Around Cornwall on CB125F

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 places in the UK, those I 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.

But this year, things began to change. It was one of my desires to have and ride a motorcycle, so finally I made my mind and went for CBT in February. 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), how to ride it in traffic, how to deal with hazards, how to ride through corners or what the counter steering is and when / how to use it. So 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. 

Then, one day it occurred to me, that it is a holiday time, weather is good and Cornwall is not too far away. The bike was to me the best way to get there and ride around it, so 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. Interestingly, I used Google maps for all my route planning and for some reason the timing on the map and in the actual travel was very accurate. How? I have no idea. If you look 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.

The travel

On 2nd August I went on my first leg to Portland, something about 150 miles and it took me under 5 hours. But 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. 

After arrival and unloading my bike, I had enough time to go around and visit the furthest point where the Portland Bill Lighthouse is, see the Pulpit Rock and have some late lunch in the Lobster Pot bar. After my return to the hotel, 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) and looks like man-made feature but apparently it was created by the sea.

I stayed one night in the small hotel The Aqua, practically at that time the only open place with breakfast and being reasonably priced. 

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

tbc ...