tour reports » Ends of the Land - England

Yesterdays trip was to visit Land's End and The Lizard point, the most westerly and southerly points of mainland England.

I decided on a route to avoid as much motorway as possible in both direction. To get started I did use a stretch of the A303 to Amesbury (just before Stonehenge) (and there was a mini-drama which I'll report on another thread) where I dive off and take a route I ride most every time I head south west, initially through Larkhill and Shrewton to pickup the A36. However in the spirit of doing something different I then tried a route I've never ridden before, the A359 to the top of Yeovil (cutting under the A3303 at Sparkford), a route which proved satisfying. From there I cut through a bunch of back roads before coughing out on to the A303 at Ilminster, where the A303 get's interesting through the Blackdown hills.

Then the huge boredom of the A30 to Exeter and over the top of Dartmoor, but to try and keep the time on the road to a reasonable levels, you sometimes have to deal with that. I grew up in Plymouth so know the area well and to relieve the tedium of the A30 I checkout onto the A395 just after Launceston and take the A39 south until Indian's Queen, out of season this is a great road, and with the covid lockdown it was out of season (don't try it in high summer it'll be a crawl and not a ride), the weather however wasn't playing ball and brief rain showers every twenty minutes meant full progress was muted a little.

Land's End was closed (as an attractions) but having done the the tourist bit there some years back I didn't miss it, I saved on parking and got a good photo into the bargain.

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I then headed to The Lizard village/point a place I find far more pleasant to visit than Land's End. I do wonder what kind of reactions people, who live there, get when asked where do you live and they can replay "I live in The Lizard".

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Ate my packed lunch in the most southerly car park the mainland has to offer, completely isolated, watching the grey clouds scud across the sky .

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Heading home I took the southern route through Cornwall A39, A39, Truro, A390 St Austell and A38 to Plymouth, there are sections that are good to ride, but in the main this is only marginally better than the A30 and the rain was becoming more persistent. Then the tedium of the A38 to Exeter and the first section of the A30 to Honiton. From there, instead of taking the A303 home, I do what I usually do, take the A30 option through Chard, Yeovil, Shaftsbury, Salisbury and Basingstoke which is mainly fast single carriageway, slowed by the towns and villages. I didn't find it as fun as normal, possibly having been spoilt by the fantastic roads I rode on Monday.

Perhaps no surprise but after the 780 miles on Monday, my arms began to ache by three quarters of the way through this day and without the same raod appeal, I didn't enjoy it quite as much, however it means I've done the lowest, highest, most southerly, westerly and easterly England has to offer and maybe later in the year I can tick off the most northerly on the way to Scotland or something like that.

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Jason.

Of course , you were going to exercise at the bottom,

Nice LITTLE Rideout😉 That's a lot of miles.
Have to agree Lizard is far better than Lands End. Great Cream Tea's found locally too, from what I can remember.😉

Hi
Sorry I must disagree, the Lizard is far prettier than lands End but the roads are not better!
From St Ives to Lands End and the onto Mousehole via the B3315 are among the best roads in south west Cornwall.
Ok from Helston to Lizard is very good road unfortunately its one way in one way out.
Now lets talk great roads....A3078, St Mawes to Probus 😎
Just saying.
Lofty
Carbis Bay

I was expecting a bit of this....

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