Royal Blue Run - 19-21 June 2026
The Coaches and Routes
Every year the Trust organises a long-distance run for preserved coaches to re-trace authentic routes once covered by the extensive Royal Blue and Associated Motorways networks across Great Britain. Each year is different and we've travelled to Aberdeen, Margate, Penzance, Treherbet and many places in between. This year's coach entries are shown here together with an outline of the proposed route. A more detailed schedule will be provided once plans are finalised in early June.
The coaches create a magnificient spectacle and a reminder of the pre-motorway era of luxury coach travel. The coaches are a credit to the owners who have restored and care for them, and who take part at their own expense giving imense pleasure to all along the way.e
Coach entries are warmly invited - owners can enter online here
or by completing and returning a downloadable Word or pdf form.
Further information about the Royal Blue and Associated Motorways Run 2026 can be found here.
2026 Entries, so far, include:
Route outline
Day 1: Basingstoke to Taunton
Day 2: Taunton to Barnstaple
Day 3: Barnstaple to Yeovil
Read about the origins of these Royal Blue routes below
Once again our Royal Blue & Associated Motorways long distance coach run brings the coaching spectacle to familiar places via authentic routes. Many roads have not been travelled by the preserved coaches previously (or, at least, only with a different perspective travelling in the opposite direction!).
Day 1
19 June 2026
When the main Royal Blue route westwards from Basingstoke to the South West was introduced, it used the A30 trunk road, the one numbered in 1923, that is, which went through Overton, Whitchurch and Andover, before heading to Salisbury. Even when the A30 was rerouted via Stockbridge in 1933, the coaches continued to use the old route, then the B3400 and A343.
However, from 1967, a direct non-stop service was introduced from London to Weymouth, using the ‘new’ A30. This will be taken from Basingstoke for the first time on Day 1 of the Royal Blue Run 2026. It follows old Roman roads for much of the way from Basingstoke to Salisbury via Stockbridge, and between Blandford and Dorchester, before reaching Weymouth.
From Weymouth, the Associated Motorways route to Bristol will be followed as far as Yeovil, and then (one of several) routes followed by Royal Blue coaches from there to Taunton.
Day 2
20 June 2026
Day 2 follows the Associated Motorways route to Exeter along the A38, and then along the old A30 to Okehampton. From there the late 1960s' route to Bude will also feature for the first time in a Royal Blue run. Coaches will return from Cornwall into Devon at Hartland continuing on to Barnstaple following the North Devon coast route passing Clovelly and through Bideford.
(Bideford is significant in 'National' history as the riverside Southern National depot became the main works for Western and Southern National during WW2 when Plymouth Laira had to be evacuated).
Day 3
21 June 2026
Continuing through North Devon from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe on Day 3 the route parallels the narrow gauge Lynton & Barnstaple Railway before running into Lynton. The coaches will return into Somerset at Minehead then head to Bridgwater, with a short run to Blue Anchor and the West Somerset Railway, although the original through route is impassable due to subsidence. From Bridgwater, the final section is to Yeovil from where coaches will disperse home at the end of Day 3.
The eastward journey from Ilfracombe through Lynton, into Blue Anchor, and via Somerton gives a new Royal Blue Run perspective even in 2026, the event's 25th year!
