Exmoor: My Dream Drive
PH heads out west for a Dream Drive across the wilds of Exmoor
Where: Exmoor, Somerset
Car used: Range Rover Sport SVR
The route:
"A veteran road rally organiser once told me his almost infallible method for finding good venues for events - 'head to where the people aren't.' And while most of Somerset's minor roads feel tight and congested, aiming for the unpopulated wilds of Exmoor gets you onto some brilliant tarmac. Time your trip well and you can pretty much have the place to yourself.
"From Taunton I take the A358 towards Minehead and then, after a couple of slow miles, turn left onto the B3224 just after Bishop's Lydeard. This starts out tight and hilly but opens up as it crosses into the Exmoor National Park. The only real navigational challenge is remembering the take the right fork a mile or so after the Raleigh's Cross pub. For the next stretch the hedges start to get closer again - this is one of those roads where you can feel like you're going properly fast without ever breaking the NSL. After Wheddon Cross - the most sizeable village hereabouts - I keep on the B3224 to Exford and then Simonsbath. Then I turn right and head north towards the coast on the B3223, a fast, flowing road across open moors that has served as the backdrop for numerous car magazine photo shoots. As you get close to the coast there are spectacular views across the Bristol Channel, all the way to South Wales on a clear day.
"After reaching the sea at Lynmouth there's a choice - either take the A39 along the coast towards Minehead or retrace your steps. The A39 is a lovely road, and has a spectacular clifftop climb as you leave the town, but it tends to get busy with holidaymakers and caravans. A good alternative is to head back across the moors to Wheddon Cross and then to turn south onto the A396, which will eventually take you to Tiverton where you can rejoin the M5."
Why it's a dream drive:
Highlights and lowlights?
"Also be aware of diverting off the 'main' route - most of the local lanes are almost comically narrow, with a road-laying diversion sending the SVR down what appeared to be a gravel driveway."
Sights, stop-offs and diversions:
"And Minehead is worth a stop if you want to know what British seaside resorts looked like in the 1970s - it's got everything from Kiss Me Kwik hats to a Butlins Holiday Resort."
Follw the route here.
Great write up, lots of other fun roads in exmoor but gives the jist well.
Ooooh arrrrrggghh
Enjoyed it so much I did a little mini review myself: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOGnjzUm-uw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcHDaKysPCc
While as said in the article, the A39 is good, but can be busy..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ0t35qRaI8
Mk5 Vw Golf GTI on Exmoor by Alastair Cummins, on Flickr
Drove a 1969 Riley Elf back then and used to race back from Lynmouth on Sunday evenings, up Countisbury Hill and across the top, finishing with the notorious 1-in-4 descent down Porlock Hill. I used to time it so that I was listening to the Radio 1 Top Twenty countdown and aim to hear the No.1 song finish just as I arrived to open the bar up at 7pm (old licensing hours in those days).
Donna Summer spent most of that summer at No.1 with "I Feel Love", Virginia Wade won the Ladies Singles Championship at Wimbledon, it was the Queen's Silver Jubilee year and I drove to Taunton FIVE times that summer to watch "The Spy Who Loved Me" - that's how much there was to do in that part of Somerset if you didn't own a Ferrari and were too young to enjoy walking and to be wowed by scenery (except to watch it flashing past your side windows).
A great summer though and I've used that Porlock/Lynmouth road as my 'test track' for every car I've ever owned since, judging them all by how well they handle THAT road!
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/watersmeet/
Cheers.
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