Travelling to the channel tunnel from'The North' in the evening

mgdavid

bylromarha wrote: »

If the OP had said the north, I'd agree with you. It's capitalised on the thread title, therefore the name of a place. Not a direction of travel.

Having travelled that part of the M25 at many times of day and different days of the week I've flowed through it more than I've stopped. Speed varied at times, and the M3 jct the most common place to stop totally, but the few times I've been the other way round, I've stopped more times for the bridge than I've flowed.

Plus OH used to travel the M1 daily - at that time of night M40 mostly moves, M1 mostly slows. Jct 9 the killer of the M40, but Luton to London the slow part of the M1.

Lets face it, there is no good way to do that journey. Experience sends me anti clockwise rather than clockwise.

Apart from pedantry I don't see the point of your post as I haven't suggested the M1 at all.
I'm sure the OP will read all the replies and make up their own mind without any further insistence.

grapevine8

Make sure to select manual top up when registering online for Dartford crossing otherwise they top up automatically.

pjbennett

Thanks for all the replies.

Plenty of food for thought.

AlexMac

My two-pennyworth-
Living a few miles from J2 of the M25 (the southern approach to the Dartford crossing) and travelling the southern stretch from J2 to J10 -11 (A3 or M3) ish monthly, we tune in regularly to traffic news and you can't avoid transiting of the two hot-spots- the crossing in the east or the stretch in the west round past Heathrow...

There's little to choose between the western (M1/M25) and Eastern (M11/Dartford M25) alternatives, and traffic aside, they are almost identical in terms of time and mileage according to my favourite route-planner viaMichelin.com.

Intuitively, I'd leave early, at 4pm, and go for the Eastern (Dartford Bridge) route, if only because that gives you more options.

The congestion is generally worse in the West (according to the local radio traffic reports I tune into), and while there are usually queues southbound on the Bridge approach, you'll get to the M25 on that side a little later. Whereas you'd hit the western M25 at the peak time. And if, as you approach the M25 on the M11 (against the flow of rush-hour traffic out of London) you hear that there is a catastrophic problem on the Bridge, you have the option of diverting into London from the end of the M11 south down the A12 to the Blackwall tunnel, which feeds the A2 back to the M25 (this sounds daft, but it works- with by 7pm (which is when you'll hit it) less southbound queues.

Similarly, if on crossing the Dartford bridge, you hear the on the excellently consistent Radio Kent traffic news that there is a problem (such as an accident on the A2/M2 or 'operation stack' lorry jams on the M20 because the French port or maritime unions have thrown their quarterly strike), you can choose the M2 or M20 east to the coast, switching across mid-way or closer to Dover on little roads.

Whereas if the West London M25 is closed you have no options...

Either way, best to set off early!

When we drive in France and more frequently in Spain we marvel at their empty motorways, and in Spain, wonder how they could have afforded to build them... til we rememeber, they didn't... we did!

And yes, I should get out more - preferably abroad

mgdavid

AlexMac wrote: »

My two-pennyworth-
Living a few miles from J2 of the M25 (the southern approach to the Dartford crossing) and travelling the southern stretch from J2 to J10 -11 (A3 or M3) ish monthly, we tune in regularly to traffic news and you can't avoid transiting of the two hot-spots- the crossing in the east or the stretch in the west round past Heathrow...

There's little to choose between the western (M1/M25) and Eastern (M11/Dartford M25) alternatives, and traffic aside, they are almost identical in terms of time and mileage according to my favourite route-planner viaMichelin.com.

Intuitively, I'd leave early, at 4pm, and go for the Eastern (Dartford Bridge) route, if only because that gives you more options.

The congestion is generally worse in the West (according to the local radio traffic reports I tune into), and while there are usually queues southbound on the Bridge approach, you'll get to the M25 on that side a little later. Whereas you'd hit the western M25 at the peak time. And if, as you approach the M25 on the M11 (against the flow of rush-hour traffic out of London) you hear that there is a catastrophic problem on the Bridge, you have the option of diverting into London from the end of the M11 south down the A12 to the Blackwall tunnel, which feeds the A2 back to the M25 (this sounds daft, but it works- with by 7pm (which is when you'll hit it) less southbound queues.

Similarly, if on crossing the Dartford bridge, you hear the on the excellently consistent Radio Kent traffic news that there is a problem (such as an accident on the A2/M2 or 'operation stack' lorry jams on the M20 because the French port or maritime unions have thrown their quarterly strike), you can choose the M2 or M20 east to the coast, switching across mid-way or closer to Dover on little roads.

Whereas if the West London M25 is closed you have no options...

Either way, best to set off early!

When we drive in France and more frequently in Spain we marvel at their empty motorways, and in Spain, wonder how they could have afforded to build them... til we rememeber, they didn't... we did!

And yes, I should get out more - preferably abroad

Spot-on, couldn't have put it better :T