Around Cornwall on CB125F Day 1 – London to Portland

The dream

For many years I was thinking about travelling the World or at least part of it. But this is what most people do, doesn’t it? Thinking and talking about. I thought about visiting many places in the UK. I mean, those places I have never been to, such as Scotland, Wales, Peak and Lake districts, Ireland and Cornwall. During those many years I went to very few places but actually I was taken there on the coach or train. All was pre-arranged and organised.

This year, things began to change. Initially, it was one of my dreams to have and ride a motorcycle, but one day I made my mind and went for CBT in February 2020. Next, I got myself an used Honda CB125F with just over 5400 miles on the clock and began riding. 

In the making

The CBT is very short and does not really teaches you how to control the motorcycle (how to safely and effectively use clutch, throttle and breaks). It doesn’t teach you how to ride in a traffic and how to deal with hazards or how to ride through corners. You will not learn there what the counter steering is and when / how to use it. Therefore, I spent months on the empty car park learning slow speed manoeuvres. I rode in town and went for short trips out of town. I took longer trips and an additional training. All in all, it was skills and confidence building exercise and riding became a thing I love to do. 

One day it occurred to me, that it is a holiday time. The weather is good and Cornwall is not too far away. The bike for me was the best way to get there and ride around it. As a result, I spent couple of weeks planning and booking places to stay and visit. 

From my initial calculations, it was apparent that it will be 900 miles and about 33 riding hours. I have used Google maps for all my route planning. Interestingly, for some reason the timing on the map and in the actual travel was very accurate. How? I have no idea but if you think about at it, it came to an average speed of 27 m/h on the map. I was riding between 20 and 55 m/h and the actual time on the road (according to Google in my timeline) was roughly 37h. Plus, almost the same time I spent walking to and around places I planed to visit.

I will publish all my routes along this, hmm kind of guide 🙂 to Cornwall. In this guide you will find all places I have stopped and visited during my 13 days of adventure 🙂 Also, to show you how I have planned my routes, I created a post with details in Routes Planning with Google Maps post.

Being an unexperienced motorcycle adventurer, I have failed in recording my trip properly. I do have some pictures though, so duly I will show you those.

The travel

On 2nd August I went on my first leg to Portland, something about 150 miles and it took me under 5 hours. Bear in mind, I did not use any motorways and only smaller A and B roads. I had few stops and ferry crossing in Pool. Actually, where the ferry is, the place is called Sandbanks with the other side being Shell Bay Terminal. I have chosen ferry deliberately to make it more interesting. And on my rides there will be more of that.

From Shell Bay the road is very pleasing and I was heading first for Corfe Castle. It is a village and the castle. I didn’t book a visit but stopped in the village to take look. As small as it is, it surprisingly was packed up with visitors. Nice and interesting place to be properly explored next time. You can also take a detour from A352 by taking B3070 and visit the Lulworth castle. I simply missed it when initially planning and later forgotten to add it to my route.

Portland

After arrival and unloading my bike, I had enough time to go around and visit the furthest point where the Portland Bill Lighthouse is. Then, see the Pulpit Rock and have some late lunch in the Lobster Pot bar. On my way back, I went to see the famous Chesil (or Chiswell?) pebble beach. It stretches over 17 miles between Portland and Burton Bradstock or it could be even West Way. The beach looks like man-made feature but apparently it was created by the sea.

I have stayed one night in the small hotel The Aqua, practically at that time the only open place with breakfast and being reasonably priced. The bar was tended by very friendly chap and the chef made delicious spaghetti Bolognese. Room was comfortable with an-suite bathroom. Both were clean and tidy. Next time I will strongly consider stopping by in The Aqua.

Before I went to bed I have had a chance to see this beautiful sunset:

My next leg was to Slapton, a small medieval village in the Kingsbridge area, just under 100 miles. 

Here is my route from London to Hotel Aqua in Portland