Driving Devon to Cornwall in a motorhome

Leaving Poole as part of our 3-month motorhome trip, we drove west into Devon along what is known as the Jurassic Coast. 

Amazing cliffs on the Jurassic Coast

This stunning coastline is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is famous for its beauty, its fossils, and the small villages perched on the top of the ancient cliffs.

On the way, we stopped at a place called Durdle Door which entailed a steep walk down to a cliff edge. Once there, we were rewarded with views of a giant natural limestone arch on the Jurassic coast. 

Durdle Door

The site amazingly, spans 185 million years of geological history. The arch, or 'door' was created when the sea pierced through the limestone around 10,000 years ago. 

Further on we stopped to see the giant carving of Osmington Horse. This is a 323 foot high depiction of King George 111 riding his horse, that was carved into the hillside in 1808. It has been refurbished several times but is till impressive. 

This whole area is very pretty with small and attractive villages along the way.

After passing through a number of these, we drove down to Lyme Regis, an ancient town that featured in the Doomsday Book. 

Lyme Regis street going down to the seashore

We parked above the town, as the streets are not suitable for large vehicles. Our motorhome Vtee, would not have liked the narrow, winding, streets leading down to the sea, but we loved walking them.

After a while, it began to rain and we had a rushed, uphill climb to get back to Vtee to dry off.

The next leg of our drive, took us through more very quaint and small villages such as Seaton and Beer, all on the coast, with very shingled beaches.

Beer (strange name!) was very quaint. 

Colourful fishing boats at the end of Beer's main street

Its main street led directly onto the beach which was full of colourful fishing boats. 

Beer is known for its malleable stone which it’s said, has been used for carving since Roman times. Many of Beer's buildings are old and built of this stone. They are very attractive and beautifully maintained. 

After a few GPS hiccups, and very narrow roads, we arrived at Kingsbridge, a pretty town at the head of the Salcombe Estuary, with lots of boats on its waterway.

Leaving there, the road narrowed even more, as we headed to Stokenham village for our camp site.

Typical Devon road - pretty but very narrow, especially for big motorhomes

When we say the road is narrow, we mean that it is a typical Devon road, bound by house-high hedges over ancient, unforgiving stone walls, and no footpaths.

Even on a 2-way road, there is barely enough room for say…..a horse and cart, or two Morris Minors to pass.

The speed limit on most of these roads is 60 miles per hour - that's about 96 km per hour - we felt that you could not do that speed safely. Consequently, no one drives at the speed limit - they do under it.

To date, we have found British drivers to be very considerate. Everyone seems to give way to let other vehicles through, especially ones as big as us!

The small and beautiful hamlet of Stokenham

We spent the whole time on the road to Stokenham with fingers crossed, hoping that we wouldn’t meet a vehicle coming the other way. We did of course, and each time, had to find a place to pull over or reverse, so that cars could slowly get past us.

After a nerve racking drive at the end of a long day we made it to our camp – the Start Bay Caravan and Motorhome site.

It proved to be a peaceful and useful location.

Leigh after a delicious meal at the Tradesman's Arms in Stokenham

A short walk to the north of the camp gave us access to the tiny hamlet of Stokenham, with its two pubs. We had a lovely meal there at the old Tradesman’s Arms.

A slightly longer walk to the south gave us a farm shop. There are very few shops in these little villages as there isn’t the population to support them, so the farm shop is the main shop. Its full of local produce and is a very busy place.

Just past the farm shop was Torcross, a small holiday village right on the sea. We walked along the seafront there, eating ice-cream made of delicious and rich Devon cream.

Views over Beesand's seen from our overland walk

Then we walked over the hill track to Beesands. This is a tiny hamlet boasting a few fishing boats, a lighthouse and a pub where we had a yummy lunch.

On our return journey, the tide was out so we walked along the seashore, clambering over some amazing rocks.

Marg and the beautiful rocks on the shore of Beesands beach

After a few days, we drove out of the area, re-tracing our route back through the same wee villages on the same narrow roads.

On one stretch, we met a large bus – horrors! With a lot of reversing and moving right into the bank, we made enough room for it to slowly squeeze past us without mishap.

Our next stop was Plymouth and its lovely waterfront and historic Barbican. We also saw a candystripe lighthouse and the Mayflower Steps. These steps are where the Pilgrim Fathers departed for America.

Leaving there we headed for Polperro, which put us in Cornwall. 

Marg and beautiful Polperro

Polperro is a 12th century smuggling and fishing port. It has been named one of the UK’s most beautiful villages. 

Passing through a village called Looe, put us above Polperro, so we decided to park our motorhome Vtee there, and walk the remaining mile into Polperro village.

It really is a beautiful village, with narrow winding streets going down to the port, small fisherman cottages with slate roofs, and a tidal harbour.

Fishing boats awaiting the incoming tide at Polperro

The tide was out when we were there and the fishing boats were all squatting comfortably on the mud flats, awaiting the incoming tide.

We had Devonshire tea in a little tea house, and thought it was a delightful place to visit. Then suddenly, it started to rain quite heavily.

We found a little electric bus that took us up to the top of the village to the car park, but our campervan was still another mile away uphill in Looe, and the rain was getting heavier!

So Leigh flagged down a car that was leaving the car park and asked for a lift. Those lovely people took us right up to Vtee so that we didn’t get wet.

Heading off again, our next stop was the Eden Project. 

Two geodesic domes at the Eden Project

This is an initiative that uses geodesic biodomes to house and nurture plants. The plants have been collected from many diverse climates and environments around the world. It was an interesting place to visit.

Leaving there, we drove to Charlestown, a mining village on the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape – a UNESCO World Heritage site. It had a pretty port that was for many years, used to transport copper from the nearby mines.

Very soon after that, and after a very long day driving, we arrived at Truro, our destination for the next few nights. 

This is part of a bigger blog on our travels around England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Belgium and Luxembourg. The first blog is called "Off to do the UK in a motorhome".