Cranfield, Beds to Cardiff by Car on BH W/end Fri - Best Route/Time?

Missme

Hpoe you guys can help.

Google maps suggests 3 routes with under 10 mins between them - M5,M4 ans A46.

Never been anywhere by car on a bank hol weekend before. What would be the best time to go and the best route.

Thanks

daveyjp

If I needed to go to Cardiff I wouldn't start in Cranfield! What a pain of a journey due to our Londoncentric obsession with motorways.

Options are:

M1 north, M42, M5 south, M50. No bridge toll of £6.20 to pay.

Or cross country to A34 near Bicester, south to M4. £6.20 to pay.

No idea which is better or which will be quieter.

I'm also off to Cardiff on Friday, about 230 miles to do and I will be leaving at breakfast time as the morning rush hour is currently very quiet.

Be warned if you choose the M50 there is about 10 miles of 40 limit between junctions 1 and 2, but after that the M50 and A40/A449 dual carriageway are generally very quiet roads all the way to the M4.

dangers

Be careful if you do the M4 - between the M32 junction (19?) and to just after the Almondsbury Interchange, it's a 50mph limit and the traffic is generally slow through this bit.

joerugby

Whichever route you take you should try to avoid the tunnels at Newport (M4 J25 - J26) from about 4pm to 7pm. Always very slow and often stationary on a BH Friday

Personally I'd try to time the journey to get to Cardiff before 4pm if you can

Missme

Thanks all.

I'm not the driver, who gets out his biohazard suit if he goes anywhere by public transport.

kkgree1

For me, it all depends what time you are planning to leave.

We live in North Herts and tend to always go cross-country via MK/Bicester/Swindon onto the M4. This is generally a good route but you can get held up at the A34 interchange & on the Buckingham stretch if you find yourself behind a tractor!

We're off to Cornwall on Saturday but are leaving at 6am so going M25/M4/M5. Far fastest route than cross-country if you are leaving early or late. If you're going in the middle of the day I'd be tempted to go cross-country then M4.