Forums Forums General Forums A - Z Leisure & Hobbies Driving to St Ives Cornwall

We are off to Cornwall next week, anyone got any tips on nice places to stop off. Im estimating the drive be about 7 hours plus breaks..is that about right.

The first time we went took about 10 hrs with traffic.we found leaving at 3 am got us there in about 6 hrs with a couple of stops on the way.We just used the motorway stops but driving at night the kids were asleep so we tried to get as many miles as we could.

From experience,it's very crowded just now. We went down to Polperro last July/August, we had 2 of our teenage grandsons with us.
We stayed in a fisherman's cottage. But I knew what a long journey it was likely to be, especially at this time of the year, so I booked us a family room at a Premier Inn in Gloucester near to the M'Way. It was less than £40.00 a night and for breakfast it was just £16.00, that's for 2 adults and the grandsons ate for free. We did that going and returning. I'm glad we did...it took us 9 hours each way when I finally calculated the number of driving hours. Bristol to the start of Cornwall was bumper to bumper traffic. There's no escaping it unless you can afford to go by helicopter.
We used to go down that way back in the seventies with our own kids. The roads were still busy in those days and there wasn't the same motorway stretches, but it was still a long drive in one go, so we used to break the journey by stopping at Chepstow en-route.
Needless to say,this time, we didn't bother stopping off at some of our old haunts from back in the seventies as I just wanted to get the journey over with. Devon is very nice; particularly the Atlantic side. But unless you are taking a touring van down and planning to stop off at places, like us you will be just relieved to get your journey to your resort over with.
Safe journey and enjoy your holiday. Incidentally, Trip Advisor has plenty of tips on there. Good luck!

We go down to Devon and to be honest it's the same until Bristol, so why not make Bristol your first stopping point. We stop at Cribbs Causeway, head into Morrisons for a bit of re-freshment, some brekkie and a break, and then some really cheap petrol as it always is there for some reason, stretch your legs and head out again.

You need a break every 2 hours - even if the driving is going well with no jams.

Agree on leaving early morning - otherwise you will lose the first day on the road.

5 hours to St Ives with no jams - the early start means you miss the rush hours - when the motorways are used as local by-passes for Birmingham, Bristol and Exeter !

Also recommend short stops - some people hang around so much in the services that the jams form while they are in there !

We travel to Plymouth a few times a year. To avoid the boring motorway journey we travel south via the following route :-
Chester, Wrexham,Shrewsbury, Hereford, back road to Monmouth,Wye Valley (stunning scenery, Tintern Abbey) to Chepstow, then onto M4 & over the bridge (free going that way) to join the M5.
We normally pull off the motorway at jct. 26 for Wellington & eat at the superb cafe in Sheppy's Cider Centre, which is on the old A38 heading back towards Taunton.

Bob.

ah thank you all for your comments. we thought of a bed and breakfast stay but we have the dog and found it difficult finding a place to take her. We are planning on leaving at 6am, and stopping every two hours, we will just have to see what traffic like can't do much about it.
Looking forward to it now just hope weather is nice .

Good suggestion. It makes a nice change of scenery to come off the M5, go down the M50, then A40 to Monmouth and down the A466 valley road then across the bridge back onto the M5.

Just been down that way. A41 chester whitchurch to the M54 junction at Tong. Left at 6:15 (saturday) ok till Bristol where we stopped for about hour and 3/4 (gordano services) by time we rejoined motorway around 11 the traffic had built up quite a bit.

Have stopped at a cafe/restaurant off jct 24 (boat and anchor ?) which is just off motorway with CAFE painted on its roof. and a nice little river --great for picnic if sunny.

if it was me i would leave much earlier

You can fly with Eesyjet from Liverpool to Newquay, if you plan your next trip in advance and get a decent fare its well worth it as your there in an hour.

http://www.easyjet.com/en

Id rather fly down myself, 3 kids plus driving for 8 plus hours is not my idea of fun, could hire a car when down there.

id fly too. but with dog in tow makes it harder. A holiday wouldn't be the same without delays!

Backs up my point.
What did you find to do at Gordano for 1.75 hours ? - it's a good services but ....!

Arranged to meet a friend from Bristol not seen for 2 years for a bit of a catch up---