Route Advice

[DeathMetalMum]

Were traveling to London from North west area on Friday. Due to leave fairly early around 7am as Bank Holiday and aiming for the roads to be slightly quieter.

Don't normally do this drive and just trying to decide on the route, I'm thinking of avoiding M6 particularly M42/M6 near Birmingham. Going M56 A50 then M1. Anyone have any suggestions of where to avoid and possibly a nice stop along the way for 20 minutes or so.

Bump.

I know it's fairly boring, but really would like some suggestions.

Knowing your starting point and destination would probably help - North West to London is a big range!

MK16 8DS
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q4SYNn7EUkipb8qU8

Is decent as services go, not sure if you want something further south?

Right by the M56 below Manchester for starting point and we are traveling to Eltree/Borehamwood so right off the M1.

Just type your destination into Waze or GoogleMaps when you depart. Any motorway can be awful if you're on it at the wrong time, even ordinarily it would've been much the fastest way to get somewhere

Yes I use Google maps but the three options it gives are very different routes but 5 minutes difference, not a huge difference in the miles driven either so was just looking for suggestions for people who drive the route more regularly. Particularly with it being bank holiday.

That's why I say look as as you depart. Then you'll have a clearer picture of how Easter traffic is affecting your options.

I regularly do that trip from near Preston in London. I've tried lots of different routes and it makes very little difference. The most direct for me is M6, M6 toll road, on to M1 and down. Sometimes I'll pop across the M69 near Leicester and join the M1 a little earlier. Occasionally I'll go M6, M42, M40 into west London. For variation I go M6, A50 across Stoke and onto M1 and down into London. You're best looking at something like theaa.com on the day and you'll get up-to-date advice based on predicted traffic levels, road works etc. Time-wise, it can vary enormously from around 4 hours to 6 - leaving early is a good idea.

You should be ok
No need to avoid m6 as it's a bank holiday

Traffic will build near shopping centres and on coastal routes usually