Brighton to Le Shuttle for a 9am - M25 or along the coast?

[V8Wagon]

If you were aiming to travel from Brighton to Folkestone for 0900 would you tackle the M25 or head out via Hastings & Rye and avoid the rush hour motorway?

[john2443]

M25.

The coast route is too fiddly and slow.

We did it 3 weeks ago, left Brighton at 8am, arrived at the terminal about 9.30, no problem.

Of course, the train was 1.5 hours late, but the travel was no issue.

[Motorrad]

Coast road will take hours.

I've done this journey countless times over the past decade. It's always much, much slower and extremely frustrating on the coastal route.

[Dogwatch]

No-one in their right mind uses the A259 to get to Folkstone/Dover.

Ghastly piece of road.

[Justin Cyder]

I have done this run. M25 every time. I'd say a couple of hours + a contingency say 30 minutes maybe. If you get a decent run, it'll leave time for a nice cuppa. I also used to windsurf in Rye & potter around the A259, it is as everyone else says, awful over distance.

[V8Wagon]

Thanks everyone for your advice. You've confirmed what I was thinking.....even a slow M25 is better than a slow A259.

Thanks again.

[Justin Cyder]

Bear in mind the 40mph section through Handcross. That'll add a bit of stress if you're in a hurry.

[isetta]

i drive up the a23 handcross roadworks stretch every morning at about 7.40am . it is 2-3 miles at 40 mph, yes it seems slow but 2-3 miles at 40mph calculates at 3 - 4.5 mins . Over the summer period it is not congested. But come next week there will probably be a queue where it goes from 3 to 2 lanes again for months. They started this work December 2011, could any other country take so long to add one extra lane in each direction to 2 miles of road?
I agree go M25, easily best, you won't be on worse part of m25 and you are heading in the quieter direction