Devon & Cornwall

[IsleOfMan]

We will probably travel to Devon & Cornwall shortly via Rosslare/Pembroke. I am not looking forward to the journey by car from Pembroke to Bristol and then down. Are there any car ferries that cross the Bristol Channel to avoid the long drive? Also, could anyone recommend a cheap and cheerful motorway/motel to break the journey getting there? Are there chains of motorway/hotels that one could use travelling around the area?

 

[zag]

You may need to look at your map again - it's only about 5-6 hours all the way from Pembroke into the depths of Cornwall. So, you could break it with an overnight, but each segment would be pretty short. Most of it is on motorway, so you don't even notice the time passing.

I don't think there are any car ferries across the Bristol Channel, and even if there were you would probably spend longer waiting, boarding, crossing and getting off again than you would spend driving around.

You might well spend longer than 5-6 hours if you happen to go there on a UK bank holiday weekend as there are pretty much two main trunk roads into the area and several billion holiday makers trying to get there ahead of everyone else.

We went to Cornwall on a UK bank holiday Monday and while the road down was clear, the traffic heading back up to the rest of the country was only horrendous.

I don't think you will find too many chain hotels in that area. You will find some alright, but basing your itinerary on their locations wouldn't be a good way to do things. One of the reasons so many people go there is precisely because it hasn't become like so much of the rest of England (and Ireland for that matter) with chains everywhere. A lot of the towns are too small and quaint and charming and to be honest look like they have preservation orders on the entire streetscape, so bland corporate chain identities (which work perfectly in some locations) just wouldn't fit in well.

z

 

[IsleOfMan]

Thanks Zag. I have been over there about 3 times in the past 20 years. I love the place but I cannot get over how expensive it is to stay anywhere compared to the continent. The plan was to stay somewhere nice for a few days and somewhere cheap and cheerful along one of the motorways to offset the higher costs. The Rosslare ferry leaves at circa 8 in the morning so it would mean an early start for me. I had thought of breaking the journey in North Devon and also do some exploring in the process rather than driving on a motorway for 5 hours or so.

 

[ang1170]

I'd very much agree with pretty much everythin zag said: I don't think there's a ferry in the Brsitol Channel either, but I'd agree you don't really notice the extra length on the motorway and it would probably be slower on a boat. Likewise, I'd be careful when you travel: mostly it's fine, but holiday week-ends are madness (I've seen traffic jams at 2:00 a.m. from everyone trying to "beat the traffic").


I know exactly what you mean by somewhere cheap and chearful to stay when travelling. We used to use the Travelodge - see http://www.travelodge.co.uk/ - quite a bit when travelling in the UK (Devon direction mostly). After all, you don't need much if it's just somewhere to put your head down for the night in the way to somewhere else. However, what you do need is somewhere clean and confortable, and we've found the standard has dropped a huge amout in the past couple of years.

I'd be inclined to take a bit more effort in finding somewhere local rather than the chains, and use tripadvisor to see what people think.

Sorry not be be more help.

 

[EvilDoctorK]

I'll certainly support the observations that traffic down to Devon/Cornwall on UK Holiday (or really any summer weekend) is horrendous.

Quality of the roads for a lot of the way is quite good .. Motorway as far as Exeter and good quality Dual Carriageway until around Bodmin in Cornwall .. However in heavy traffic it can be very bad still.

The roads in Cornwall aren't great and the traffic is really heavy on holiday weekends / during school holidays ... Doesn't really concern you coming from Pembroke but the roads down from London are bad in many places as well (Stonehenge is a particular bottleneck).

It's a lovely part of the country for sure but I'll never drive down from London again - too long and too much traffic for a weekend trip - I'd fly to Newquay and rent a car.

No Bristol Channel Ferry - you've got to take one of the two bridges close to Bristol.