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| Birdy1234 | | Set |  |  | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 03 Oct 2013 - 15:48 Post title : Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. | | | Hi to all UK-Members.
Me and my wife want to make a trip to southern UK with the Bird next year. We will take the route via Dunkirchen-Dover and want to ride the southern departments to Cornwall and back on another (more northerly) route.
Can you recommend the best time of the year for this journey? As we are free in our planning it would be nice to choose the right time. We don't mind rain showers but would of course prefer some sunshine...
Thanks for advices!!
 
Best Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| zolti | | Thor | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 23/03/2010 | | Posts | : | 3,127 | | Location | : | newcastle , United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 03 Oct 2013 - 16:21 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | after May before September 
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| mjgt | | Thor | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 16/09/2011 | | Posts | : | 2,201 | | Location | : | North Somerset, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 03 Oct 2013 - 17:11 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: zolti) | | | For the last couple of years April had been the best month, but whatever you do avoid July and August as Cornwall if full of tourists and even bikes can get caught in traffic as the road dates not the best.
| Mick . . .  Keep the rubber side down!!
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| Hankster | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 13/10/2012 | | Posts | : | 100 | | Location | : | Somerset & Wilts, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 03 Oct 2013 - 17:25 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Hi Birdy
That'll be a cool trip...!! Agree May-Sept best window of opportunity on the weather front. If you get to Cornwall a must visit is the Minack Theatre and Tintagel plus plenty of other stops en route e.g Stone Henge, Glastonbury....etc
Oh & remember to stay on the left hehehehe !!
Ride safe
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| wizard | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 07/09/2010 | | Posts | : | 430 | | Location | : | St Neots, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 03 Oct 2013 - 19:34 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | |
Birdy1234 wrote:
Hi to all UK-Members.
Me and my wife want to make a trip to southern UK with the Bird next year. We will take the route via Dunkirchen-Dover and want to ride the southern departments to Cornwall and back on another (more northerly) route.
Can you recommend the best time of the year for this journey? As we are free in our planning it would be nice to choose the right time. We don't mind rain showers but would of course prefer some sunshine...
Thanks for advices!!
Best Elmar |
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Try to keep outside the kids school holidays as the roads and attractions are quieter. I prefer May, June and first half of July.
I love walking round the little fishing villages. Devon = Dartmouth, Clovelly + Cornwall = Looe, Polpero, Fowey, Mevagissey, Mousehole, St Ives, Padstow, Port Isaac (where they film Doc Martin), Boscastle.
| It is the job of every senior manager to agree to a task then find someone who hasn't got time to do it!
1981 Yamaha RD50MX
1982 Suzuki GP100E
1978 Honda CB400 Dream
1987 Kawasaki GPX750R
1989 Honda CBR1000FK
2010 Triumph Thunderbird 1600
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 05 Oct 2013 - 12:14 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: wizard) | | | Thank you so far.
Next month I have to fix the dates for 2014 at my working place.
I will fix 3 weeks in June for the Cornwall trip. So it's out of the kids holidays and before the highly booked summer season.
Think that will be perfect...
Maybe I will come back later in the year with a couple of further questions for the trip.
Thanks again.
Best Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| Moggett | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 08/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 86 | | Location | : | North West England, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 07 Oct 2013 - 09:41 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Our favourite places to visit in the South West are Padstow, St Ives and Fowey. I would normally say June is a wet month (think Wimbledon tennis and flooding in previous years). However, it was good this year so it's just pot luck!
Will you be camping or staying in B&B or Hotels?
If you are camping I'm sure UK forum members could recommend some good sites. We go in the motorhome and this year some German Harley riders were camped at Padstow for a few days - had a chat and they were really friendly guys.
The Isle of Man TT is on at the end of May/beginning of June too, if you had time and didn't mind travelling up north.
Whatever you decide have a great time.
| | Post edited by Moggett on 07 Oct 2013 - 09:41 |
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 07 Oct 2013 - 17:57 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Moggett) | | | Moggett wrote:
Will you be camping or staying in B&B or Hotels? |
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We are definitely not going to camp. We would prefer B&B. Thanks for advices so far...
Best Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 07 Oct 2013 - 18:00 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Don't know what happened with the text body
Sorry for that. This one is normal again...
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| weasel | | Set | | | Reg. Date | : | 14/02/2012 | | Posts | : | 150 | | Location | : | Thornbury,Bristol, South Gloucestershire, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 24 Oct 2013 - 14:34 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | If you have time go over to wales , great roads , views , people etc etc lots to see , or on the way home , go through somerset and Wiltshire , again lots of good roads and plenty to see and do .
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ride till your tyres fall off
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 25 Oct 2013 - 08:30 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Thanks Weasel.
That is a nice option to go north but that will be some miles to go. I have to figure that out. Somerset is on plan for the way back...
Best Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 08 Dec 2013 - 15:35 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | In the Brasil World Championship in June/July England and Germany are placed in different groups. I'm happy with that. I think it will be a safe trip though.
I will be home by the time the playoffs start...
Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
| | Post edited by Birdy1234 on 08 Dec 2013 - 15:38 |
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| BlueNose | | Thor | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 29/09/2009 | | Posts | : | 2,478 | | Location | : | United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 08 Dec 2013 - 16:03 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Just a bit of heads up Birdy - 12th July Triumph Live is on!
Link
Quite a few members will be at the event.
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 03 Apr 2014 - 19:28 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: wizard) | | | Hi guys.
Looking forward to the UK Trip in June. Thanks for the advices so far.
Here is the routing so far (overnight stops):
Rye -Winchester-Lulworth Cove-Postbridge/Dartmoor-St. Mawes-St. Ives-Padstow-Porlock/Exmoor-Barth-Haywards Heath-Dover and back home
Any comments? Would be great to receive some advices on our routing. Do you think that we have to book the B&Bs in advance? I would rather book from day to day. You never know what can happen to all the planning...
Best Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| lockey | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 07/10/2011 | | Posts | : | 189 | | Location | : | lyme regis, dorset, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 05 Apr 2014 - 11:21 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Hi Birdy1234.
I don't know what you have planned. I can recommend a very picturesque great biker route from Lulworth Cove to Lyme Regis.
Rejoin the A352 travelling west then take the A353 to Osmington then on to Weymouth (Great sandy Beach and Harbour). then take the coast road B3157 to Abbotsbury once you exit Abbotsbury you will ascend a hill , do stop at the top, there is a large lay-by, get off and look in the direction you came from for a great view of Portland, Chisel beach the lagoons and ruins. Keep going on B3157 until you pass a golf club on your left, slow down to prepare to turn left to Westbay (turning can easily be missed) Westbay is very biker friendly and a favourite meeting place. Whilst there drop into Helmet City huge range of motorcycle gear to be had. Head out of Westbay to Bridport (good range of independent shops there) then take the A35 to Lyme Regis to visit the world famous Cobb harbour, bike parking is tolerated but not official through the barrier immediately on your left as you enter the small Cobb Gate car park which is situated right at the bottom of town, it has a clock tower in the middle of it. Enjoy....
I would book B&B on the day (perhaps not on Dartmoor). Visit a Tourist Information Office they should be able to call B&Bs or send you in the right direction. Just don't leave it to late in the day.
If you want to get in touch PM me.
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 06 Apr 2014 - 17:52 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: lockey) | | | Hi Lockey.
Thank you for the route advice.
As we are passing by I have added that biker route from Lulworth Cove to Lyme Regis to my Garmin gps. We might even stay there overnight on the way to Dartmoor. Not decided yet. I might pm you if having further questions on that area.
For now, thank you again.
Best
Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| mat1600 | | Thunderbird | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 06/03/2010 | | Posts | : | 8,596 | | Location | : | Bridlington, Democratic Independant State of Yorkshire, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 12 Apr 2014 - 00:14 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | BUMP
| My first natural instinct is to breathe. My second is to evade tax's.
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 09 May 2014 - 14:28 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: mat1600) | | | Hi Guys.
Not decided yet either to take the canal ferry from Dunkirchen or the euro tunnel from Calais.
Any experiences on that?
Best
Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| nccmdf | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 21/06/2010 | | Posts | : | 20 | | Location | : | norfolk, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 09 May 2014 - 17:09 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | hi birdy,
tunnel is great ,quick easy to use ,only draw back is you have to stand near your bike for the journey,but it's short and there's always some one to talk to.. and if you look out of the train windows you might see the odd fish swim by.........have a good holiday.
| nccmdf
norfolk
united kingdom
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 28 May 2014 - 20:12 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: nccmdf) | | | Ok Guys.
Little more than a week left before the trip. 
Decided to take the tunnel even though it's a couple of Kms more to get there. First B&B already booked.
I'm definitely looking forward to start. Let's hope the weather will not be too wet.
I'll get the bird serviced next week 3 days before starting, so everything is fine.
Best
Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 19 Jun 2014 - 22:14 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Hi Guys.
13 days on the road so far and not a single drop of rain.
At the moment we are in the Somerset region and love to ride all the back roads.
Going to the Isle of Wight for two days before going home next Tuesday.
Best
Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| Birdy1234 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 20/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 143 | | Location | : | Cologne, NRW, Germany |
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| | Posted : 29 Jun 2014 - 09:39 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Hi Guys.
We are back home after 17 very nice days. Thanks for all the advises, they helped a lot to go to the the best places.
Just a short summary to finish this thread:
All together we made 3000+ kms! we only used back roads, except from first and last day (France, Belgium) we did not use motorways at all.
Weather: brilliant. Not a single drop of rain. First rain shower when entering Germany on the way back. All Englishmen we met told us that this weather had been exceptionally good. At the end of every single day we had our pint of beer in the evening sun! Even in Dartmoor blue sky: 
Roads: we only used back roads, mostly B-Roads. Not too much traffic on those Bs. Sometimes the Garmin (I put it on "twisty roads mode" all the time) led us on single file roads in between hedges and through dense forest and woodlands, not much to see of the oncoming traffic then. And sometimes they put little stones on the roads to maintain the surface, on these single file roads these stones were always in the middle of the road, not the best thing for motorbikes. But anyway it was a lot of fun to ride there. Driving on the wrong side of the road had not been a problem at all, easy to get used to it. One more point: somehow the roads of southern England are infested with speed cams. I hope there will be no additional problem coming up with a big bill. Best thing: all the motorbike parking areas free of charge. You won't find that over here. 
Car drivers: we only had this one little incident on the roundabout which I put in another thread.  We were very lucky then. In general the traffic is much more relaxed if compared to driving here in Germany. People seem to have a lot of time to get somewhere, I find them driving almost too slow for a bike to follow.
People: Very friendly. Even when England went home from the football championships in Brasil, we didn't encounter aggressive behavior against us. They showed a lot of interest in an English motorbike with a German number plate. We had always some people around when stopping in a village or somewhere else. A lot of nice compliments for the bird!
Route: Rye-Winchester-Lulworth-Lyme Regis-Dorchester-Dartmoor/Dartmouth-Fowey-S. Ives-Padstow-Exmoor/Minehead-Bath-Isle of Wight-Folkestone. Of course lots of stops in between those sites. Thanks to Lockey we drove that famous route to L.R.
Beer: average 15 different beers in every pub but almost all were warm. I tried some but in this weather we had to continue drinking lots of cold lager beers.
All in all we had a very nice holiday. Today I cleaned up the bird in between two thunderstorms. Want to go on a long ride soon again....
Cheers
Elmar
| Go out riding - Enjoy life!
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| Moggett | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 08/04/2013 | | Posts | : | 86 | | Location | : | North West England, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 29 Jun 2014 - 09:50 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Yes very lucky with the weather - usually having floods at this time of year lately. Very good route too!
We were in Devon at the same time but in the motorhome. During the whole trip only saw two TBs, a silver one parked with other bikes in Totnes with a black full face on the seat, and a black storm with short pipes visiting someone in Steamer Quay campsite.
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| Paul1600 | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 17/02/2013 | | Posts | : | 37 | | Location | : | SkegVegas Baby!, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 29 Jun 2014 - 17:58 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Moggett) | | | Is the second picture there so our Southern Hemisphere brothers don't feel left out....
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| Jimbo | | Jupiter | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 25/01/2010 | | Posts | : | 1,032 | | Location | : | Queanbeyan, N.S.W., Australia |
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| | Posted : 30 Jun 2014 - 21:29 Post title : Re: Trip to UK next year. Tips welcome. (Re: Birdy1234) | | | Bump !
| Cheers
Jimbo (Bishop)
Keep the black side trackside and the shiny side up!
Veterans MC - Federal Chapter
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