Why this ride
386 km from Cardiff to Cardiff, about 6 h 21 of riding. On the way it passes City of Bath, Dorset and East Devon Coast and back through City of Bath. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cardiff long day · Dorset and East Devon Coast
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 386 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 21
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cardiff
Cardiff Castle tells you a lot about the city in one place. There is a Roman fort wall, a Norman keep on a mound, and, behind it, a fantastical Victorian palace designed by William Burges for the third Marquess of Bute, one of the richest men in Britain, whose money came from the coal that was shipped through the docks. In the nineteenth century, Cardiff was the world's biggest coal-exporting port, and it grew from a small town into a capital in a few decades. Wales formally recognised it as capital in 1955.
Read the complete Cardiff write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cardiff is where the day begins. Next is City of Bath.
2. City of Bath
Bath is one of the few whole cities on the UNESCO list, and it earns it twice over. Underneath lie the Roman baths of Aquae Sulis, built around the only natural hot springs in Britain, where water still comes up at around forty-six degrees and the great pool, with its later colonnade above, steams in the cold. On top sits the Georgian city that eighteenth-century society built when Bath became the place to see and be seen, in honey-coloured local limestone: the Circus, the sweep of the Royal Crescent, the shops on Pulteney Bridge over the Avon and the long elegant terraces climbing the hills.
Read the complete City of Bath write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
City of Bath comes up 49 km in.
3. City of Bath
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Bath write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
98 km in you reach City of Bath.
4. City of Bath
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Bath write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
City of Bath, about halfway. Next is Dorset and East Devon Coast.
5. Dorset and East Devon Coast
The cliffs around Lyme Regis are made of dark, crumbling clay and shale, and every winter storm brings some of them down. That is why fossil hunters love them. In the early nineteenth century a local girl named Mary Anning, the daughter of a carpenter, found the skeleton of an ichthyosaur on the beach and went on to unearth some of the first plesiosaurs, earning a grudging place in a scientific world that did not welcome women. The ammonites, fossil crinoids and sea-reptile bones that still turn up here are nearly two hundred million years old, and the whole coast from Exmouth to Studland, the Jurassic Coast, was listed by UNESCO in 2001 for its record of Earth history.
Read the complete Dorset and East Devon Coast write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dorset and East Devon Coast sits at 196 km, about halfway. Next is back through City of Bath.
6. back through City of Bath
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Bath write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through City of Bath comes up 245 km in.
7. back through City of Bath
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Bath write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
294 km in you reach back through City of Bath.
8. back through City of Bath
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Bath write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through City of Bath, late in the day. Next is Cardiff.
9. Cardiff
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cardiff write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 386 km.
Leg by leg
Cardiff to City of Bath
Cardiff → City of Bath is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
City of Bath to Dorset and East Devon Coast
City of Bath → Dorset and East Devon Coast is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Dorset and East Devon Coast to back through City of Bath
Dorset and East Devon Coast → back through City of Bath is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through City of Bath to Cardiff
back through City of Bath → Cardiff is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.