m25 advice req'd

mountainlad123

hi,

im travelling from a windsor hotel to dover port for a ferry crossing at 5pm on a friday afternoon. all the route planners tell me i can do it in under 2 hours.

what time should I leave to arrive safely in time for crossing as im guessing the m25 would be busy.

and is the a25 a practical option if the m25 is gridlocked?

thanks

debsy42

If I was doing that trip I would probably leave about 1pm. Better to get there a bit early than too late. The M25 is a nightmare for accidents and sometimes just too much traffic so you can plod along doing 20mph for miles.

s_b

you couldnt have picked a better time to catch a ferry
best of luck:)

Trebor16

The latest you can check in is I believe between 30 and 45 minutes before the crossing so using the latter time you need to be there at 4.15pm. This would mean leaving at 2.15pm, assuming no problems. I would give yourself an extra hour to be on the safe side and leave at about 1.15pm. It is far better to get there nice and early with plenty of time to spare than to give yourself no margin of error should you encounter a traffic problem.

kizkiz

I live around that section and it's awful.
Friday rush hour tends to start around lunch time.
I'd be leaving very early if i were you

giraffe69

The traffic would have to be grim indeed to make the A25 a better option.

mountainlad123

Thanks for your replies!

vikingaero

I would agree that leaving around 12 noon to 1pm would be the better option. Unless something major happens there shouldn't be any delays once you clear the M4 to A3 section of the M25.

I would avoid using the A25 at all costs. If something happens around J6-5 then all the local drivers flood it. The A25 goes through towns and villages and becomes gridlock when this happens. More often than not any queues on the M25 will clear well before the queues on the A25.

If you're early you could pop into Tescos for a cheap cuppa at J10 or use the Stop 24 Services at J11.