Driving down tomorrow for the most overdue holiday with my wife and daughter after so many cancellations, re-bookings and what not of foreign holidays over the last 18 months.

Reading some insane stuff about the traffic both physically getting in to the county, but seemingly even worse navigating around it. Any Cornish Clarets on here who can prepare me for just how manic it is?! No restaurant availability whatsoever etc? Any tips appreciated as well (already decided I’m going to use the park and ride services for days out in Newquay and St Ives).

Best head to Barley then.

You spelt Barley wrong.....

All tourist spots in the U.K. are going to be the same. Every time I pop on the m6 now the north bound is queued for miles and miles as everyone is trying to get to the lakes or Blackpool or Scotland.

I’d rather not have a holiday than have a holiday that is rammed everywhere you go

Yep, it's the same on the North Yorkshire coast where our kid lives.

jedi_master wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 9:44 am

Driving down tomorrow for the most overdue holiday with my wife and daughter after so many cancellations, re-bookings and what not of foreign holidays over the last 18 months.

Reading some insane stuff about the traffic both physically getting in to the county, but seemingly even worse navigating around it. Any Cornish Clarets on here who can prepare me for just how manic it is?! No restaurant availability whatsoever etc? Any tips appreciated as well (already decided I’m going to use the park and ride services for days out in Newquay and St Ives).

Getting into Cornwall is hit and miss at the best of times, no motorway, essentially just a couple of A roads with most of the traffic on the A30. At least you’re not travelling on a Friday or Saturday so hopefully won’t get the worse of it!

By the way, I was down in Cornwall t'other week for a work related matter. The problem is that everyone wants to go to the same old popular places, like Newquay and St Ives etc, as mentioned above, and it's the same elsewhere, North Yorkshire = Whitby/Scarborough.

we were there last week with our two kids.

St Ives and Newquay will be heaving. Just avoid them. Perranporth was packed as well.

Try to avoid getting there on Fri or Sat AM. Coming back we left at 3PM on Sat and had a clear run

Where are you staying and what do you like doing ? I'll give you some suggestions

jedi_master wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 9:44 am

Driving down tomorrow for the most overdue holiday with my wife and daughter after so many cancellations, re-bookings and what not of foreign holidays over the last 18 months.

Reading some insane stuff about the traffic both physically getting in to the county, but seemingly even worse navigating around it. Any Cornish Clarets on here who can prepare me for just how manic it is?! No restaurant availability whatsoever etc? Any tips appreciated as well (already decided I’m going to use the park and ride services for days out in Newquay and St Ives).

I was in Bude two weeks ago. The traffic getting down to Cornwall was absolutely disgraceful. The drive took me 13 hours from Durham.

On the way back we set off at 5am and it was much better.

Avoid driving past bristol at all costs

Not been to Cornwall in over 30 years although that will shortly come to ahead as my daughter is moving to St Mawes on Monday

Newcastleclaret93 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:09 am

I was in Bude two weeks ago. The traffic getting down to Cornwall was absolutely disgraceful. The drive took me 13 hours from Durham.

On the way back we set off at 5am and it was much better.

Avoid driving past bristol at all costs

Not just the traffic the weather is no better than East Lancashire. 3* hotel in St Mawes charges £600.00 plus £25 each for breakfast a night, I could have a week in lanzarote with accommodation and air fares for that price

I hope not, I'm hoping to spend a day or 2 there in ylthe next day or 2.
They better not rin out of food, I'm a hungry man!

Top Claret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:14 am

Not just the traffic the weather is no better than East Lancashire. 3* hotel in St Mawes charges £600.00 plus £25 each for breakfast a night, I could have a week in lanzarote with accommodation and air fares for that price

I agree, a week in Bude cost me more than a trip to Bali next year.

I have lived in Cornwall for over 30 years now, happy to suggest places to visit etc. Where are you staying?

I wouldn’t bother. Overpriced load of rubbish. Rather have a week in Kabul

Probably or should I say I hope once the children are back to school everywhere will ease off. A friend mentioned they’d planned some walks in Scotland starting at Inverness but the place is rammed everywhere with camper vans.

You need to lower your holiday ambitions, we had five nights in Watford for £375.

We have a static at Mother Ivey’s Bayb near the beach and spend most of the summer trailing back and forth. Admittedly we don’t get on the motorway until Exeter but we do travel the length of the A30 and provided you avoid week-end traffic you should be fine. We have noticed very little increase in travel going mid-week. As stated above stay clear of the obvious places - I’d add Padstow to that list - and you should be fine. We haven’t found it much worse than any other year although you may take longer to get served due to staff shortages.

A couple of people who i work with have come back from Portugal in the last couple off weeks and said there is close to no Brits in the resorts at all . PCR tests come at a price which most think twice about i would say .

One of the lads who "was" going to Portugal for the Irish game out of Belfast was going to have to pay £254 for tests there and back but in the South with an EU cert it's free , now he is stuffed as he got the Vaccine in the North .

Re driving in Cornwall, be wary of relying entirely on a sat-nav. You will be taken down some incredibly tight roads which have pretty much no passing places. I recently went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan and had no more than a few inches either side of me for 11 miles! Stick to main roads where possible even if it takes you a few minutes more. Roads which are popular to get to places will have passing-points and aren’t much different from say driving on small roads in the Dale’s. Hope this helps.

I was in St Ives last week. Only slightly busier than normal, I’d say.

Getting there - I’ve never done the Park & Ride, but you can’t go wrong with the train from St Erth. Nice journey, can stop off at Carbis Bay if you like. If you’re driving there, head for Trenwith car park & download the Just Park app before you go. Traffic was fine around St Ives, but I’d imagine the car park fills up fast so get there early if you’re driving.

Restaurants - I tried booking in April and the popular ones were all booked up so I gave up and decided on beach BBQ’s. A fair few restaurants were closed due to Covid so probably would have had my bookings cancelled anyway. A couple of places do walk-ins:

Talay Thai on the harbour, Beer & Bird (craft beer & chicken burgers) on Fore Street behind harbour, and West (pizza) on Porthmeor beach - try that at sunset. Expect a wait/waiting list at all of them though - so get there early & they take your details and call you back.

Covid - be careful, my sister was there the week before me and had her holiday cut short when all 5 got covid. We wore masks in all the busy streets & sanitised regularly - now on second week of holiday elsewhere but being equally careful to make sure we can make Liverpool!

SherbornePhil wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:31 am

Re driving in Cornwall, be wary of relying entirely on a sat-nav. You will be taken down some incredibly tight roads which have pretty much no passing places. I recently went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan and had no more than a few inches either side of me for 11 miles! Stick to main roads where possible even if it takes you a few minutes more. Roads which are popular to get to places will have passing-points and aren’t much different from say driving on small roads in the Dale’s. Hope this helps.

Had that a few times in Cornwall, even more fun after dark!

SherbornePhil wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:31 am

Re driving in Cornwall, be wary of relying entirely on a sat-nav. You will be taken down some incredibly tight roads which have pretty much no passing places. I recently went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan and had no more than a few inches either side of me for 11 miles! Stick to main roads where possible even if it takes you a few minutes more. Roads which are popular to get to places will have passing-points and aren’t much different from say driving on small roads in the Dale’s. Hope this helps.

I can second this!! Some nerve wracking travels.

Go to Pembrokeshire

Much quieter and very similar

Marney&Mee wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:09 am

we were there last week with our two kids.

St Ives and Newquay will be heaving. Just avoid them. Perranporth was packed as well.

Try to avoid getting there on Fri or Sat AM. Coming back we left at 3PM on Sat and had a clear run

Where are you staying and what do you like doing ? I'll give you some suggestions

Staying at an Air BnB in St Mawgan (between Newquay and Padstow roughly, couple of miles from Mawgan Porth beach).

Booked a few things for us to see (Tintagel Castle, Eden Project) but mainly we just want to try and chill out after a crap couple of years. Sounds like that might be difficult! Definitely want a couple of beach days, have read that Kynance Cove is apparently a must do in terms of that so will try and fit that in if I can see a day with decent tide times.

As a purely Sat Nav driver (it’s an area of the country I’ve never driven in, used to go as a kid with my parents) I am really not looking forward to the roads mentioned above! Having checked where we are staying on Google Maps it’s hedges up to the sides of the single file road pretty much the entire way off the A30 to the house!

jedi_master wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:43 am

Staying at an Air BnB in St Mawgan (between Newquay and Padstow roughly, couple of miles from Mawgan Porth beach).

Booked a few things for us to see (Tintagel Castle, Eden Project) but mainly we just want to try and chill out after a crap couple of years. Sounds like that might be difficult! Definitely want a couple of beach days, have read that Kynance Cove is apparently a must do in terms of that so will try and fit that in if I can see a day with decent tide times.

As a purely Sat Nav driver (it’s an area of the country I’ve never driven in, used to go as a kid with my parents) I am really not looking forward to the roads mentioned above! Having checked where we are staying on Google Maps it’s hedges up to the sides of the single file road pretty much the entire way off the A30 to the house!

If its a must do, then it will be rammed

Best bet is to get to the beaches early, and I mean early, if for no other reason than parking

Why would anyone drive there ?

Flights start from about £35 each way from Manchester and even less from Birmingham. Even now for the bank holiday weekend at the end of the month, you can fly down on Thursday for £40.

Tribesmen wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:30 am

One of the lads who "was" going to Portugal for the Irish game out of Belfast was going to have to pay £254 for tests there and back but in the South with an EU cert it's free , now he is stuffed as he got the Vaccine in the North .

Our kid's work takes him all over Europe, and he's yet to pay more than €60 for a PCR test. I think the Govt here in the UK wants to keep the cost high in order to dissuade people from holidaying abroad, so they spend their money here in ripoff UK. I'm sure they could stop the blatant profiteering if they wanted to.

People have been doing a lot of wild camping up here and leaving the place in a right mess,when some have left,they have just upped sticks and left everything..tents, sleeping bags,fires,broken glass,food,...roll on when they can all f**k off abroad again.

We had a lovely 10 days in Devon at start of school holidays. Yes it was busy, beaches particularly on nicer days, and general traffic and parking certainly worse than when we have been before, but other than that we had a normal holiday. We managed walk in meals in decent pubs and cafes, I guess the gastro places were booked up weeks in advance but not really an issue for us with our kids under 6. We didn't regret it one bit and much less stressful than booking a foreign holiday this year with all the covid uncertainty and potential extra costs around that.

Try to plan ahead given how busy it will be, and enjoy it.

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:59 am

Why would anyone drive there ?

Flights start from about £35 each way from Manchester and even less from Birmingham. Even now for the bank holiday weekend at the end of the month, you can fly down on Thursday for £40.

But then they'll be stuck in one place without a car. Public transport in't very good in the rural south-west and they won't find a hire car for love nor money. Also, taxis are expensive and few and far between.

Billy Balfour wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:04 am

But then they'll be stuck in one place without a car. Public transport in't very good in the rural south-west and they won't find a hire car for love nor money. Also, taxis are expensive and few and far between.

We got our kids on our bikes as soon as they could

Doing Mont St Michel on bikes is a million times less stressful than doing it in a car

Get a good base, and you can see stuff even when its completely rammed

I should add that even though I said parking was much worse than before, with a bit a patience and flexibility we managed to park at every single place we visited, never had to give up and go elsewhere. I can't imagine Cornwall would be different to Devon. There's only so many camping spots and beds in both counties, yes there may be some opportunistic new lettings this year but if in normal summer the place is 85% full in school holidays and this year it's 95% (for sake of argument), the difference isn't that massive to make that much practical difference. Its August. It will be busy. It always is.

Billy Balfour wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:04 am

But then they'll be stuck in one place without a car. Public transport in't very good in the rural south-west and they won't find a hire car for love nor money. Also, taxis are expensive and few and far between.

I am sure someone capable of getting to the Cornwall area can manage to sort a hire car or bikes if required.

Not for me holidaying in the UK. Poor weather, expensive, rubbish food, poor quality seaside hotels and to many people.

Spent July in Lanzarote with temps of 25oC every day had a fit to fly covid test cost £25.00 and then went on the 2-8 test on UK arrival at a cost of £92. Some great deals in Europe at the moment if you do your research more than covers the extra costs of covid

Why travel the length of the Country - look around you!
The Ribble Valley/Pendle area have hills and dales to rival anywhere in this country and the coast is less than an hour away.
Lots of good accommodation available as well!

Any of the Canary Islands are the place to be - fabulous landscapes (?) and fabulous food (?). Alternatively, you can stick a needle through your nipples.....pretty much the same effect.

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:14 am

I am sure someone capable of getting to the Cornwall area can manage to sort a hire car or bikes if required.

You sound pritty clueless to me. Do you have any idea how much car hire cost in August?

Top Claret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:25 am

You sound pritty clueless to me. Do you have any idea how much car hire cost in August?

pritty ? you sound thick as **** as well as skint

So.........it didn't leak from the Wuhan lab the finger of suspicion is well and truly pointing at the Cornish tourist board.

Get yourself on a plane to a nice, sunny spot. Far better value for money, better weather and less hassle!

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:14 am

I am sure someone capable of getting to the Cornwall area can manage to sort a hire car or bikes if required.

Capable? No need whatsoever for the arsey attitude.

I was only giving a bit of advice. You mentioned flying to Cornwall. Like I said, it's very busy, and they will struggle to find a hire car. Also, the bike hire places are rammed too - even in places that aren't near the Camel Trail etc. I do know what I'm talking about - we have a business in Cornwall, and I'm down there on a regular basis throughout the year.

All the people who voted for Brexit complaining about having to wait because of staff shortages.

Billy Balfour wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:54 am

Capable? No need whatsoever for the arsey attitude.

I was only giving a bit of advice. You mentioned flying to Cornwall. Like I said, it's very busy, and they will struggle to find a hire car. Also, the bike hire places are rammed too - even in places that aren't near the Camel Trail etc. I do know what I'm talking about - we have a business in Cornwall, and I'm down there on a regular basis throughout the year.

Wasn't meant in an arsey way, still you got a like from gutless for your effort so not all bad.

Just picked a random date 3 weeks a away for a week and offered all sorts of cars from £30 a day or under £200 for a week on Europcar website.

We were in N.Wales a few weeks ago and the beaches were busier than you'd normally expect but it was that hot spell we had and we just moved down the beach to a quieter part. However, away from the beaches everything was very quiet. Little theme park - no queues, down stairs in a castle/home - us and 2 guides, play area - 5 children in, the biggest queue we saw was driving past McDonalds. But N.Wales isn't as popular as Cornwall today.

We were also in Devon a couple of months ago, not many cottages left and none that didn't require a mortgage for a week away, so we stopped in a Premier Inn for a week which was cheaper and with meals. Devon was busy but apart from Paignton we managed to park everywhere. The impression I got from other guests, and from people on other FB groups, is that some people were struggling to come to terms with holidaying in the UK. Not realising you might need to book a table for breakfast, or wait until other people are served, or book kids activities, and were pretty horrible with staff at times.

Devon and Cornwall are always murder to drive to during the holidays. I'm also in full agreement with a warning about the narrow roads. Some of them are perilous.

Mind how you go Jedi and enjoy your holiday.

jedi_master wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:43 am

Staying at an Air BnB in St Mawgan (between Newquay and Padstow roughly, couple of miles from Mawgan Porth beach).

Booked a few things for us to see (Tintagel Castle, Eden Project) but mainly we just want to try and chill out after a crap couple of years. Sounds like that might be difficult! Definitely want a couple of beach days, have read that Kynance Cove is apparently a must do in terms of that so will try and fit that in if I can see a day with decent tide times.

As a purely Sat Nav driver (it’s an area of the country I’ve never driven in, used to go as a kid with my parents) I am really not looking forward to the roads mentioned above! Having checked where we are staying on Google Maps it’s hedges up to the sides of the single file road pretty much the entire way off the A30 to the house!

I'd avoid Padstow as mentioned. Worth hiring bikes (in advance) from one of the Wadebridge companies...and cycle to and visit Bodmin Jail.
Eden Project was great
Have a look at Hayle and Gwithian beaches
Surfing lesson at Gwithian beach ?
Mackerel fishing from Rock
Lands end a waste of time
Canoeing on the River Fowey (not with Alan Partridge)

SherbornePhil wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:31 am

Re driving in Cornwall, be wary of relying entirely on a sat-nav. You will be taken down some incredibly tight roads which have pretty much no passing places. I recently went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan and had no more than a few inches either side of me for 11 miles! Stick to main roads where possible even if it takes you a few minutes more. Roads which are popular to get to places will have passing-points and aren’t much different from say driving on small roads in the Dale’s. Hope this helps.

Agree with this..... Ended up nearly burning my clutch out when I had to reverse about half a mile up a 1 in 4 hill with inches each side.

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:59 am

Wasn't meant in an arsey way, still you got a like from gutless for your effort so not all bad.

Blimey, eh. Just what is your problem? Fancy behaving like this on a thread about holidays. Mind you, you do the same on nearly every thread you post on, so I'll leave it at that.

Ah the good old staycation and people said you were an idiot if you went abroad for your holidays