Bromp's on the money again (he'd have made a good lorryist), you are going in the best direction both ways.

Friday afternoons are the worse day by far, so i'd experiment on the homeward journey by slipping off at London Colney and using the M10 (now apparently A414) into Hemel, then nip down St Albans Hill and Durrants Road to avoid the hell that is the magic roundabout at the bottom of the hill, them rejoin the A41 for home.

You can always slip through Potter Bar if the M25 is solid before the A1 junction and go along the B556 via South Mimms, that brings you out at the London Colney junction again...and if you check the map a handy back route into and out of the South Mimms services neatly avoiding M25/A1 roundabout hell.

Thats just one suggestion, as Bromp suggests its worth learning back ways before you need to duck and dive when the M25 gets clogged solid.

Just remember to watch your speed on the M25 on the section which is a smart motorway (4th lane is the former hard shoulder) - this is where the unmarked speed cameras exists, and they enforce the 70 mph even when the road is empty - without a care for the world!

Dont' come off at 21a - the North Orbital Road (A405 and A414) are horrible - some very congested roundabouts.

Good luck!

Agree. The satnav tries to send me that way going between Northampton and Dover.

Tried it once. The roundabouts would be horrible at any time. Towing a caravan they were a nightmare.

I understand the North Orbital at present suffers from severe congestion at times due to bridge works, with lane closures. These are scheduled to finish at the end October, I believe.

However, in normal circumstances the North Orbital is still pretty busy in the rush hours.

Edited by FP on 15/09/2015 at 10:19

"Suggest--Ivinghoe,Markyate,Old Welwyn,Hertford etc.....one hour."

As someone who was born and brought up in the area, I'm not at all sure that this would be only one hour except on clear roads. A lovely, scenic route to be sure, and worth it for therapeutic reasons, perhaps, but not practical as a commute. Much of it is on little more than country lanes, lots of junctions and crossing other major routes.