Detour #145: The South West 660, UK
Countisbury Hill and Lynmouth Bay
The South West 660 is a new and soon-to-be iconic route around the British coastline from Dorset to Somerset. Simon Heptinstall helped plan it so who better to be our tour guide?
Hit the crest of Countisbury Hill, heading west into the sunset. You’re on the A39, sweeping on big wide bends across the top of the cliffs where Exmoor meets the sea. You’re hopefully at the wheel of something nice.
It’s tempting to floor it as the road rounds the headland to descend into the hidden bay. Hold back. Instead, soak up the view as it gradually unveils. It’s like a Hollywood sunset: the end of a blockbusting romance. The credits are starting to roll. But it’s real. You’ll gaze right down into Lynmouth Bay, old houses in trees clinging to the far cliff, the grey rocky beach, tiny harbour and thatched pub far below.
Torcross and Slapton
Much later you’ll twist out of Slapton on South Devon’s A379. You’re cruising south across a two-mile straight causeway feeling like you’re starring in a car ad. A rag top would be best; an MX-5 will do. It’s a unique long narrow strip of tarmac. A long freshwater lake sparkles a few feet on your right, the sea crashes against the beach a few feet away on your left. Fantasise you’re being filmed by a drone hovering above.
Finally find the little leafy Dorset lane locals call New Barn Road. It winds for miles across grassy chalk cliffs between Weymouth and Abbotsbury. It’s narrow, so pay attention. Those world-class views are mightily distracting. You’ll be staring down at 18 miles and 180 billion pebbles of Chesil Beach backed by The Fleet, England’s largest lagoon.
Chesil Beach
Fancy a sequence of driving experiences like that? Well, there’s a new 660-mile drive around our own southwest peninsular offering scores of roads like that. The South West 660 roadtrip route has been launched as the UK’s answer to Route 66. It’s the one British roadtrip that could become internationally famous – an iconic drive around one of the world’s greatest coastlines.
It runs from Poole in Dorset hugging the coast of Devon and Cornwall to Watchet in Somerset. It skips the trunk roads, preferring smaller roads and bypasses the busy resorts, opting for lesser-known sights and villages instead.
Is the route any good? Well I’m biased. As one of Detour’s driving-route experts and a WestCountry enthusiast I was called in to help choose the exact roads it uses.
So you’ll find that the vast majority of the South West 660 is on quiet leafy roads in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and coastal landscapes protected by the National Trust. You also drive through two Coastal World Heritage Sites.
Of course, Detour regulars know that the world is full of so-called iconic road trips. The US has Route 66 and Highway One, Australia has the Great Ocean Road, Europe offers the Amalfi Coast Road. Scan the pages of detour-roadtrips.com and you’ll find plenty of great UK drives – but have they the potential to become global icons?
Great drives as they are, will people travel from the other side of the world to drive around the Brecon Beacons or the Derbyshire hills? South West 660 sets its sights high however. It has been launched by a trio of Devon-based businessmen who are fans of the southwest, road trips and cars. One of them even has a Jaguar XK120.
It’s mainly a commercial project of course: creating a name that people start to associate with driving around the southwest peninsular. Drivers can join up for special routes and discount deals along the way. Hotels and hospitality businesses get involved for promotional purposes. The AA has signed up to add gravitas.
Meanwhile the rest of us now have the opportunity to enjoy a fantastic coastal driving marathon. It’s best out of season and it’s easy to do in smaller chunks. You could burn your way round the whole thing in an exhausting day but that would defeat the point. It’s more about slow travel and appreciating the journey. So it’s split into 12 sections each around 50 miles long.
Section ten, for example, runs from Padstow in North Cornwall to Clovelly in North Devon. A sat nav would whizz you between the two along the trunk road in a dour hour and you’d remember nothing of the journey.
Instead the South West 660 winds off the main road along high-hedged lanes to remote spots to find brilliant coastal views and experiences.
One of my best ‘secret’ spots in the WestCountry is along this stretch: Hartland Quay. The narrow road winds down to a windswept bleak headland. The last section of road has such stunning views it feels as if you’re driving out to sea. Eventually it curls round to a dead end behind the Quay’s only building, an old hotel apparently sheltering behind rocks from the storms. Its ‘Wreckers Retreat’ bar displays lists of the shipwrecks that have happened here. It offers a welcome retreat from the howling sea spray, so park and stop for a pint of St Austell beer and a hot pasty.
Alongside are the rubble remains of an ancient stone harbour. It was smashed to bits in a gale more than 100 years ago. Locals have given up trying to rebuild it. The sea here always has the last word.
Find out more at southwest660.com
Words Simon Heptinstall Twitter | Instagram
Photography Gary Holpin Twitter | Instagram
Hartland
