Euro-Feejer
Well-known member
The timing promised to be perfect. A Tuesday to Friday the first week of September, when holiday traffic diminishes, and lots of students head back to school. It's also a time of year when rain tends to be lighter. Cornwall is that part of England that juts the furthest southwest, with the end point named Lands End. They say to expect rain, but none came.
The 630-mile, 4-day trip consisted of a long day down, medium day circling Lands End, a short tour day, and a long day back home. Here's the route map...
The first day began with alternating 4-laners (70-75mph) and 2-laners (50-60mph). The temps got a tad warm... in the mid-70s(F). For added variety, we decided to take a slower road that cut across the Dartmoor National Park just west of Exeter. A hilltop rest-stop gave views of the sweeping countryside of this park (plus an oddity not seen so often in the USA: a pimped-out Vespa traveller)...
This year we renewed membership in UK's National Trust, giving free admission to many estates, castles and other historic tourist attractions. The Lanhydrock Estate made a nice break in the 5-6 hour riding day...
The Lanhydrock gardens were unusually (for September) bright...
One more exterior photo of Lanhydrock (I'll spare you the many internal photos, as a motorcycling blog should highlight more of the outdoor stuff)...
Arriving at our lodging in Praa Sands (B&B on the right), we settled in quickly, so we could enjoy the sunlight on the beach a few hours...
The view from our B&B room...
A macro-view of the town of Praa Sands, just before the shadows crept in (our B&B just left of the upper parking lot)...
Contentment = a sunset cuddle on a sandy beach (back near our home, the beaches are all stones). The temps were still in the high 60s(F)...
The breakfast nook of our B&B had nice views of the sea. We were also offered authentic Arab-style coffee by our host. After discovering that we'd visited her home town in Palestine, her Arab hospitality ramped up, and we were treated extra-specially...
Day 2 began with a drive west through Penzance, and onward around the Lands End peninsula. An early stop in St Levan provided some breathtaking views...
Lands End is the most south-westerly tip of England. A nice tourist attraction is set up there. Nice that they didn't charge us for parking, and we could walk through to enjoy the scenery beyond without any admission fees...
Rugged views of Lands End coastline...
They even put today's date on that sign... to assist all us selfie-posers...
Leaving Lands End, we rode up the western side of the peninsula and stopped at the Levant historic copper mine...
The inside displays at the Levant mine were interesting, but I'll just share one more photo of the natural beauty of the coastline...
Cornwall coastal countryside... grazing lands, brier-patches...
0ur final goal of the day was to spend some time walking around St Ives, a highly-recommended quaint coastal town on the west of Cornwall...
The coastal fog was just starting to burn off as we meandered through the narrow streets of St. Ives...
Colorful memorials and Celtic crosses help offset the dreariness when the sun is not out...
Sunlight, blue skies, and fudge are happy thoughts...
More quaint cobblestone alleys...
The St. Ives beach and marina...
And a parting overall view of the town...
Some counties in the UK have more strict parking rules... we found a citation taped to our seat here (said 'parked beyond bay markings'). We re-read the sign explaining that we were okay as long as we didn't make it hard for any cars to come and go. So, with a few photos as evidence, we went online later to dispute the citation. Weeks later, it was cancelled...
Got back to the B&B with a few hours of sunlight left... enjoyed the beach a bit more...
The next morning, we accepted our hostess's special breakfast offer of Arab-style falafels (along with the other standard breakfast fare)... Her hospitality continued to bless us, and she would not even accept a tip at the end of our stay...
Day 3 was a short riding day, allowing plenty of time to walk around one of the most popular attractions of the region: St Michael's Mount. Our first view of that National Trust site as we drove into the village of Marazion...
Best to time the visit around low tides, so the walkway is accessible...
After a bit of hiking, we reached the fortress up on the rock...
View from the fortress...
Another view, showing the low-tide walkway and marina, with the village of Marazion in the background...
The other side of the St Michael's Mount had many tiers of gardens...
Later, as we were back in Marazion, we chuckled a bit as we noticed tourists trying to walk back from the fortress with the tide rising up to their knees...
A casual stroll through the narrow streets of Marazion...
Had to try Cornish ice cream before heading home tomorrow...
Inside the Marazion Anglican church, the unique cross-stitch pillows made for a colorful photo...
A final view of downtown Marazion... yes, that's a 'main' street like many we ride through in these small villages...
Day 4 - the return trip home... pleasant temps (low 70s). A good midway stop included touring another National Trust site, Kingston Lacey...
Stretching our legs around the gardens and vast lawns... The clouds looked ominous (and weather reports said good chance of rain this day), but we never got wet the whole 4-day trip...
A final photo of the trip, as we finished our touring of Kingston Lacey and then headed out that 'driveway' in the distance...
Cornwall was the last major unexplored (by us) region of the UK (see other ride reports on this site). We'll continue exploring some smaller regions and revisiting other regions. The roads were fun to ride to some degree, but felt a bit loaded with traffic, compared to some less busy regions in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The flow was generally good, but didn't have that sense of freedom that we bikers long for. And the 'rush hour' long lines of crawling vehicles behind tractors on 'major' Cornish highways were a bit frustrating... normally not enough room for a touring motorcycle with luggage to squeeze through. All in all, it was a winner trip even for the little lady, who is having more and more pains on these longer rides (we did add an extra pillow under her bum, which helped, but shoulder and neck issues are also at play). The pleasant weather, sandy beaches, dramatic coastlines, walks around historic sites, and unexpected Arab hospitality at the B&B made it an extra positive and refreshing time for her.
The 630-mile, 4-day trip consisted of a long day down, medium day circling Lands End, a short tour day, and a long day back home. Here's the route map...
The first day began with alternating 4-laners (70-75mph) and 2-laners (50-60mph). The temps got a tad warm... in the mid-70s(F). For added variety, we decided to take a slower road that cut across the Dartmoor National Park just west of Exeter. A hilltop rest-stop gave views of the sweeping countryside of this park (plus an oddity not seen so often in the USA: a pimped-out Vespa traveller)...
This year we renewed membership in UK's National Trust, giving free admission to many estates, castles and other historic tourist attractions. The Lanhydrock Estate made a nice break in the 5-6 hour riding day...
The Lanhydrock gardens were unusually (for September) bright...
One more exterior photo of Lanhydrock (I'll spare you the many internal photos, as a motorcycling blog should highlight more of the outdoor stuff)...
Arriving at our lodging in Praa Sands (B&B on the right), we settled in quickly, so we could enjoy the sunlight on the beach a few hours...
The view from our B&B room...
A macro-view of the town of Praa Sands, just before the shadows crept in (our B&B just left of the upper parking lot)...
Contentment = a sunset cuddle on a sandy beach (back near our home, the beaches are all stones). The temps were still in the high 60s(F)...
The breakfast nook of our B&B had nice views of the sea. We were also offered authentic Arab-style coffee by our host. After discovering that we'd visited her home town in Palestine, her Arab hospitality ramped up, and we were treated extra-specially...
Day 2 began with a drive west through Penzance, and onward around the Lands End peninsula. An early stop in St Levan provided some breathtaking views...
Lands End is the most south-westerly tip of England. A nice tourist attraction is set up there. Nice that they didn't charge us for parking, and we could walk through to enjoy the scenery beyond without any admission fees...
Rugged views of Lands End coastline...
They even put today's date on that sign... to assist all us selfie-posers...
Leaving Lands End, we rode up the western side of the peninsula and stopped at the Levant historic copper mine...
The inside displays at the Levant mine were interesting, but I'll just share one more photo of the natural beauty of the coastline...
Cornwall coastal countryside... grazing lands, brier-patches...
0ur final goal of the day was to spend some time walking around St Ives, a highly-recommended quaint coastal town on the west of Cornwall...
The coastal fog was just starting to burn off as we meandered through the narrow streets of St. Ives...
Colorful memorials and Celtic crosses help offset the dreariness when the sun is not out...
Sunlight, blue skies, and fudge are happy thoughts...
More quaint cobblestone alleys...
The St. Ives beach and marina...
And a parting overall view of the town...
Some counties in the UK have more strict parking rules... we found a citation taped to our seat here (said 'parked beyond bay markings'). We re-read the sign explaining that we were okay as long as we didn't make it hard for any cars to come and go. So, with a few photos as evidence, we went online later to dispute the citation. Weeks later, it was cancelled...
Got back to the B&B with a few hours of sunlight left... enjoyed the beach a bit more...
The next morning, we accepted our hostess's special breakfast offer of Arab-style falafels (along with the other standard breakfast fare)... Her hospitality continued to bless us, and she would not even accept a tip at the end of our stay...
Day 3 was a short riding day, allowing plenty of time to walk around one of the most popular attractions of the region: St Michael's Mount. Our first view of that National Trust site as we drove into the village of Marazion...
Best to time the visit around low tides, so the walkway is accessible...
After a bit of hiking, we reached the fortress up on the rock...
View from the fortress...
Another view, showing the low-tide walkway and marina, with the village of Marazion in the background...
The other side of the St Michael's Mount had many tiers of gardens...
Later, as we were back in Marazion, we chuckled a bit as we noticed tourists trying to walk back from the fortress with the tide rising up to their knees...
A casual stroll through the narrow streets of Marazion...
Had to try Cornish ice cream before heading home tomorrow...
Inside the Marazion Anglican church, the unique cross-stitch pillows made for a colorful photo...
A final view of downtown Marazion... yes, that's a 'main' street like many we ride through in these small villages...
Day 4 - the return trip home... pleasant temps (low 70s). A good midway stop included touring another National Trust site, Kingston Lacey...
Stretching our legs around the gardens and vast lawns... The clouds looked ominous (and weather reports said good chance of rain this day), but we never got wet the whole 4-day trip...
A final photo of the trip, as we finished our touring of Kingston Lacey and then headed out that 'driveway' in the distance...
Cornwall was the last major unexplored (by us) region of the UK (see other ride reports on this site). We'll continue exploring some smaller regions and revisiting other regions. The roads were fun to ride to some degree, but felt a bit loaded with traffic, compared to some less busy regions in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The flow was generally good, but didn't have that sense of freedom that we bikers long for. And the 'rush hour' long lines of crawling vehicles behind tractors on 'major' Cornish highways were a bit frustrating... normally not enough room for a touring motorcycle with luggage to squeeze through. All in all, it was a winner trip even for the little lady, who is having more and more pains on these longer rides (we did add an extra pillow under her bum, which helped, but shoulder and neck issues are also at play). The pleasant weather, sandy beaches, dramatic coastlines, walks around historic sites, and unexpected Arab hospitality at the B&B made it an extra positive and refreshing time for her.
