Today’s ride out was going to involve a lot of motorway miles, we were planning on getting down to the South West and unfortunately there’s only really one way of getting there quickly and that’s the M5.

We left Bob’s house after our usual pre bike ride cuppa courtesy of Bob’s better half Lynn, we had arranged to meet up with Bonzo and his nipper the other side of Bristol at Gordano services.

When we arrived at the services and met up with Bonzo and Emily we headed straight inside and we were all quite surprised at the prices and quality of the food on offer, we were going to head off and find somewhere else for breakfast due to most motorway service stations serving very bad food at expensive prices but the food here look good enough to eat!

South West National Parks

After enjoying our breakfast we jumped back onto the bikes and carried on heading south down the M5 towards our 1st destination – Dartmoor National Park.

Once we had run out of M5 we carried on down the A38 and then thankfully after all those motorway miles we turned off the main roads and through Bovey Tracey before turning onto the B3387 and suddenly the landscape changed from boring to beautiful as we crossed into Dartmoor National Park, the scenery is spectacular and it’s easy to see why people fall in love with Dartmoor.  We eventually arrived in Princetown where the High Moorland Visitor Centre is located.

The High Moorland Visitor Centre, Dartmoor

The High Moorland Visitor Centre, Dartmoor

Once we found somewhere we could take our evidence photos Bob decided it was cake time so we parked up at the nearby The Old Police Station in Yelverton and enjoyed some cake, tea and amazing pasties!

Our next destination was Exmoor National Park so off we set back the way we had just come along the B3387 following the river Dart until we hit the A38 and again found ourselves back on the M5 but heading north. Thankfully we only did a few miles on the M5 as we soon turned off onto the A361 and then things got even better as we turned right onto the outstanding A396 all the way to our final park of the day in Dulverton.

Exmoor National Park Centre

Once again we managed to get our evidence photos taken outside the national park shop in Dulverton before heading back towards the M5 and the start of our journey home.

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South West National Parks
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The High Moorland Visitor Centre, Dartmoor
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Exmoor National Park Centre
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Websites:
Grim Riders Web Site
Grim Riders British National Parks Ride 2009 Google Map