Why this ride
From Sidmouth it runs 349 km to Sidmouth; allow about 6 h 12 of riding. It goes by way of Chesil, City of Bath and back through Chesil. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks and City of Bath
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 349 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 12
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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. Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
Where the Otter meets the sea near Budleigh Salterton, the cliffs turn red. This is the start of the Jurassic Coast, the stretch of Dorset and East Devon coast that UNESCO listed in 2001 because the cliffs tell a continuous story of 185 million years. At the eastern end, at Orcombe Point in Exmouth, a stone sculpture called the Geoneedle marks the beginning, and from there the rocks run from the red sandstones of the Triassic towards the white chalk of the east. The section between Orcombe Rocks and Chit Rocks is the oldest, a wall of red cliff, sandy beach and sea stacks that look as if they were painted.
Read the complete Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks is where the day begins. Next is Chesil.
2. Chesil
Twenty-nine kilometres of shingle, piled high and steep and running almost dead straight from West Bay to the Isle of Portland: Chesil Beach is one of the great natural oddities of the English coast. Behind it lies the Fleet, a long, shallow, brackish lagoon full of eelgrass and birds, and the whole system is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The pebbles grade in size along the beach, small as peas at the western end and as big as potatoes towards Portland, so precisely that smugglers landing on dark nights were said to know where they were by the feel of the stones.
Read the complete Chesil write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chesil comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is City of Bath.
3. 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
about 175 km into the recorded legs you reach City of Bath. Next is back through Chesil.
4. back through Chesil
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chesil write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Chesil, late in the day. Next is Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks.
5. Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks to Chesil
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks → Chesil is 71 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Chesil to City of Bath
Chesil → City of Bath is 104 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
City of Bath to back through Chesil
City of Bath → back through Chesil is 103 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Chesil to Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
back through Chesil → Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks is 71 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.