Please help me plan birthday stop offs for long drive from Brighton to Durham

Natasha1987

Good Evening MoneySavingExpert People,

I need your help. It is my Boyfriends birthday this weekend and so we are travelling up to Durham from Brighton to see his best friend. I do not know the way very well and was wondering if you could help me plan a few nice stop offs on this over 5 hour drive.

Let me give you some information about us:

We are both in our 20's (24 & 28 to be exact)
We both like mexican food
We both like currys
We both like mcdonalds
We both like all types of sport

I would like to plan the stop off points to make his birthday journey up to Durham that bit more special. I have tried trip adviser etc but I'm really struggling to work out how to do it.

Please can you help me

Thank you

VoucherMan

Knowing the route you plan to take would be a good starting point.;)

Google suggests 3, but you may have an entirely different route planned.

Brighty

Personally, i wouldn't do any of those routes. I regularly do Slough-Darlington and I'd say the best for you would be
up the M23 to the M25
Clockwise round to J16, M40
Up M40 to J10, A43 Northampton
A43 past silverston, Towester to the M1
M1 to J32 M18
M18 to the A1
A1 all the way up

How many stop offs are you planning? Are you not used to long drives? My regular route is 260miles and takes 4.5 to 5hrs, sometimes 6hr if traffic is bad. I quite happily do that in 1 hit, no stopping, only stopping if i need a wee. Your journey is 90 miles or so more, so add another 1.5hr. One stop off for a bit of lunch should do you. Too many stops and it will take you an age to get there, it will be time to come home again by the time you get there.

What days you travelling on?

Your half way point would be somewhere between Northampton and Leicester.

There's a Maccy D's on the A43 a bit before you join the M1, it's normal prices rather than rip off motorway services prices. Not a nice scenic spot by any means, but it's where i grab a big mac and 5 min stop if i have to.

Enjoy your trip, i like the north east

Brighty

daveyjp

Brighton to Durham with a few stops could easily become a 10-12 hour trip.

I agree about using the M40. Doesn't appear logical to go north west when you are heading to the north east, but the M40 is generally quieter than the more direct M1 or A1 routes. I wouldn't bother with the M18, continue on M1 to Leeds and straight onto A1.