Hi all,

I looked through a lot of Heathrow posts and couldn't find my answer.

We have been planning our trip with the idea of taking a train from Heathrow to St. David's. Staying there for 5 days and training back to the Cotswolds. BUT we are now looking at things differently. (We are doing 2 different walking trips, one in Wales and the other in the Cotswolds).

We priced the trains and the one coming back from Haverfordwest (Wales) is very expensive compared to the one going there.

Time difference in train vs. driving. Train almost 6 hours driving about 3.5 hours.

My question is how is traffic driving out of the car rental area at Heathrow. How difficult is it getting on the main highway to head towards St. David's Wales. Due to the fact that we are traveling on May 4 a BANK holiday - a lot of the smaller rental agencies are closed so we are stuck with renting from the airport. Because it is a holiday I am hoping traffic won't be too bad.

We will be jet lagged (get in around 11:00 hopefully sleeping pretty much on the plane). This time we will either rent a GPS or bring our own - we learned our lesson from our Scotland trip.

We will be dropping the car off 6 days later in Strafford upon Avon. Price is somewhat cheaper than train although I know gas is quite expensive.

Any driving info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks 6abc

My recommendation would be to drive as it gives you more freedom. It's pretty easy getting out of Heathrow just take your time and follow the signs; GPS will be very helpful. You've obviously driven on the left before in Scotland so your main problem will be jetlag. Ask at the car rental place for directions if there's any roadworks in the vicinity.

Traffic @ 11am on a Bank holiday in may will be as busy as ever LOL

Try this link for google maps

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&utm_...erm=directions

none of the rental agencies are actually on the airport property - but most are very convenient for jumping on the M4 motorway you'll need for heading to Wales. Much easier than picking up a car in any city or most towns.

"<i>Because it is a holiday I am hoping traffic won't be too bad.</i>" The Bank holiday will mean extra traffic - not less. But you would be heading in the opposite direction of a lot of the traffic back towards London.

Having said all that - IMO you are absolutely <B>nuts</B> if you expect to drive from LHR to Wales after an overnight flight. You should spend the first night either in Windsor or w/i maybe 25 miles of LHR and then drive on to St Davids the next day after a good night's sleep.

barring that -- take the train. You would be a danger to yourselves and others if you drove jetlagged . . . . .

Gotta agree with Janisj.
You would be quite foolish to try to drive from LHR to St David's after your flight.

The access to the M4 is easy enough, then the M4 is a Long Long Long Long boring road. You will be driving for about 250 miles or so (that's a guess), once you get past Carmarthen the roads are dual carriageways then St David's route has many smaller roads.

Stay close to the airport and leave in the morning, take your time, maybe drop off in Cardiff see some sites then get going to St David's after a break.

GPS is a good idea, but have a map too, sometimes the GPS struggle in the more remote areas.

You will love West Wales take your time and you will enjoy it.

Muck

What the others said, please don't launch yourself onto the M4 after a redeye. This crops up again and again on this forum and so many seem to think they are invincible.

Correct, May 4 is a public holiday. The roads will most likely be very busy indeed. 3.5 hours to get from LHR to St Davids? Did you get that off a route planning site? Not a hope. With no traffic, an infinite bladder and the attention span of Superman you will be lucky to do it in 5.

If you're serious about driving after an overnight flight, PLEASE stay at home and kill your own people.

You're not welcome here. There are enough bloody fools here already: we really don't need to import any.

Do understand, BTW, that if you're involved in a serious accident after an overnight flight, the crime you'll be charged with will carry substantially longer jail time than the same accident involving a less criminally stupid driver.

Thank you all for you good advise. Yes we did get the travel time from some site. We were under the impression it was not that long. We did change the car rental pick up to Fishguard the next day after our arrival. We were having some problems because we need to drop off in Stratford in Avon and we were informed by both AutoEurope that there is only a hertz dealer in Stratford.

We will be taking the train to St David's the day we land. I wish we had a few more days but we need to keep to the schedule we have so we need to be in St. Davids the day we land.

Thank you all for your excellent advise.

And Flanneruk, I know you are passionate about this topic, as all of you are, but you didn't have to be so brutal with your working about staying home and "kill your own people." I hope that all Brits aren't as unfriendly as you appear to be online. I always thought that we were welcomed in you country but now I am beginning to wonder if there are more people like you who do not want us to spend our hard earned dollars in you beautiful country. But I don't think that one cruel voice will ruin our trip.

Once again, thanks to everyone else who voiced there concerns and opinions.

6abc

correcting error on last post....I meant "brutal with your WORDING" .

I was so taken aback by your comments that I miss typed. I know you aren't that cruel...just passionate about the topic...

6abc: flanner is the last person who needs someone else defending him - he can manage just fine. But - He got your attention, didn't he??? Don't be so thin skinned/pc. What did he say that was not warranted? He essentially said - "We have enough idiots driving on our roads when they shouldn't, we don't need jet lagged Colonials adding to the problem."

Everyone else said the same thing -- heck, I called you "<B>Nuts</B>". Honestly - you will love the UK but not if you are super sensitive . . . . .

JanisJ, No I am not thin skinned, I have been through a lot in my life, probably more than most people. I do understand what you both were saying and I have always respected your advise. I am not going to defend my self either. Being called NUTS I found quite to the point and somewhat amusing. I am not stupid I got the message and followed your advise. After I understood the distances and other factors.

The other posting was just cruel in the wording department.

Let's move on. 6abc
Oh and by the way you are all welcomed Here in our country. Whether you are bloody fools or not.

6abc writes, "Oh and by the way you are all welcomed Here in our country."

By what authority are you making that offer? In the last fiscal year the US border agency denied entry to over a quarter million people (actually 'aliens' in the American lingo) at the various ports of entry. But you're partially right, I don't think being fools was one of the criteria for denial.

You made a good choice. It's a long way even in good traffic and you never can tell on that route - and it's likely to be worse on a bank holiday rather than better. Not to mention the fact that our highways authorities love nothing better than to cone off a motorway down to one pathetically crawling lane, and target holidays as being 'less important' traffic.

You'll be much more relaxed after a train ride and you can even have a little snooze on the way if you get bored with the scenery. When I'm travelling more than a couple of hundred miles in the UK I'll use the train wherever possible - it's just so much less tiring than ploughing your way along our motorways.

Have a lovely trip.

6abc,
Indeed, the message from us all is the same and good on you for taking it on board.
But Flanner always tends to lack any sort of diplomacy and tact in the way he says things.
Take him with a pinch of salt, you will get used to him as we all have.

I am pleased that you are taking the train to St David's. That is a beautiful part of Wales you will enjoy it.

Good luck

Muck