That's the opening line to the R&B classic Route 66; written and originally recorded in 1946 by Nat King Cole and, according to a Wikipedia list, covered by over fifty other singers and bands down the years.

Route 66 is the US road revered by motorcyclists and tour companies even organise trips for riders – 'more than three thousand miles all the way', despite the fact that the road is now a shadow of its former route, as it's been chopped up by Interstate (motorway) construction and other development.

Big countries can build big roads. In France they have the Route Napoleon and the Autoroute Soleil and in Australia The Great Ocean Road often tops the motorcycle ride wish-list. But in the little UK, whilst we have a catalogue of great rides and routes, our highway history categorises roads with the familiar A and B numbers. Our road names cannot be described as romantic, although Billy Bragg had a shot at immortalising the A13 from London to Southend on a session for John Peel back in the day, replacing the Route 66 names with a string of towns that reach out east from London.

This is maybe why the tourist authorities promoting North Devon and North Cornwall decided in 1988 to rename a length of the A39 that traverses their coastline, running from Barnstaple to a place called Fraddon just west of Newquay 'The Atlantic Highway'.  I'd experienced parts of the road in a car, but always wanted to sample its bendy and scenic pleasures from the seat of a motorcycle.

I picked up the A39 in Bridgewater (Somerset) because I knew this section of the road skirted the Quantock Hills and Exmoor before heading over the county boundary into Devon. Also a mate told me about a small village on the Somerset coast, Watchet, that was worth a detour.

Even though it is designated as an A road, and one of the signed routes to the popular seaside resort of Minehead, the first miles in the shade of the forest dropping away from the northern slopes of the Quantocks, wasn't much more than a country lane. Good riding through, bend after bend, and at the village of West Quantoxhead the road opened to a vista across a wide valley towards Exmoor.

I took the small road towards Watchet and mooched around the harbour in the sunshine. It's a tidal working place with a boatyard and proper boats, as opposed to the more up market craft that fetch up in marinas. I noticed a road followed the coast before linking up with my route near Dunster, a 'medieval' village with its castle, an imperious brown stone monument atop a wooded hill.

The road then runs on to Porlock and the hill famous for its 1 in 4 or 25% gradients through very tight bends. The warning signs advise caravans and those of nervous disposition to follow the alternative toll road (£1 for motorcycles). But how can a rider pass up the chance of confirming riding skill on first gear corners? - I should have retraced the route and ridden the toll road too, just for the fun of it.

Porlock isn't the only steep and wonderfully scenic stretch, Countisbury hill, another 1 in 4, that drops into the tourist haven of Lynton in Devon, provides views of coastal valleys that encourage a slow ride and camera stops. I pulled into one of the parking bays dug into the hillside, and remembered to leave the bike in gear before stepping off. A minor weather phenomenon created a white cloud that drifted like a summer phantom across the hill, while the sky around retained its endless blue.

Before this point is reached the A39 runs along a moorland ledge at the edge of Exmoor. The sea is to your right and to the left pasture grazed by ponies with the landscape dropping away into dark wooded hidden valleys that were made mysterious, dangerous and famous by the 19th Century novel Lorna Doone.

A rider, me anyway, is caught in two minds across here as the twists and dips of the road, with open site lines on the bends, encourages a bit of pushing on for the nine or ten miles along this Exmoor road.

After a steep climb out of Lynton the road swings inland towards the larger Devon towns of Barnstaple and Bideford; and it's at this point that the road officially becomes The Atlantic Highway. Although more highway-like than the earlier sections it's also a wider and less interesting stretch. Though if you're in touring mode it's easy to detour and follow other A and B roads that hug the coast through the resorts of Combe Martin, Ilfracombe and Woolacombe.

The Highway heads south towards Bude and Newquay: surf cities. And Padstow, now a resort made foodie famous in the image of chef Rick Stein. It's good moderately fast riding in midweek with easy overtakes of the inevitable farm traffic and tourists who are in no hurry. Most vehicle traffic across Devon and Cornwall chooses the A30 trunk road straight down the middle.

I turned off the A39 at Bude and tracked along the shoreline through Widemouth Bay, a scene straight out of west coast USA, with surfer vans and a smattering of VW campers amidst the cars with surf boards on roofs and the surf schools who have set up with their racks of wet suits. The sun warms the beach and bodies; but what's missing on a high temperature sultry afternoon is surf. The only discernible wind is slight and slipping off the land from the east creating ripples on the sea, but no waves possible while these lovely high pressure weather patterns hover over us.

Moving on from the bay, the coast is steep and dramatic, and the roads slow and very narrow traversing coastal gorges. The little bays at Millook, Crackington Haven and Boscastle are splendid in their isolation amongst the cliffs. Carry on south hugging the coast and all the North Cornwall (ex) fishing villages such as Tintagel and Port Isaac can capture your attention and appetite, as they seem to offer a standard (weight gaining) fare of pasties and cream teas.

Make Newquay a destination and you can finish this Atlantic ride by spinning along the B3276 from Padstow to the UK's surfing capital. Time didn't allow me to head this far south; but I will log it for the next time I plan to motor west, on to St Ives and Lands End.

I began this ride in Bristol, and with an early(ish) start it yielded a relaxed mix of riding over the summer daylight hours. If you take your bike touring or even have a few days break you can detour, park up and enjoy the tiny bays, the grander coastal scenery or even walk a slice of the precipitous SW Coastal path; which I did the following day.

John Newman
for Wemoto News