12 May 22, 2022The Sunday TimesTravel UK
T
he drama of
a drive to
southwest England
usually goes
something
like this. Act I: breeze through
Friday rush hour on holiday
euphoria (“It’s OK, we’re still
moving!”). Act II: sullen
silence in motorway traffic
jams (“Why the blazes aren’t
we moving?”). Act III: check
in, crotchety, after transit time
that could have taken you to
a Sicilian beach (“Cancel
tomorrow, I’m not moving”).
The error is obvious: too
many miles on too many
motorways. Enter the South
West 660. Inspired by the
North Coast 500 in Scotland,
the new touring route takes
a bunch of back roads and
roadside attractions to create
a marketable road trip, from
the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset
via Land’s End in Cornwall and
Woolacombe in north Devon
to Minehead in Somerset.
Those behind it — three
Devon residents with a
background in hospitality —
aim to provide a four-wheel
equivalent to the South West
Coast Path and encourage
tourism out of season.
Mark Godfrey, one of the
co-founders and a former
managing director of the 15-
property Harbour Hotels, says:
Don’t quite have
the legs for the
coastal path? The
new South West
660 lets you drive
it instead. James
Stewart tackles
the first section
“I live in Dartmouth — I
wouldn’t want to inflict [the
summer traffic of ] the North
Coast 500 on anyone. By going
outside July and August there’s
a better travel experience for
the consumer, and sustained
business for the hospitality
trade and its staff.”
This being a private
venture, there is no official
signage. Instead a website
sketches your journey in 12
sections of about 50 miles
each. It also details sights,
activities, restaurants and
small hotels along the way,
with links to partners
including the restaurateur
Michael Caines, the Pig hotels
and St Austell Brewery.
Pay a £15 membership fee
and you’ll receive route
notes and AA-produced
GPS Exchange files for the
navigation app Guru Maps,
plus hotel discounts, upgrades
and perks such as fizz at
check-in. By this time next year
parallel routes will have been
created for cyclists (less traffic)
and motorhomes (wider).
I’m taking the first three
sections of the South West
660 to Exeter, and hope to
rediscover a coastline I know
well. A UK equivalent of the
Highway One in California,
the route tours the much-
mythologised region of comelyCOASTAL
HIGHWAY
THE