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It's been a few years since I regularly visited this area near St Austell. Can anyone advise me if the A38 or A30 is going to be my best bet heading down to Pentewan Sands on Saturday (yes it's a Bank Holiday weekend so no route is going to be good)?

I'm really looking forward to my first visit to Pentewan Sands - especially having been a regular visitor to the area (Gorran Haven) in the past, but not for a number of years. The kids are nearly as excited as I am

definitely travel overnight if you can, its total gridlock once you get on the A30, i will only ever drive there over night, and leave about 6ish on the saturday night to return home

have a nice time tho, cornwall is lovely

We went last June and used the A38 and it was ok.

AllanD

Most people aim to be on site at the time they can pitch or earlier, so up till about 4, both roads are seriously backed up.

We've found that this is where having kids works out. Because, despite our best intentions, we are always late setting off from home (Derbyshire) so we miss alot of the heavy trafic and arrive on site at around 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening, unless we get stuck behind the convoys of caravans crawling over Bodmin.

last year the roads were backed up til 11 at night, bank holiday week on the saturday, sheer volume of traffic and major roadworks on the A30. 

Would defo drive down over night if you can

There are no road works on A30 from Exeter as far as Innis Downs roundabout (hunction with A391).  This is the start of the major road improvement to dual the Goss Moor - partially open, to be complete for the start of the summer hols in July.  Depending on time of day, can still expect traffic to be backed up before Innis Downs.

There is a major road improvement started on A38 at Dobwalls - this is absolute nightmare currently, and thats before all you guys had our way...

Best to route via A30, then A391 into St Austell, for Pentewan.

Do it at night if you can.

Have a good journey - the weather here is good, and hope it lasts the weekend.

Thanks for all of the advice - especially to dwjule. We were in St Ives last summer so I remember the A30 works well, but didn't have a clue about the A38 state at the moment.

If possible we'll aim for a very early start, but things don't always work out as planned.