Need to be in St Albans by 9am on Tuesday for a training visit. It’s 3 hours from mine on Google maps. So i’m looking at a 5am leaving the house with an hour for traffic faff then.

Doomed idea? Or possible? I’m aware the sky might fall in and it take me 4 days to do 3 miles on the M25 :-/

The M4 leading to the M25 isBusy from Reading around rush hour, a little lull in between Reading and Maidenhead then busy again past Windsor / Datchet up to the M25.

The busiest part of the M25 is the west and the North around the M1. Just where you are heading.

If it usually takes you three hours with no traffic to get from your house to St Albans I would give significantly more than 1 hour extra.

My parent used to live inbetween Swindon and Oxford when I was at uni, I’d use the M4 J14 ->. I could do the M25 in an hour with no traffic, during rush hour I would give myself 2 hours, maybe more to get to the M25 just to cope with the M4 traffic.

They now live in Dorset and 1.5 hour to the M25 and 45 min round the south M25 (J13 -> J3) no traffic route takes about 3.5 – 4 hours door to door during rush hour, so double.

Short answer I’de want an hour for M4 delays and an hour for M25 delays. You can always have a cup of tea if you’re early, it’s impossible to time it right as you can sail through and arrive and hour early or try and be 30 min later then you will hit traffic and be late.

It shouldn’t be too bad, I commute on the western part almost daily in rush hour. It can be bad, but no worse than any other motorway, infact I get held up more on the M1 and M6 TBH

5am leaving then 4 hours to do it in? Might end up hotelling the night before i guess

Get up early.

You could try the A404 (Jct 9?) up to High Wycombe then M40, it would cut off the M4 bit just before the M25 where it often gets held up, but sometimes the roundabaout to get on the M40 can be bad too.

It isn’t that bad but do yourself a favour and aim to get to St Albans early.

People will shove in on the M4 to get onto the M25. Whilst this is annoying, it’s also worth doing as it will cut 5 minutes of queuing out.

The M25 road works run well and you should only need 20 mins or so to get around to the St Albans junction.

BUT – St Albans is a traffic jam at rush hour. So depending where your course is you’ll probably find that the worst part of your journey.

I’ve done the M4, M25 past St Albans for nearly 11 years now and it really ain’t that bad.