A371 - Wincanton through Castle Cary to South West Showground - mostly national with great bends. A396 - Dunster to Tiverton - Exe Valley, mostly national and often damp (due to valley and tree cover)
Both good routes. (Maps cribbed from a group chat!) Torrington to Hatherleigh roundabout and back is a decent road
I've been riding that as fast as I can on whatever bike is available, for 40 years! See if you can take your eyes off the road long enough to see the white horse. And actually when I lived South of Newbury, I continued on to Lechlade/Faringdon/Burford. Now I continue on to home. Edit: the White Horse is at Uffington, the other side of Wantage, so not actually part of the route.
I was working for a guy who lived in Dummer, but came from Evesham, and he'd take that route going back there and once I knew it I went back on a bike. On October 17th, '05 I came back that way from London and wrote my bike off shortly afterwards. When I wanted to get back on a bike a while back but couldn't, I followed that route on Google Earth. When I got the 999 I had intended coming back that way, but didn't because it was peeing down (I was gratified how stable the Duke was on wet roads). When I did ride that route again I was relieved that for the most part it was as empty as it ever was. And the road surface isn't as bad as many are today. You used to go through Wantage town centre, but there's a bypass now. Eventually you get back to Challow, from where you head for Burford - shortly passing Uffington, where the white horse is. However, this side of the route is seriously deteriorated from what it was. It used to pass Brize Norton, but the road has been redirected, and there's a big new housing estate there now - I actually got lost first time I re-rode that part. There's one section I don't think I'll ever find again. And I'm not sure I'll bother with Wantage-Burford again; but yeah, Newbury-Wantage is still an excellent scratching road.
A3072 from Crediton to Bickleigh (Devon). Apart from a sprawling pub at the Bickleigh end, there's a bridge over the Exe that's supposed to be what inspired Paul Simon to write Bridge Over Troubled Water. But they also claim to have pixies in that neck of the woods. It's a great road though, although last time I rode it I was behind a tanker most of the way.
I lived in Crediton for a couple of years. Exeter to Crediton was a great road, but like so many it's been ruined by what I suppose you'd call traffic calming, and too many cars and lorries. At least compared to 20 years ago. I'm not so sure they could ruin the stretch from Crediton to Barnstaple though. Like with riding just in shorts and trainers, I wouldn't do it today, but what with the police station closing of an evening, I used to ride around without a lid. Liberating! But, all-in-all. best to not liberate your brains from your skull.
I was in Helmsley last week. And on the Sunday morning drove to Stokesley. About 20 miles I think and the best thrash I’ve ever had on an open road. I was in a sports car but it would be equal fun on a bike. Not sure wife was so impressed. It made her hair and sunglasses wonky….
I grew up in Richmond, so not far away. I can’t believe I didn’t know about it. I really enjoyed it. There was a camera van strategically placed, but thankfully I’d just come up behind a motor home at that point. Phew!! I soon overtook him and encountered no other traffic. Bloody marvellous road Tons of oncoming bikes so I was weary of that. And of course I warned them of plod waiting down the road…
It's my 'go to road' whenever I take a demo ride out from Teasdales motorcycles in Thirsk. Its a great circular route from Thirsk- Helmsley - Stokesley -Thirsk
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5ggGqCcfRm6LAqv19 Blakey ridge. Hutton le Hole to Castleton This one's a cracker, narrow, and sheep can be present, but a belting road. Pub half way over it called The Lion Inn which does lovely food.
Owens Cross to Abergavenny (the Skenfrith road) is one of my local favourites. Herefordshire to mid/sth Wales. Watch out for slow moving agricultural vehicles otherwise it's usually pretty devoid of traffic. I incorporate this into most of my ride-outs that head that way as either the intro or extro segment. There's a bikers meeting point at the Oasis tea stand at Abergavenny bus station as a destination or staging point for your onward trip into the Brecon Beacons. Used to be busy with bikes at weekends pre Covid. There's also a public toilet there for those that need it.
I'd like to find a good road between Boston and Cadwell, most of it seem to be unsighted and or bumpy.
Beulah to Newbridge on Wye (the roller-coaster) in mid Wales, just north of the Brecons, cracking section of road that, as the nickname implies, bucks and weaves across the undulating landscape.
Hey Bumpkin, I've just been using Google Street View and verified that's the route I took to Aber. I guess given how much longer than me you've been looking for great roads around here, any I find, you know well. Yeah, that's another new dimension to biking after a 15-odd year gap, from mid-40s to early-60s: the frequency with which one needs to strain the potatoes!
You get the TT feel on Lincolnshire roads. In the UK motorcycles ride on the left, except in Lincolnshire where we ride on what's left.
I've had to ride the 50 miles back down Cambs to find a nice road. 100 miles of dodging potholes and average speed cameras is getting old.
