Why this ride
Repeated coastal bends, headlands and frequent viewpoint stops. It also links naturally to Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Atlantic Highway
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 132 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 08
- 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.
Access context
Check weather, local closures, speed enforcement and single-track etiquette. Specific flag: seasonal traffic.
Seasonal context
Apr-Oct
Scenic road chapters
Atlantic Highway, A39
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 23 km this is Atlantic Highway, A39, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
- Named road
- Atlantic Highway, A39
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Barnstaple
Barnstaple lies at the head of the Taw estuary, and it claims to be one of the oldest boroughs in England, with a charter said to date from the tenth century. It is the largest town in North Devon, and it is the natural start for the Atlantic Highway.
Read the complete Barnstaple write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barnstaple sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Bude.
2. Bude
Bude is where the long Atlantic Highway comes to a stop against the sea. The town sits at the top of north Cornwall, on a coast of black, folded cliffs and long sandy beaches, with big Atlantic swells rolling in and surfers in the water at almost every hour of daylight. It is not a pretty harbour town in the manner of south Cornwall; it is a windy, bright, slightly salty place, with a canal, a sea pool and a handful of old streets behind the beach.
Read the complete Bude write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bude comes up 34 km in. Next is Tintagel.
3. Tintagel
Tintagel has been selling King Arthur for a long time. The twelfth-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth first placed Arthur's conception here, in his History of the Kings of Britain, and the legend grew from there, helped by a Victorian love of chivalry and a ruined castle on a dramatic headland. Archaeologists have since found that the site was an important trading post in the fifth and sixth centuries, when imported Mediterranean pottery and glass came in by sea, so something notable did happen here, but whether it involved a king named Arthur is another matter. Cornwall, characteristically, has chosen to believe.
Read the complete Tintagel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
69 km in you reach Tintagel. Next is Newquay.
4. Newquay
Newquay is the surf capital of England, though it started as something humbler. The name means new quay and goes back to the fifteenth century, when a harbour was built to replace an older one, and for a long time pilchards were the business. On the headland above the harbour stands the Huer's Hut, where a lookout watched for shoals and shouted to the fishermen through a megaphone. Victorians then brought the railway and the first visitors, and in the 1960s surfers arrived with boards from Australia and California.
Read the complete Newquay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Newquay, late in the day.