Driving to gatwick

kirsty000

Im driving to gatwick soon from the north and not sure if to go on the m25 or miss this out of the journey. Ive got sat nav and it calculates its about 3 hours going on the m25 but 3 and half hours missing out the m25. I will be hitting the m25 around 10am just wondering how busy it gets

thescouselander

I wouldn't have thought the M25 would be too bad at 10 am, it all depends on if there have been any accidents.

richardw

thescouselander wrote: »

I wouldn't have thought the M25 would be too bad at 10 am, it all depends on if there have been any accidents.

Bad except for Sundays, which are less bad.

It is known as the worlds biggest car park for a reason.

mrposhman

richardw wrote: »

Bad except for Sundays, which are less bad.

It is known as the worlds biggest car park for a reason.

I usually drive on their every other weekends travelling for football and I've never really found the M25 as bas as everyone seems to think it is.

Theres not really that many other direct routes to Gatwick from the North as its literally just off the M25.

Where in the North are you coming from? Are you hitting London from the M1, A1, M40, M4?? It all depends how far your travelling round it.

You could always use one of the travelline numbers or the ones where you can text to find out if there is congestion? Only if there is an accident or major congestion would I suggest going an alternative way.

kirsty000

Ill be driving from sheffield way

Whats the best number to phone / text for traffic updates? The radio on my car is broke so cant listen to traffic updates on the raido!

richardw

If there aren't many travelling, Gatwick is easy by Train from Sheffield with one easy change at London St Pancras, cheap tickets at https://www.megatrain.com.

Doing the split ticket thing at St Pancras may be cheaper as well, the Gatwick trains depart from St Pancras Domestic which is underground from the East Midlands Trains platforms.

kirsty000

Cant get a train because theres no trains for the time we need to return

richardw

Ok was just a thought, it is a difficult one, hopefully someone with more knowledge will help.

brightonman123

we do some weekend trips to hertforshire, and take m25 anti clockwise via the dartford tunnell, then A1M north.. this i think runs fairly parallel to the M1, and generaly less stressful.

coming back same way, avoids the squeeze ar LHR..

basill

brightonman123 wrote: »

we do some weekend trips to hertforshire, and take m25 anti clockwise via the dartford tunnell, then A1M north.. this i think runs fairly parallel to the M1, and generaly less stressful.

coming back same way, avoids the squeeze ar LHR..

From the A1/M1 part of the M25 the distance to Gatwick is about 10 miles different clockwise or anticlockwise. It doesn`t make much difference, apart from £1 at the dartford crossing
By 10:00 you should be fine going the short way (past Heathrow). I`d have a listen to the traffic reports as you approach and if anything horrible has happened around Heathrow (or between junctions 18-12), go the other way.

B

Cardelia

mrposhman wrote: »

I usually drive on their every other weekends travelling for football and I've never really found the M25 as bas as everyone seems to think it is.

Theres not really that many other direct routes to Gatwick from the North as its literally just off the M25.

Where in the North are you coming from? Are you hitting London from the M1, A1, M40, M4?? It all depends how far your travelling round it.

You could always use one of the travelline numbers or the ones where you can text to find out if there is congestion? Only if there is an accident or major congestion would I suggest going an alternative way.

It's a very different beast at weekends. There's no morning rush hour, but I've noticed that if you try and get past the Heathrow stretch early saturday afternoon then you're stuffed. It's also very busy on sunday evenings as all the Londoners with second homes go back to the capital.

To answer the OP's question, it depends what day of the week you're going. If it's Monday-Thursday then go via Dartford. If it's Friday-Sunday then you should be ok with the Heathrow side - for some reason I've always found the M25 between Heathrow and Gatwick is relatively quiet on Friday morning.