What time would you set out?

Got to drive down from Congleton to Folkestone on Friday night, in preparation for a ferry on Sturday morning.
Given the choice, what time would you set out?

My current plan is to start out at about 6pm, so I'll hopefully be after the worst of rush-hour. Problem with that is, if there are any traffic difficulties I could be arriving at the hotel very late (although I did ensure I picked one with 24h check-in). Google maps time is 4h30.

Good plan, or bad? Should I set out earlier and cope with rush hour? Should I try to take a half day at work? (although that would probably end up with rush-hour in the worst possible place - M25.)

Go at 5pm, then you only need to deal with M6 traffic, which isn't so bad going South at that time is it? By the time you hit the saaath you should have missed most of the traffic and be in time to enjoy the balmy weather down here

did this run last year, except we left from bolton, my god what a dog of a journey, there were (after M6) so many sets of roadworks, all done at night to 'LESSEN' delays, all sections down to one lane, made the ferry with 20mins to spare, we had planned for a gentle trip down, turned into pedal to the metal, that was a friday in july.

have a good trip

I would plan to take an half day at work, it is impossable to predict the M25 on a Friday, usually from 1530 thro till 1930 there can be several mile queue to the Dartford Toll bridge, I would er on the side of caution Also there are some roadworks on the M1 from just below Luton to the M25 junction which can also cause problems

Take the whole day off and then go the scenic route and avoid all the motorways you possibly can. Arrive on time, refreshed and stress free.

Originally Posted by Alfaspeed

Take the whole day off and then go the scenic route and avoid all the motorways you possibly can. Arrive on time, refreshed and stress free.

As wot Alfaspeed said !
I'd take the day off ...plot a scenic drive...avoid motoways add a few stops (places of interest perhaps..)along the way AND enjoy driving your Alfa all the way!

Have a good one.... Bon voyage....

When I drove to Germany a couple of years ago for the World Cup, I set off fairly early from Stockport to Folkstone (about 10am). Managed to avoid any major traffic problems until the M25 but even then it wasn't too bad. Went the Snake Pass/M1 route rather than via M6/Birmingham though - so if you can take the whole/half day off I would recommend it

On a good run I think your looking at 6 hours, to avoid delays from Cannock yo Birmingham you have to be there before 3pm or after 7pm, from yours I'd say that it was about 1hr to there, if you left at 2pm and hit the Brum around 3ish, youd be past by 3:30 and hiting the M25 clockwise around 5:30, unfortunately in the wrong quarter of that car park, allowing 2 hours round to the M20 and a hour from there, I think you'd be supping at the hotel bar by 8:30pm.

But I look forward to driving from Lossiemouth through the tunnel to Eurodisney in January, this will be the 146's second visit to the park, the first was the day after I bought her, but that was 8 years ago and I lived in Germany at the time.

Cheers for the suggestions so far, keep them coming.
I don't think I can get the whole day off, although I might be able to leave a bit early. But I don't want to leave early only to get caught in a massive rush hour traffic jam.
Scenic route is a reasonable idea - except this is the first leg of a 3000 mile 'scenic route'. I'm not sure how much scenic I can take!

What the guys from Darn'Sarf' said. The M1 is pretty chaotic around here, Hemel/Luton, and the M25 is often well choked, but there again, you could strike everything just right.: Bit like betting on the Nags'?

We used to visit some friends in Kingston (London, not Hull) and we used to go after tea on Friday night. It let the traffic round here clear and then we'd be there for 10.30'ish as most of the traffic on the M1 was coming the other way.

There's no right or wrong answer. I'd be tempted to cancel the hotel, go home early and have a snooze then fire down in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Given the current roadworks situation then I'd almost be inclined to go via M40 then anti clockwise on M25.

M1, Dartford bridge and M25/M2 junction are all best avoided on a Fri pm.

I had thought of that plan Rick, but there's going to be a few days of heavy duty driving which have to be done during the day, so I don't want to screw up my sleeping patterns like that.
Also, the Saturday is my wedding anniversary, so while we may be planning an -ahem- early night, at the hotel in Reims, we don't want it to be that early!

The more people are saying about how crappy it is down south (obviously, as a Northerner, I already knew this ) the more I'm thinking my current plan is correct. I'll be reaching the South late enough to hopefully miss it all.
Will have the traffic module up and running on the Tom Tom too, so if there is anything terrible, I may be able to route around it.

Originally Posted by k3lvc

Given the current roadworks situation then I'd almost be inclined to go via M40 then anti clockwise on M25.

M1, Dartford bridge and M25/M2 junction are all best avoided on a Fri pm.

That's an interesting suggestion - Google maps only reckons that route is 7 minutes longer anyway!

Anyone else got any thoughts on this? Any reason to avoid the M40 rather than the M1?

Up to you Bazza - No real answer due to unpredicatable M25.

I do Central Scotland to Dover and then onto South of France most years. I have done the 505 mile trip from home to Dover in 8 hours but it has also taken me 13 hours

Good Luck

Did a very short trip, North a few miles yesterday. Wife said miss the M1, and use the back roads. Did so, passing under a couple of the M1 bridges, where we were able to view traffic heading freely both ways, so she weren't quite correct in her guesstimation, so you could fare well with your plan. Good luck, anyway.:

Originally Posted by bazza

That's an interesting suggestion - Google maps only reckons that route is 7 minutes longer anyway!

Anyone else got any thoughts on this? Any reason to avoid the M40 rather than the M1?

If you've Tom Tom with a Traffic Module then go and sit in the car at 6pm tonight and see what it shows for the 2 routes - sure it's not a Friday but might give you an indication re the effect of roadworks that Google Maps doesn't.

Originally Posted by k3lvc

If you've Tom Tom with a Traffic Module then go and sit in the car at 6pm tonight and see what it shows for the 2 routes - sure it's not a Friday but might give you an indication re the effect of roadworks that Google Maps doesn't.

That's another really good idea! I thought of it myself last night actually, but too late to do so.
Just realised I won't be able to tonight, playing rugby. And tomorrow playing football. Maybe I'll be able to sneak it in at some point though.

Originally Posted by bazza

That's an interesting suggestion - Google maps only reckons that route is 7 minutes longer anyway!

Anyone else got any thoughts on this? Any reason to avoid the M40 rather than the M1?

Heathrow friday PM... whatever could go wrong there???

To avoid having to sit in your car to check on the traffic, use

www.traffic-england.co.uk

You get the delays and motorway matrix signs aswel