Will be driving from Liverpool to Glasgow as part of a football pilmgrimmage on Jan. 2. I know it's about 210 miles, but I've seen estimate of it taking about 3.5 hours. I just can't imagine this is realistic. Is it? How long is it really? And how bad will traffic be on the M6? <BR> <BR>I have checked the alternatives, and train is out (can't live with 8-minutes between connections), as is plane (can't fly direct, and it's incredibly expensive), so we're driving. Hertz doesn't have a drop-off charge!

Let's see. You are travelling on Jan 2, a public holiday in Scotland and lots of people in England on holiday too. It's the middle of winter, so there may be snow, sleet, ice and/or fog, even bright sunshine. It's motorway all the way, on M62 (or M58), M6 and A74(M). Some sections of A74(M) have only two lanes in each direction. There will be very little commercial traffic. Maybe some congestions around the Lakes and other beauty-spots. They tend to suspend roadworks over Christmas/New Year period, so no worry there. Most of the traffic will be private cars, caravans and coaches. Mostly local/regional traffic (day trippers, visiting friends and families, January sales etc). <BR>I would estimate that you can cover the 220-odd miles in around 4 hours, plus around 30 minutes rest, so around 4.5 hours in total.

The two things I would add are <BR>1.it is a public holiday in Scotland but not England. The traffic may well be heavy with people goping home after the holiday. <BR> <BR>2.Shap Fell on the M6 is a snow trap. If there is snow, that's where it'll be. Watch out for weather bulletins.

January 2nd (my birthday, worst day of the year etc etc) is first day back at work for most English, so the roads shouldn't be too bad. I have travelled back from Scotland to London on the 2nd and the traffic on the M6 was the worst, but this was on a weekend and you're going the other way which didn't seem as bad. <BR> <BR>But watch out for snow reports. They'll clear the roads if there's snow, but it'll still slow you down. Alec's estimate seems fair given the day you're travelling.

Could I just point out (trying to keep the irritation out of my tone) that the 2nd is the last day of the Scottish break. You are going from England to Scotland. So will lots of other Scottish people who may have been daft enough to go SOUTH for the holiday

According to the RAC route planner at http://www.rac.co.uk/plan_route <BR>the journey takes 04.08 hours. <BR>We regularly go from Chester to Grangemouth and it takes about 4 hours including a meal. Once you've passed through the Manchester conurbation the motorway is usually fairly quiet.

Oh dear, xxx, we are in a grump aren't we. Well, the motorway being quieter going north was based on experience, not prejudice, and may have something to do with there being only something like 5 million people living in Scotland, and about 55 million living south of it. <BR> <BR>No need to get shirty. And keep you own prejudices to yourself.

Thanks for the reponses. Please think good thoughts for the weather, roads, Liverpool and Celtic.