aggiegirl

Hi,
I had set an itinerary and then had a conversation with a woman originally from Wales and she's saying that traffic is like a parking lot in the UK and that my plan is overambitious. Thoughts?
May 30-June 2 London, no car
June 2- Drive to Cardiff
June 3 -Drive to Conwy
June 4 -Drive to York
June 5 York
June 6 Return to London

Is this a recipe for disaster? Should I cut out Wales and head straight for York? York is a must for me. I want to see the town, the dales/moors, and drive the coast.
Thanks in advance!

m_kingdom2

You musn't be put off by that, there's rarely all that much traffic on those routes, and if you're clever you could plan a journey avoiding major roads, i.e. motorways, to create more of a "scenic" route.

Surfergirl

M Kingdom is right. Not a recipe for disaster. We did a similar route -- okay, it was a number of years ago, and traffic has become worse everywhere, but even last summer driving even on the M25 and the M4, and it was pretty much a breeze compared to southern California.

nytraveler

We have driven in the UK plenty of times - and the only times - outside of central London - when we saw traffic was on Bank Holiday weekends. However, if you take a scenic route thrugh small towns it can take forever to get anywhere.

My bigger concern is that you have left yourself very little time to see anything - I think you've packed in too many places - unless you just want to drive through rather than stop and see the sights. (We spent two and a half days in York and still had a lot left to see in the area.)

IMHO I would concentrate more.

janis

are all your drives doable - yes. Are they advisable - IMHO no.

Essentially, your full trip (outside of London) is driving from one place to another. Do you want to see/visit things along the way? If so, one night stays in this large loop route won't give you time to see much.

I drive all the time in the UK - but if I were doing this itinerary in 4 days I would drop Cardiff - a neat place but your really don't have the time. I'd just to N Wales and York -- OR more likely I'd just do Yorkshire.

And I would consider taking the train instead of trying to drive from/to London.

janis

Meant to add - may reasons are not because of traffic - but because of the distances involved over such a short trip.

Gavin

You do not say how much, if any, experience you have with driving in the UK. My initial experience was that it was very tiring and stressful dealing with all the differences. The good news is that it gets easier with practice. The standard of driving is quite high which helps too. I would not do this itinerary as it has too much driving for me.

aggiegirl

In reply to the question as to my experience driving in the UK, I have never driven in England, but I have driven extensively in Ireland in the last two years and I'm comfortable driving on the left, etc.

What type of drive time could I expect from outer London to Conwy? Also, Conwy to York?

ViaMichelin's website indicates approximately 4 hours from York to London, does this sound accurate?

Do families tend to take the whole week off on a bank holiday weekend and head out for places like York, Scarborough, etc?

Patrick

I'll agree that the issue isn't the traffic -- it's your goals. What thrill is there to spending a day driving to Cardiff for a few hours, the next day driving to Conwy for an hour or two, and the next day driving to York? Is driving and watching the countryside whizz by your goal. If so go for it. If on the other hand you're looking to see, enjoy, and experience any of Wales, you haven't built in any time to do so.

aggiegirl

I guess the mentality I set out with is better only a half day or so in towns like Cardiff and Conwy then none at all. I have to admit I'm now leaning more towards London and York only.

P_M

I'm glad this thread was posted because I was going to ask a similar question. We will be arriving on Sunday, May 29. On Janis' good advice we will only drive as far as Windsor that day, as we will be jet lagged. On the next day we planned to drive to Blenhiem Palace for the morning, then on to York. This will be Bank Holiday Monday. Will traffic be a nightmare?

(Note to Janis--We eventually found a hotel in Windsor that suits our needs. I remember telling you on another thread that we were looking elsewhere, but we later decided to spend that day in Windsor.)

Maria_H

Don't forget that 30th May is spring bank holiday Monday and that week is a school holiday, so traffic could be heavier than normal and hotels could be booked up. The weekends in particular could be busy, especially heading to tourist areas. I'd follow Janis's advice and drop Cardiff, at least. For reasonable accurate travel times, see:

http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp

flanneruk

aggiegirl:

None of those drives will take more (or much less) than 2.5-4 hours, unless something very odd happens. All but the Cardiff-Conway (we don't speak Welsh on this board do we?) bit, and the first few miles of the Conway-York bit, are on dual carriageways, and only your drive back to London is planned for a time or route with a likelihood of especially bad traffic.

Your friend who remembers traffic like a car park either has a rotten memory or drove only on bank holidays. I'd stick with your original plans.

PM: traffic in unlikely to be a nightmare on much of your route, though getting in and out of Blenheim on a bank holiday can take a while and the ring road round Oxford can build up traffic towards lunchtime. Start early and you'll be fine.

If you take the fastest route from Woodstock to York (A4095, B4027, A34, M40, M42 north, A42, M1, A1),you're mostly going against the prevailing traffic. There are a number of potential bottlenecks though and it's virtually impossible to predict them.

So the usual rules of driving in Britain apply: keep the car radio tuned to a national radio station (like Radio 4) make sure you understand how the RDS system works (I'm sure all hired cars have one these days, but many Americans seem not to understand it) and is switched on, and make sure you have a proper road atlas (NOT the piece of toilet paper car hire companies give you). Be prepared if the RDS produces a blockage announcement for the navigator to plot a rapid reroute.

P_M

Flanneruk, thanks for so much good information, especially about Radio 4. I have made notes of the route you have outlined.

I have a map that was given to me by Hertz about 10 years ago and I was already thinking I should get a newer one. I know they have UK maps by Rand McNally at the bookstore, so I'll pick up one soon.

janis

P_M: flanner gave you the info re a good route. the first three (A4095, B4027, A34) are just short jogs to get from Woodstock over to the M40.

I'd just wait until you get to LHR or better yet in Windsor to pick up your road atlas. Almost every book shop, news agent and petrol station will have them. You will have a better choice and they will be MUCH cheaper. For instance the last AA atlas I bought (last June) in a Kent garage cost £2.99 (special promotional price) whereas the same one costs $21.95 at my local Barnes & Noble.

The RDS radio system he mentions is terrific. If your radio is on, it will switch to the road alert and then switch back to the program you were listening to. And with the road atlas open and in the navigators lap you can make route changes on the fly if needed.

P_M

Another good idea, Janis, it would make sense that UK maps are cheaper and more plentiful in the UK. Hopefully I can find my way to Windsor using the "toilet paper" map, as Flanner calls it.

Frances

Even though you are accepting that you will spend a lot of time in the car, the route from Cardiff to Conwy is pretty and interesting if you travel the A470.If you take it as far as Dolgellau and if the day is clear the views as you climb towards Cader Idris are fairly unforgetable. They will divert you from the caravans you will be following (slowly at this stage as the road is steep)!The faster route is up to Hereford and Shrewsbury and Wrexham but to my mind the A470 is the best option in daylight.

Frances

I have just reread your original post.You could do all this more comfortably by taking the train from London to Cardiff late evening(only takes 2 hours or so) and therefore gaining a day. Pick up your hire car in Cardiff. Proceed as planned to York drop car and train back to London.

aggiegirl

Hi Frances,
Thanks for your comments. I was wondering though, isn't there nice scenery to be had driving between London and Cardiff, interesting things to stop at spontaneously, etc?

janis

aggiegirl: Yes there are LOTS of things to stop and see enroute between all these places. But not on the Motorways - and you will have to take the main roads/motorways if you hope to make this loop drive.

There are places like Avebury, Bath, Lacock, Castle Combe, Bristol, Chepstow, Tintern and a ton of other things twixt London and Cardiff. But you are only taking a day to make the journey so you don't have time to see much except maybe Avebury.

Same thing between Cardiff / Conwy, and Conwy / York. Your planned itinerary could easily fill 2 weeks.

If Cardiff, Conwy and York are all musts you are much better off taking the train and actually spending some time in the three towns instead of hours behind the wheel just getting there.