Entertainment For Lively Minds
ATM.The M25.
Posted by johnsimpson1965 on 25 September 2011 - 9:57pm.
Yeah, that ringroad.
I live in Manchester but have to be in Woking, Surrey for 11am Thursday morning for a funeral.
I`m thinking of staying at friends in St Albans (Snorbans?) weds night and travelling from there.
But, oh! Everyone i`ve talked do has narrowed their eyes and thinned their lips...."you don`t wanna be travelling round the M25 in the morning....gridlock"
Now I don`t really want to be late and would like to meet up with my family for breakfast first but is it really that bad? I`m just a simple boy from oop north so be gentle with me.
Thanks etc
Edit. 90 mins as a lot of you thought. No probs. Thanks.
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Should be fine
from St. Albans to Woking at that time as you miss most of the rush hour. If you leave at 9 you should be there easily for 10 and it will give you plenty of built in time if it is a bit slow.
Wot He Sed
Unless some idiot ahead of you crashes into somebody else you should be fine. The introduction of the variable speed limits around the Heathrow area really has had a positive effect, at least in the mornings going anti-clockwise.
Travelling after 9am you should breeze it. There'll still be lots of traffic but it should be moving easily.
The M25
is in reality a modern miracle of engineering and foresight. Were it not there the North and South Circulars and surrounding roads would be in terminal 24 hour grid lock the likes of which have never been seen. However due to it's monumental success it is an overly popular choice which 19 times out of 20 will get you where you want to be safely and on time but when there is an accident then you are royally fucked. St Albans to Woking should be an hour, could be an hour and a half depending on the stretch from the M4 to the M3. Could be four hours if there is a proper crash. I'm sure you'll be fine.
A modern miracle of engineering and foresight?
Errr, no!
The M25 is two separate motorway schemes bodged together. That's why the road goes all over the place near Watford, and why there's a turn-off-to-stay-on junction with the M26.
For more info look here:
http://pathetic.org.uk/features/ringways/
Pathetic motorways
That is great site. I hate to think how many hours I've wasted on there over the years...
Yep
I lived I St Albans for 20 years. The chaps are right. If you leave at 9 you'll be fine, barring disaster in which case you won't!
Google Traffic
I haven't checked but I'm sure what's already been said will be backed up by looking at the traffic layer on Google maps. In case you didn't already know, you can ask it to display average traffic conditions for any day any time.
Don't expect it to be any easier on the way back, any time after about 2:30 and you'll be in danger of being stuck in a jam that will be on off up to Milton Keynes.
St Albans to Woking
Give yourself an hour and you'll be fine. I'm in St Albans and got to Surrey in 45 minutes on the M25 the other week.
As a regular user of the M25 during rush hour
between 7 and 10 anyway, I'd very much look at 1 hour from Stale Buns to Woking being very much "best case scenario". Allow yourself double that to be safe. Still roadworks preceding the M1 junction and then tends to crawl from Maple Cross all the way round past the airport to the Wisley Interchange at the A3.
Tis the Devil's road and no mistake
I agree with Six Dog
The M25 is like Russian Roulette. Multi map says 42 minutes but I would allow at least an hour and a half. The trouble is that it can crawl from Maple Cross to the A3 on a bad day and that's without local traffic problems. Clockwise traffic on my section (J9 to 15) starts getting heavy after about 6-6.30 am. When I really have to be somewhere I leave really early and get coffee when I arrive. Don't forget,at 9am at St Albans you will have school run traffic too before you join the M25
Also - where in Woking?
Because that could add+25 minutes to the actual M25 time?
An hour or so round the M25 is your best case scenario - that is, assuming you follow speed limit and there are no "incidents".
I used to do Guildford/St Albans *wistful memory* and I thought 70 minutes was a cracking good time.