you can ride the whole pensinsula from marazion around the s.coast to lands end/sennen then back up the north coast via st.just(a stunning road) and a quick cut across country to start. 35-50miles depending on which route.
send me an email and i'll draw you a quick map that hopefully i can pdf over).
why limit yourself to road though, there is a lot of off-road if you know where to look.
Limited to the road as GF only has a tourer, so I'll be on my carbon road bike. Don't want to make it too hard! Could do some cycle ways if they're not too rough, but would prefer to stick to the lanes if we can.
Be warned - the coastal stretch between St Ives and St Just (via Zennor) has some big climbs!
Pffft! blimmin walk 😉
Just point and go anywhere IMHO.
im from Cornwall. but have never owned a road bike, however go on the st ives to st just coast road, its very nice out that way, you can keep on the same road all the way to lands end, dont stop in ST just though because they eat emmits down that way!! 🙂
also must say if you ride in Cornwall, you will be going up and down short steep hills, because Cornwall is full of hills, if you ant going up you will be coming down! roads going down to playing place and minack are good as well, but again very steep, hope you have granny rings on those road bike things!
ideas: [url= http://homepage.mac.com/mikesimagination/bikepages/rides/rides.html ]west cornweall road rides[/url]
Just got back from a weekend in Cornwall myself! No idea on road riding but I'm going to take the mtb next time.
One word of warning for you though - it is bloody freezing down there at present!
Ride down to Boscastle and down to Tintagle and that will be enough! Bloody steep climbs!
Only joking! Head down the coast from Bude to St Angas, that will sort you all out.
Thanks to all your suggestions and in particular the info provided by gavtheoldskater. Cheers!
We set of from the shire on the Friday evening, arriving at Marizion in the small hours. Parked up with little idea where I was and somewhat disorientated by the dark. Waking up in the morning to see the sun come up over St. Micheals Mount was a pleasant suprise, especially as I didn't know it was there six hours earlier!
We eventually got going after breakfast and faffing and headed west along the coast road to Penzance and on to Mousehole. Climbing the 100m or so out of Mousehole in what seemed about the same distance horizontally, I realised we weren't going to hit our 90Km target with my GF's compact. We had a detailed map and it was a beautiful day so we pressed on to do a bit of exploring. Carrying on round the coast, we dropped down to Lamorna Bay and were struck with our first dilemma. Do we go for the amazing looking fish and chips from the cafe or eat the pasties I'd been carrying in my bar bag? In the interests of lightening the load on my legs we went for the pasties, but will be back to check the cafe at a later date!
We climbed back up to the coast road and continued to follow it west and after a few serious sense of humour failures on the part of my GF (who would have thought that cornwall would be hilly?!) arrived at Porthcurno and the pretty awesome Minack theater. One quick ice cream and a very careful tour of the theater (carbon soled road shoes and rockclimbing do not mix) we were off again. The weather was starting to turn and it was getting on a bit so we headed inland and generally in the direction of Marizion. We followed the back roads which eventually spat us out near Penzance and back along the coast road to the van. Tea was brewed, bikes dismantled and heaters on, we were toasty and changed ready for another day exploring!
Sunday was overcast and colder, with some pretty strong headwinds at times. We headed north through New Mill and north over the moor to the coast road where we headed to St Ives. Quick tea and cake stop in a very nice cafe/hostel in Zennor and on to St. Ives for lunch. After a quick tour of the galleries we headed back to Marizion again to finish the ride. A shorted day but still enjoyable.
I'll try and post some pics to break up the text a bit! Never really explored this part of the country, but will be back for more.
Do we go for the amazing looking fish and chips from the cafe
trust a local here, the very best fish and chips down this way are from the chippy in heamoor.
stoked to hear you had a good time though, good road cycling down this way isn't it? i rode out from mine the other night just as the sun was going down on one of my regular 45/50mins fitness routes, over the moor via newmill like you did, but went left along the coast road for a few miles before coming back over the moors via lanyon then home. must have been rush hour though as the traffic was hideous, 3 cars and 1 pheasant. un-heard of volume!
of course mtb down this way even better.