Best route from Harrogate to Dover?

[Alex@POD]

Hi all,

As per the title, what is the best route from Harrogate to Dover, leaving at around 6PM on a Friday? Map websites such as viamichelin seem to think the A1 will be quicker, but I fancy the M1 better. Are there many roadworks going on at the moment? or 50 zones for miles on end?

Thanks for the help!

[Marneus]

A1-A14-M11 will be far quicker than the M1, less traffic & not as far round the M25 when you get to the bottom. IIRC there's still a god awful set of roadworks on th M25 at the bottom of the M1 going towards the Dartford bridge, might be finished with now though.

[Alex@POD]

Thanks, I use the A1 quite a bit to get to Peterborough and back, and I find it quite tedious at times, does it get any better south of Peterborough?

[r129sl]

I concur with the suggested route: A1, A14, M11, M25 then M20. I do this about five times a year from Newcastle and it is easily the fastest route.

The A1 is much improved: no roundabouts anymore. You don't go much further south than Peterbrough, about 20miles, most of which is on the fantastic, 4-lane wide Alconbury by-pass.

The awful roadworks on the M25 in the vicinity of the M11 are not too bad, they have never held me up unduly. The average speed cameras there and on the A14 keep the traffic flowing well (the A14 is much faster since the introduction of average speed cameras).

I cannot imagine why you would take the M1 route: it is significantly longer with worse traffic.

[Alex@POD]

Fair enough, what I had in my head was a dual carriageway full of trucks in the left hand lane, side roads and service stations with no slip roads, generally heavy traffic, against a wide three lane motorway with slip roads and hard shoulders...

I guess I need to put all this in order!

Thanks again for the advice!

[10 Pence Short]

Marneus said:

A1-A14-M11 will be far quicker than the M1, less traffic

This. A lot (if not all) of the roundabouts on the A1 have now been removed between Yorkshire and the A14, too.

[magpies]

There will be a fair amount of traffic for the first 2-3 hours as Friday evening aint the best time! in the end it is down to accidents that will make a significant delay and they cannot be predicted (apart from the A14 that is)

[Alex@POD]

Thanks again for all the advice...

What radio station is best for traffic updates around London?

[rlw]

Ah, these naive northerners,

MI into London on a Friday night - I don't think so...

Traffic news - this is the south. When it all goes tits up those of us caught up in it will be the first to know and will be well pleased when its on the radio an hour later.

[Who me ?]

rlw said:

Ah, these naive northerners,

MI into London on a Friday night - I don't think so...

Traffic news - this is the south. When it all goes tits up those of us caught up in it will be the first to know and will be well pleased when its on the radio an hour later.

Harrowgate -rugby ( as near as *** to start of a14 ) -APPROX 2-2.5 HRS .SO that's approx 8pm on to the A14 .Don't know how far south of the Medway it is ( estimate approx 30 ) ,but from approx start of A14 to Medway area -approx 3 hrs -so that's into the M25 area about 10pm - so possibly not so busy then .
Never used the A1-so can't comment ,but times I went south to Kent -found the A14 -M11 was quite a nice run ,but check out the cameras on A14 ,especially just before the start of the M11.
Radio -found I used Smooth Radio a lot -it's got a lot of national coverage and the traffic news is not bad -depends on whether or not the content is to your taste .

[10 Pence Short]

If I was leaving Harrogate at 6pm on a Friday, heading for Dover, I'd expect to arrive about 11pm.

[Mr E Driver]

Marneus said:

A1-A14-M11 will be far quicker than the M1

This, but watch out for the Scameras especially coming back.

[Alex@POD]

Thanks guys, I suppose I should have mentionned I left last friday... I managed to leave work just before 5 so I headed south straight away, and when I got to the M1/A1 junction, the light boards were advertising heavy delays on the A1, so I decided against it. I only had a couple of bad traffic areas, around Rotherham then just north of London, as the rain was really bad and slowed everyone down. M25 wasn't as bad as expected, and I got to the ferry for about half 10.

As for the radio, I always have a CD on with the traffic updates enabled, I have never found a radio I can stand listening to...