Exmoor

Cheddar Gorge has been called the best road in the country, but I'd never driven it. It's in Somerset and so is the Ariel factory so after a Nomad check-up we carried on to Cheddar and intended to go on through Exmoor to finish at Croyde Bay on the Devon coast where, perhaps, the surf would be up.

No matter how much we plan, which isn't much, a road trip always throws a glitch that knocks us off course. So I expect the unexpected, but I never expected this. The map shows our planned route in purple and our actual route in red. Perhaps you can guess.

Cheddar to Barnstaple route for GPS

It started well. We got to the Gorge while there was still some mist in the air and before the crowds arrived. The cliffs are dramatic and the road cuts through them with some pleasing curves, there's a chicane, the boom of the exhaust off the rock, sheep on the road and a 30 speed limit. Sheep? perfectly acceptable, 30 limit? now that's sad. It used to be 60, but I suppose the change is understandable because a little later in the day there are people by the coach-load and traffic crawling nose to tail. And apparently at night locals like to recreate the final race from Tokyo Drift. So the Gorge has had its moment as a great driving road. But it would be a good spot for a hill climb, perhaps a relay - Nomad up, zorb ball down.

After we'd driven it (more than once, just to make sure) we stopped to refuel and that's where the universe showed its sense of humour. I couldn't get the fuel cap off. So back we went to the factory on what was surely the most economical drive a Nomad has ever done. The tank was near empty before I started and I arrived on fumes. Ariel, as usual, could not have been more helpful and fixed it immediately, filling the tank and sending us on our way. But we had lost too much time to go back to Cheddar and continue our planned route so we improvised and took a short cut.

We would have gone through Wells and Glastonbury because they are pretty towns, particularly Wells, and it's fun to drive the so unsubtle Nomad through such genteel places. Instead we cut through to Langley just before Huish Champflower, then on to Upton and over Windway Hill before turning right towards Dulverton. Just the other side of Bury we crossed the Haddeo River at a ford next to a pretty stone bridge. The bridge is narrow and I believe meant only for pedestrians, but while we were there a local who didn't want to get his car wet drove over it so perhaps that rule is open to interpretation. Of course we drove the ford, which is quite wide, not too deep and very refreshing in the Nomad. Then on to Dulverton and alongside the river Barle until we crossed at Marsh Bridge, climbed Windball Hill and kept climbing, up through the woods to the top where the trees gave way to open fields and we were finally on Ridge Road.

Never mind Cheddar Gorge, Ridge Road should be near the top of anyone's list of English drives. It runs along the top of Exmoor's southern escarpment and to the right is classic moorland while to the left is a view stretching across the whole of Devon. The road runs on and on, and unlike Exmoor's cousin Dartmoor that limits you to 40, it has a 60 speed limit. The day was fine and sunny and there wasn't another car to trouble us.

We passed through Withypool and Exford then drove across the top of the moors past Dunkery Hill, Exmoor's highest point. Then down, and down and down on a brake-testingly steep and narrow winding road clinging to a hill that rose sharply to the left and fell sharply to the right, until we reached the bottom at Pool Bridge. This is one of those magical spots that you can fool yourself into believing only you know about, until you meet the convoy of camper vans heading for the local campsite. Then we were back up onto the moors before dropping again to Porlock.

Porlock is famous for the steepest A road in the country, which would be good if it wasn't so busy. We needed to climb the hill on the way out and fortunately there is an alternative that is often empty because it charges a toll. But it is worth the price because this road gave us a clear run, snaking up the hill and trading steepness for hairpins, and it has been used as a rally stage. The toll, by the way, is paid half way up the hill by putting money in an honesty box; I rather like the idea of rally drivers flinging it in as they drive past.

At the top of the hill we stopped to reconsider our route. We had intended to continue along the coast to the Valley of the Rocks but it would be dark before we got there so we gave in gracefully and set off for Barnstaple where we were staying the night. Our run there back across Exmoor, as the sun turned the moorland gold, was a fine end to the day.

There are films of Cheddar and Exmoor here.