What motorway?

[JorisBonson]

Leaving London at 4.30am tomorrow and driving to Scotland. M6 or A1M?

God what a boring thread.

Download Waze then do the route it tells you

Put it into Google maps and it will show you the best route and also show any shorter options if there are any delays during the journey

which part of scotland?

There’s 20 miles of 50 mph average speed camera roadworks on the M6, so you may want to factor that in.....

M40
M42
M6toll
M6

My reason being, M40 is quieter than M1
M42 by the time you get to it shouldn’t be to busy
M6 toll very quiet but if you get on M6 it’ll be fine

It’s much of a muchness distance wise, but further north I’d prefer M6

Ah, that town, Scotland.

Yes town would help Troon, west coast

We've done both routes before and prefer the A1M but never travelled on Christmas Eve

We've done both to get down south. South of Edinburgh so A1 normally works for us.

Thanks @norkmonster, that's handy to know

West or East Scotland?

As said above, miles of 50mph road works on M6 - not just slower but also lots of congestion/queues etc which make 50mph optimistic!

M6, for sure.

It’s the longest 20 miles 🤣 goes on for about 40 miles

If you choose the M6, make sure you are not in the left hand lanes around junction 21A (Thelwell). Too many folk dont realise that the left lane filters off and try to dodge back on at the last minute.
Bit of an accident blackspot.

M6 today was grim. Smart motorway was set to 40-50mph then 20 miles of roadworks, followed by more problems because of an accident. It felt like I'd been driving for days.

I used to do Newcastle - London on Christmas Eve on A1(M)-M18-M1 every year, and it was usually deserted.

Thanks hive mind. A1 here we come. Better go to bed.

Depends where you want to be in Scotland.

East coast or thereabouts do M1 into A1 through Leeds - or all A1 I guess.

If closer to the West coast then M1 to M6

M1 was lush coming down the other day - first time in a decade of trips there’s been no average speed checks, closures or jams.

We used to go M6/M74 and over the borders but it got worse and worse every time we travelled

Last few years we've done M1/A1(M)

Much much better

If you do M6 then you get to stop at Tebay Services...

Just arrived home from M40 / M42 / M6 toll / M6. Completely clear whole way. Although that was the first time in about a year of doing the journey - took 4 hours, can take up to 7 sometimes. So moral of the story - who knows? Not me.... good luck whichever way you go, and have a great Christmas x

Waze! Just do as the PP suggested and stick it into Waze when you go! It’s got a slight edge on Google Maps for driving and will route according to the conditions as you go. Have a safe trip

DP / Google made the executive decision that we're going on the M6. Only 7 and a half hours to go!

Our internet overlords have us on the A1

I always follow Waze.