Off on hols on Saturday, driving from Northants to north Cornwall. We usually head off at sparrow fart and still end up sitting nose to tail on the M5, etc etc, so wondered if you well-travelled folk think it would be worth waiting until later in the day and so possibly missing the worst of the traffic???

The worst of the M5 will be between Avonmouth and Wellington so approx 50 miles of stuttering stop start traffic. Generally it's ok before 08.00 and after about 17.00. However one accident will screw it up totally.

you mean like this one…

http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/8332530.UPDATED__Overturned_caravan_causes_chaos_on_the_M5/

took my mate 7 hours to get home instead of three…

It's about a 6 hour drive for me, I always leave at midnight, get to the beach for sunrise, kids sleep part of the way, no traffic hassle. Heading down again end of the month, will do the same. Breakfast in the Galleon. Do the same for the return leg. Fire on the beach, then leave after 11pm.

Last year god only knows why we got very lucky! Travelled from derby to Weston super mare, stopped there Thursday an fri night then left sat morning at about 11am. All legs of the journey were a breeze, we were even too early to check into the cottage!!

As Dropoff says, the section of the M5 between Bristol and Weston/Bridgewater area is a nightmare if you hit it around rush hour so make sure you're through well before or after those times! Also, not sure whereabouts in North Cornwall you're going but if you're on the A30 further south avoid Bodmin Moor around Temple if you can too as that gets bad as well!

We went Monday to Monday from Falmouth to London and coming back it took 4 hours, I couldn't believe it.

As Dropoff said.
Drink plenty of coffee at the start and finish of you holiday and drive at an unsociable hour.
When i take the kids to my parents in carlisle from bristol we leave about 6.30pm on a friday avoiding the worst of the traffic, taking about 4 hours to drive nearly 300 miles.

We usually set off from Cannock around 4am, miss the worst of the stuff and get to Bude in time for the cafe to open and enjoy a full English at breakie time. Much easier IMO with 2 kids in a car.

When we go to Salcombe, we leave at 4am. This means we go past Bristol about 6-ish. No traffic all the way, and arrive in time for breakfast.

I'd either set of very early in the morning or drive to Bristol the evening before & stay in a B&B, before getting up fairly early & doing the rest of the journey.

I used to go quite often from Worcester to Penzance – average time was 4 or 5 hours, BUT this would quite often be knackered due to an incident at Avonmouth.

If we were going down during the holiday period we'd leave at stupid o'clock, stop off at Exeter for a coffee and clear the Wadebridge / India Queens area before the caravan's turn up – a main route going from dual carriageway to single carriageway WTF!! Drop Mrs off at her parents and be dipping my toes at Sennen / Gwenvor at 9am. 😀

Jimster – that's now all dual carriageway. Once past Bodmin Moor, it's dual carriageway until you hit Carland Cross near Truro.

takes us 4hrs at night, 6+ in the day.

We go every year, leaving in the early hours i.e. 3-4am, kids sleep, no traffic and arrive for breakfast at a cafe on the beach.

pointless waste of time sat in traffic and everyone gets stressed and annoyed. Fun adventure at night.

Not sure about from Northants but I commute from St Agnes to Surrey each week and it pretty consistently takes me around 4 hours. I leave work on Thursday afternoon about 15:30 and get home around 20:00. On the way up I leave in the morning on Monday at 04:30 and usually get to work some time between 08:00 and 09:00.

If you can, I would leave after 7 in the evening so you miss the after work rush hour and just arrive in the early morning and go to bed. I guess this is a bit tricky if you need to pick up keys/check-in etc.

dlong – nutter!

Where in Surrey? From Surrey (until aged 14) and now pretty nr St Agnes.

Surf-Mat you are not the first person to say that!!

I may be crazy but it all seems worth it when I get back home 🙂

Do you surf? Know a few surfers (and non surfers) in Aggy.

Hello from Cornwall,Saturday is 'changeover' day down here , and is well known for being a day not to go out on the roads!
my advice would aim to be here by 8-10 oclock! just get past the M5, at least to Exeter, as early as possible, drive over night then sleep in the morning once you're down here!!

Any other Cornwall residents that used to live outside the county – do you also listen to Radio 2 traffic reports and snigger slightly when loads of people trying to get down here are stuck in jams?!

When it's height of silly season, we avoid all tourist spots and try and do most of our travelling on the boat (live on the Truro River – easy access to Falmouth, St Mawes, etc)

when we go down from Leeds to Polperro we set off at about 2am and take it really steady (about 65-70mph indicated) and it usually takes around 7 1/2 hours

Surf-Mat not really a surfer, I grew up in Truro, was in the rugby crowd at school and never got around to surfing. It's been on the list since I moved back to Cornwall and it's still there somwhere near the bottom!! Maybe in Sept/Oct when the sea's still warm but I don't have to fight my way into the water!

I work in Guildford, but no sniggering for me when I listen to the traffic reports just in case it's bad karma for my next commute!

Tee hee – I went to RGS Guildford and lived in West Horsley before moving down in 1989 (aged 14).

Wouldn't be surprised if we mutually know a few people – we are in Malpas Village overlooking the river.

RGS Guildford – very posh

dlong – ex posh. Now a commoner 😉

As others have said, time it to arrive for an 07:00 hrs breakfast at your destination. A good nights sleep the night before should set you up for this. Worst comes to the worst stop for 2 hours sleep in a service staion car park en route

I can get to Newquay in about an hour from where I live – but only between Oct & March, I wouldn't attempt it on a Saturday this time of year as I'd expect it would take over 3!

M5 southbound, A30, A38 all start to busy up @ about 10ish & are stop/start by midday this time of year & the smallest accident causes tailbacks for miles – I came back from Afan a few weeks ago @ 6.30pm & it was still busy from Bristol to WSM

Drove back from Exeter a few weeks back, hung around on the Friday and set off at 7pm, light traffic all the way back to Manchester and we made it back in 4hours (including a pit stop).

Driving late on is the future

If you're going from Northants, I find that down the A43/A34 towards Oxford, then off onto the A420 (single carriageway for about 20 miles) which pops you out onto the M4 at Swindon, is as quick as hitting up the M6, M42 but less stressful.

About 4-4.5 hours on a good day. As echoed above, Avonmouth to Bridgewater is busy, but then it always seems to be at any time of the day, unless you go over night.