Doing a cross country Manchester - Folkestone, please help?

[Hell27]

Hi all, got a train booked to go on the Chunnel on the 14th and need to be at Folkestone for 15:00, but travelling from Manchester.
I'd estimated setting off at 07:00, and this should allow 4.5 hrs journey plus hour lunch plus 2 hours pissing about with roadworks or traffic jams.

At this time of year, which route is best? By choice I'd always try and do m62 - m1 then m25 etc, but should I try the m6 & m6 toll?

Am I being too conservative or not allowing enough time?

Any sensible response is gratefully received!

[Hell27]

chriscoates said:

14th is a Thursday so you shouldn't encounter any serious congestion - accidents are obviously unpredictable. I personally wouldn't bother with the M62-M1 route, there's miles of roadworks on the M1 in South Yorks/Derbyshire at the moment which, if there's a breakdown, causes long queues. Regardless of that it's a long route as you're going north-east to come south again. I'd go M6 (Toll if it's bad round Birmingham) M42-M40-M25-M26-M20. M40 is quieter than the M1 and this route also avoids the roadworks on the north side of the M25 and the Dartford tolls - you'd be hitting the M25 outside of rush hour so it shouldn't be too bad. Leaving at 7am is a good idea!

Cheers chris; I take it then that the route around the m25 is going around the southern ring rather than the North?