Roads to Padstow

[rivarama]

Hi guys,

I booked a romantic getaway week end to Padstow at the Pig Hotel for the wife and I next week end.

I was planning to take the F12 to make this trip a little more special.

However a co-worker told me today that the roads around there are horrible and I was going to ruin my car. I was quite surprised when I heard this.

Is that really the case? Will I be stuck on single lane country roads all the time? I will be driving from London.

Thanks for your thoughts on this and if you have any tips on places / restaurants to visit while there, I would appreciate it too.

Pics of the F12 below

 

[RodTungsten]

We are down there near Bude just now in the Spyder. Main A roads are not too bad but once off these there are narrow roads and potholes to dodge. Locals do not reverse so be prepared for standoffs! Roads down into Padstein are tricky and the place will be rammed if weather nice (think Blackpool promenade).

A303 can be a nightmare at times - we join after Stonehenge which is a trial. We are coming back tomorrow up the A39

 

[Oneball]

Use a map don’t use Sat Nav down there. Sat navs take you down stuff you just don’t want to go down. Look at a map and pick the main roads and you’ll be fine. You don’t have to do any single track roads to get to Padstow.

 

[jonny]

Use a map don’t use Sat Nav down there. Sat maps take you down stuff you just want to go down

This!

 

[3hcp]

Can highly recommend Paul Ainsworth’s No 6 and his pub the Mariners over at Rock to which you can take the ferry. You’ll be fine until the last few miles into Padstow then park the car and leave it.

 

[MarkMas]

You will be fine all the way to Wadebridge (either A30 or A39), so it's just the last 5-10 miles that's a bit narrow.

Fortify yourself with a burger at Adolpho's and then just plunge in to the little roads.

Remember what look like hedges are really granite walls covered with 15mm of vegetation.

 

[Oneball]

This!

Glad you understood. Bloody spellchecker.

 

[Andyk]

It’s a while since I have been there but it is the last bit of the journey that it gets a bit tight and that was in a normal size car.

 

[Ewan]

As long as you don’t try to drive into the centre of Padstow you’ll be fine.

 

[Andyk]

As long as you don’t try to drive into the centre of Padstow you’ll be fine.

That is a good point Ewan. The centre is a nightmare and that is if you can get past all the tourists.

 

[RodTungsten]

To be avoided this weekend - Royal Cornwall Agric show is above Padstein.

 

[MarkMas]

To be avoided this weekend - Royal Cornwall Agric show is above Padstein.

Good point



If it's NEXT weekend, fine; if it's THIS weekend, you are screwed! Although Google has a plan...

 

[rivarama]

Awesome !! Thanks guys. Looks like the M4 > M5 > A30 > A39 is the way to go.

It’s not this week end but next week end so should be better indeed.

I will look up the restaurant recommendations - pls keep them coming if you have some good thoughts.

Thanks again boys !!

 

[RodTungsten]

Cornish Arms - a disappointment. Outside Padstow.

 

[3hcp]

The best pub/restaurant is the St Kew inn at St Kew but it’s Rock side of the river on the way home in the middle of nowhere

 

[keith]

I will be interested to know what you think of the The Pig Hotel. I visited their hotel in Studland Bay a few years ago, and it struck me as an advert for Martini - the one full of successful young nice people, all wearing shorts and sun glasses in their hair! All the staff were wearing jeans as if to accentuate the new casual look, and in some of their hotels you can even get an old gypsy caravan as a room. Sorry if i sound like a grumpy old man (Victor Meldrew springs to mind) but It all seemed a lot of expensive style over substance.
I also share your concerns of the roads in that part of the world.