to brave the M4 this weekend?

[SparkyUK]

Am in London and had planned on camping near Cardiff this weekend but just realised Glastonbury is on this weekend and traffic on the M4 will probably be mad. AIBU to go anyway or should we find reschedule for another weekend? But it is going to be so nice this weekend and I really really wanna go.

Just set off really, really early like 4.00am and you will be fine. Make sure you have enough fuel and some drinks and snacks just in case you get stuck.

Glastonbury's a fair distance from the M4. I'd be surprised if it caused significant delays!

I would go tomorrow night after work/school run

I think quite a lot of Glastonbury goers are there for the start on the Friday, so have travelled before Friday night. And many go by the A303 route.

The M4 is always hideous on a Friday night lately, particularly where it meets the M5. It's much better before 4pm and after 7.30pm.

You can see the average speeds along route on the AA website.

I wouldn't let it put me off personally though. Have often travelled that weekend and not found it any worse than usual.

Was planning on leaving west london at 4:30 friday - It will probably be a nightmare, but then again I find it always is?

I think I'm actually more worried about coming home Sunday but looking at the glasto site it looks like the worst time to leave in Monday morning so maybe Sunday the roads will eb all clear

Isn't Glastonbury on next weekend?

You probably don't want to hear this...

A couple of Fridays ago I went to pick up DD from a gig at Cardiff (we're in Bristol). It took over an hour just to get fromone side of the River Severn to the other. Traffic was OK either side, and all bridge gates were open, so assume it was just the volume of traffic that caused the hold up.

a) It's the M5 that becomes a nightmare on Glastonbury weekend.
b) Glastonbury is next weekend.
c) I have to go on the M5 next Friday .

Yes I think if you hit either Reading, Swindon or Bristol when people are leaving work it can be busy. But it generally still moves - just very slowly.

We were looking a couple of weekends ago at the average traffic speed on a Friday evening at about 6pm. It was between 0mph and 10mph pretty much all the way along. But cleared by 7.30pm. Not so good though if you need to get a tent up.

Coming back on the Sunday I've not found too bad with Glastonbury in the past. Lots of muddy people at the services, but traffic not particularly worse than usual.

Yep, just double checked incase I had read it wrong. Glastonbury 2014 runs from Wednesday 25th June to Sunday 29th June.

You should be fine.

I live very near to a large UK festival site (not Glastonbury though). By far the worst time to travel here is Thursday afternoon/evening then Monday morning/lunchtime.

Most of the non-local festival goers have arrived on the Thursday so they're camped and ready for action on Friday

Some leave on Sunday morning/afternoon but the last act on the Sunday doesn't finish until around midnight, so most people leave on Monday morning

It should be OK Friday and Sunday

Youdontneed - traffic into Cardiff was dreadful a couple weekends ago because of the Heineken cup final. Getting into Wales this weekend shouldn't be an issue as no major matches on I think. Even if there were if you pop up the m48 old Severn crossing you'd prob save a lot of time.

Getting into the M4 out of London on a Friday at 4 is the biggest issue!

Ah - is that what it was? Thanks CoolCat