Route advice please - Aberystwyth to North London

Jamp

Hi All

I have to drive from Aberystwyth to Enfield in North London on Sunday afternoon/evening. Unfortunately I have to take the car despite already having bought a train ticket :rolleyes: (evening ticket from Rhyl via Chester and Euston to Grange Park available to anyone with a young person's railcard in return for a small donation to charity by the way)

Google Maps is telling me I'd be quickest going via Welshpool, Telford then onto the M6 and M1 at 229mi and 4hr30. Is this really the best way to go, I guess traffic wouldn't be too bad on a Sunday? If there are any good alternatives I'd like to consider them as I'll be going up to Llandudno the following day by pretty much the same route via Telford (unless I carry on up the M1 to the A50 at Derby then). Also I'll be driving an MX5 to London which isn't much fun on the motorway as it's high revving, loud and invisible to trucks, it also gives better economy at A-road speeds than motorways but I could do 55-60 on the m-way of course. I was wondering about taking the A44 the whole way, through Leominster, Worcester, Chipping Norton then the A41 to Aylesbury and Hemel. Google tells me this would be 213mi and 5hr30. Would this be a good route and actually not take much more time or fuel and a slow motorway run? Is there anything interesting to see/do on the way late on a Sunday afternoon on either route? Any better alternatives?

Many thanks,

Jamp

babs2008

Hi Jamp,

Whenever I'm planning to travel by car I use the AA or RAC route planner/route finders. You can get them on their respective websites.

Hope that's useful.

ampersand

Check out AA routeplanner, here:

http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp
or:
http://route.rac.co.uk/

Do a compare and contrast; see which you feel most comfy with.
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Sorry babs2008(and I'm another,not 2008 vintage though) - duplicated.

TiTheRev

I'd check out the AA route planner or borrow a mate's Sat Nav!?

ampersand

NEVER satnav...NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

redux

Perhaps everyone already knows, but just in case

One of the best things about Google Maps on a PC is that you can use your cursor to drag the route about and see details of alternatives (there's a right-click menu on waypoints that includes removing them again)

ampersand

Does it give roadworks or other nasties updates?
AA and RAC are useful for this.

Jamp

Thanks for the replies but I was hoping to hear from people with some knowledge/experience of the routes and the traffic. I'll be plumbing the route I decide on into my sat nav. Will check out what the AA/RAC recommend but I think it will be the same as Google's route - the best in theory but is it in practise?

redux

I find Google Maps does tend to overestimate time needed

You might also try Viamichelin, which gives fastest, recommended, shortest, sightseeing, etc. It reckons 4 h 09 on both the first two options, one of which is the same route as Google

edit: my Becker satnav says 3 h 35 on the same route, on which basis I'd reckon 3 h 45 without traffic issues

I haven't driven on the last part of the M40 on a Sunday evening, but some motorways into London particularly the M1 can be quite busy at this time

RedBern

The viamichelin is a better route planner - I shaved 30 minutes of a trip to swindon as it took me direct and not, as the AA and RAC did, around the houses.

Have you thought about heading south towards Abergavenny on the A49 and then pick up the M4 - it is a straight run to London then - should be fairly quiet on a Sunday afternoon and takes 2hrs 15 to get to Heathrow from here - (just as a help with time/distance?)

bargepole

Jamp wrote: »

I have to drive from Aberystwyth to Enfield in North London on Sunday afternoon/evening. ... Google Maps is telling me I'd be quickest going via Welshpool, Telford then onto the M6 and M1 at 229mi and 4hr30. Is this really the best way to go, I guess traffic wouldn't be too bad on a Sunday? If there are any good alternatives I'd like to consider them as I'll be going up to Llandudno the following day by pretty much the same route via Telford (unless I carry on up the M1 to the A50 at Derby then).

I'd go A44 towards Hereford, then pick up the M50/M5 towards Cheltenham, then get on the A40 all the way to Oxford, follow the ring road to join the M40 at J8, then follow M40 to M25 J16, go clockwise to J24 exit for Enfield. A much more interesting drive, and you keep off the M6 and M1.

Going back to North Wales, I'd go M25/M40/M42/M6/M54/A5 to Oswestry,then A483 past Wrexham and pick up the A55 to Llandudno from there. Done that run loads of times, it's the best route.

Ignore what the satnav says, most of them are too motorway-biased.