01 / MISSION PROFILE
Both Cornish coasts, without fighting the lanes.
The South West rewards vans that stay on the spine roads and park once. Two-night bases, a four-night St Ives anchor and a strict park-above-walk-in rule keep it workable with a baby and Percy aboard. Route planned, not yet driven — this file will gain field notes after the wheels turn.
WORCESTERSHIREEXMOORTINTAGELST IVESROSELANDHOME
03 / JOURNEY LOG
Fourteen days. One unhurried South West arc.
Down the M5 to Exmoor, along the Atlantic coast to Tintagel and Penwith, then back up the south coast through the Roseland, Fowey and Torbay with a Dartmoor finale.
Worcestershire → Minehead
M5 south, then the Exmoor edge. Dunster Castle (NT) sits on the way in, and the site is a fifteen-minute walk from town with the coast path close by.
NIGHTS 1–2 / MINEHEAD C&MCExmoor day
Porlock and Porlock Weir, Selworthy's thatched green, and the twin villages of Lynton and Lynmouth with the water-powered cliff railway between them.
BASE / MINEHEAD C&MCMinehead → Tintagel
The A39 Atlantic Highway. Surf-stop at Croyde or Woolacombe for lunch on the sand, then over the Cornish border to a clifftop pitch above Bossiney Cove.
NIGHTS 3–4 / TREWETHETT FARM C&MCTintagel and Boscastle
The van stays put: the coast path runs past the site, with Tintagel Castle (EH) and its footbridge one way and the NT harbour at Boscastle the other.
BASE / TREWETHETT FARM C&MCTintagel → St Ives
Padstow mid-morning for the harbour and a Camel Trail stroll, then the A30 west past Hayle to the only campsite in St Ives itself, above Porthmeor Beach.
NIGHTS 5–8 / AYR HOLIDAY PARKSt Ives on foot
Ayr's own promise: once pitched, the vehicle never needs to move. Ten minutes down to Porthmeor, the Tate, the harbour and the pasty benchmarking programme.
BASE / AYR HOLIDAY PARKThe Land's End quarter
Sennen's white sand, Land's End itself, then Porthcurno — the Minack Theatre on its cliff and the telegraph beach below — and Mousehole for the evening.
BASE / AYR HOLIDAY PARKWeather-flex day
Intentionally unscheduled — the Skye rule travels. Fair: Kynance Cove and Lizard Point on NT parking. Foul: the Tate, Leach Pottery and a harbourside fish supper.
BASE / AYR HOLIDAY PARKSt Ives → the Roseland
St Michael's Mount first — check the causeway tide times and walk or boat across from Marazion — then east to the rolling quiet of the Roseland peninsula.
NIGHTS 9–10 / VERYAN C&CCRoseland day
St Mawes and its clover-leaf castle (EH), Trelissick garden (NT) via the King Harry chain ferry if its vehicle terms suit, or the Lost Gardens of Heligan inland.
BASE / VERYAN C&CCRoseland → Torbay
The A390 east with a Fowey stop — park at the top, walk the steep streets to the harbour — then across the Tamar into Devon for three nights above the Dart.
NIGHTS 11–13 / HILLHEAD C&MCDartmouth day
The site sits on the Kingswear road: drop to the Dart, cross by ferry and give Dartmouth the full day — castle (EH) at the river mouth, Agatha Christie's Greenway (NT) upstream.
BASE / HILLHEAD C&MCBrixham and Berry Head
The fishing harbour, replica Golden Hind and the lighthouse walk on Berry Head's headland reserve. Pack down slowly; the big legs are done.
BASE / HILLHEAD C&MCTorbay → home
One Dartmoor hour on the way out — Haytor's granite and the open moor — then the A38 and M5 north. Unpack, weigh the lessons, file the field notes.
HOME / WORCESTERSHIRE04 / OPERATIONS BRIEFING
The details that keep the adventure easy.
Treat the four St Ives nights and the clifftop Tintagel pitches as fixed points. Everything scenic around them can flex with weather, naps and the pace of the crew.
PRIMARY PROTOCOLSTAY ON THE SPINE
A30SPINE ROADSLANES
The lane protocol
The South West's trap is the shortcut. Keep the Nebuchadnezzar on the A30, A39, A38 and A390 spine and make final approaches only by campsite directions — Veryan's own instruction is "do not follow SatNav due to narrow lanes." Height barriers are common at Cornish beach car parks; National Trust car parks are the reliable exception with the card. In holiday season, move the van early or late, park once, and let feet, buses and ferries do the honeypots.
BOOKING SEQUENCE
- 01Ayr, St IvesPhone-only booking — secure all four nights first.
- 02Trewethett Farm C&MCThe clifftop pitches go early.
- 03Hillhead C&MCThree Torbay nights above the Dart.
- 04Veryan C&CCRoseland pair — pack levelling ramps, pitches slope.
- 05Minehead C&MC + tidesThe Exmoor opener, and St Michael's Mount causeway times.
VEHICLE PROFILE
5.98M LENGTH
2.98M HEIGHT
2.11M WIDTH
Beach and cove car parks frequently bar anything over 2 metres — check before committing, and trust club arrival directions over the sat-nav every time.
CREW RHYTHM
One major objective per half-day.
The best days leave room for feeds, dog breaks, tide times and unplanned beaches. St Ives day 8 is intentionally unscheduled — protect it.
ROUTE CAUTIONPark above, walk in: Port Isaac, Mousehole, Polperro and Fowey's village cores are no place for a 6-metre van.
Use the signed visitor car parks on the approach roads and walk down. The same rule covers St Ives itself — the van stays at Ayr while feet and buses do the town.
05 / UK ACCESS STACK
The same wallet, pointed south-west.
The permanent seven-membership stack works hardest of all down here: English Heritage's showcase coast, National Trust car parks as the height-barrier answer, and a club-site spine holding three of the five bases. Carry physical cards; admission, booking and parking rules vary by organisation and property.
The showcase coast
This is EH's heartland route: Tintagel Castle and its footbridge, the paired Tudor guns of Pendennis and St Mawes across the Fal, and Dartmouth Castle at the river mouth — all free on the card.
The Mount and the car parks
St Michael's Mount is NT, as are Boscastle harbour, Trelissick and Greenway — but the quiet win is parking: NT car parks at Kynance, the Lizard and along both coasts are the barrier-free option for a 2.98 m van.
The North Devon garden day
RHS Rosemoor at Great Torrington sits just off the day-3 line south — a genuine half-day stop that works with a buggy, and the membership's first proper outing of the trip.
Percy's A30 layer
Cardinham Woods near Bodmin is Forestry England — the parking pass works in England — and the RSPB's Hayle Estuary reserve sits minutes from the A30 on the St Ives approach. Both make ideal decompression stops on transit days.
C&MC + C&CC spine
Three of the five bases are club sites — Minehead, Trewethett Farm and Hillhead (Caravan and Motorhome Club) plus Veryan (Camping and Caravanning Club) — with the CL and CS networks as high-season overflow.
Run the numbers
The complete seven-membership dashboard — coverage, reciprocals and official links — lives on the Journeys page, and the optimiser prices the whole stack against your actual plans.
06 / EXPEDITION TOOLKIT
The cover, the shortcuts and the dog-walk wildcard.
The installed app deck is broad enough to cross-check pitches, navigation and live conditions. Use it as a layered toolkit—not as permission to ignore campsite arrival instructions, signs or local access rules.
INSURANCE / OWNER RECORDAPP INSTALLED
Grove & Dean
Full UK and EU cover, with full UK and EU breakdown assistance—as recorded from your policy information.
- Keep the Grove & Dean iOS app signed in and available.
- Cache the certificate, policy number and claims and breakdown telephone numbers for offline use.
- Before any EU run, re-read the territorial, trip-duration and driver wording in the actual documents.
DOG WALK / FLEX LAYERNO MEMBERSHIP NEEDED
Woodland Trust woods
A useful extra layer for Percy: Woodland Trust woods are free to visit, and its directory can surface short decompression walks around transit days.
- Search near the next fuel, lunch or overnight stop rather than forcing another major attraction into the day.
- Check each wood page for parking, livestock, seasonal work and path conditions.
- Follow local signs and the Trust's responsible dog-walking guidance.
INSTALLED APP DECK
Cross-check, download, then go offline.
01PITCH + PARK
Find the night
CAMC BookingSiteSeekerpark4nightCampercontactStayFreeCampyWikiCampssearchforsitesBrit StopsCampingCard ACSICampernightCampsites.co.ukHipcamp
02MAP + WALK
Navigate on and off road
WazeHiiKEROsmAnd MapsPeakVisorOS MapsOS Locatewhat3wordsOrganic MapsWikiloc
03SOUTH WEST LAYER
Discover the route
South West Coast PathFal River LinksVisit CornwallVisit DevonTide TimesNT Days Out
04UTILITY + EUROPE
Keep the vessel moving
StarlinkUlysaFerryLeShuttleGreen-ZonesFlushRainTodayMeteo-FranceLevel RemotePetrolPricesFlightradar24Club Magazine
FIELD RULEClub arrival directions beat Waze on the final approach. Download OS or OsmAnd mapping before the signal disappears.
07 / DEPARTURE CHECK
Ready the landship.
A short final check now prevents the unglamorous problems from hijacking the first few days.
Canvas clear, locked, verified
Pull the elevating-roof canvas clear, lower, twist-lock and physically check it — every departure, no exceptions.
Weigh the real expedition
Load exactly as you intend to tour and visit a weighbridge. The automatic's 370 kg must absorb crew, Percy, water and every bag — check total and axle weights.
Systems set for transit
Gas bottle off at the internal cupboard shut-off, fresh tank part-filled for arrival, waste and cassette empty, water heater drained down if frost threatens.
Leisure battery green
Battery charged, solar clean and reporting, hook-up cable, adaptors and USB leads aboard. Run the off-grid calculator for the no-hook-up nights.
Restraints rigged
Child seat installation confirmed on the belted travel seats, and Percy's crash-tested harness or crate anchored on the activity deck — Highway Code rule 57.
Cards and cover to hand
Licences, insurance app signed in and cached, C&MC and C&CC membership cards, heritage cards, St Michael's Mount tide times and the Travel Passport checklist run.
OFFICIAL RESOURCE DESK
Recheck before departure.
08 / OPEN MAP
Browse the South West from home base.
The map opens on Cornwall and Devon at peninsula scale. Pan, zoom and search freely — this is a planning surface, not a fixed route.
EXPEDITION FIELD / SOUTH WEST ENGLANDOpen full Google Maps ↗