London - Swansea Route Alternatives

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Wed 13 Oct 2004 22:00
London - Swansea Route Alternatives - Kerry Addick
I spent from 1pm to 6.30pm to drive from London to Swansea last Friday to catch the ferry to Cork.

My route was from junction 25 on M25 and then M4.

Any suggestions on how to improve either the quality or duration of the journey.

I am governed by ferry boarding time of 7pm but could be flexible regarding the day.

Returning I used the M40 to link the M4 and M25 this was preferable
to continuing on the M4.

Any suggestions gratefully received .



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Wed 13 Oct 2004 22:01
London - Swansea Route Alternatives - smokie
I was on the M4 last Friday, it was dire. Earlier accidents and road works I think. Not sure there's a better way though.
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Wed 13 Oct 2004 22:13
London - Swansea Route Alternatives - Alyn Beattie
Could go M40 A40 which runs through Oxford, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Ross-on-Wye, Abergavenny. Then A465 to the M4 just outside Swansea. Not as fast as M4 route if it is clear but more reliable for time. Certainly faster than you did it last week
--
Alyn Beattie

I'm sane, it's the rest of the world that's mad.
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Wed 13 Oct 2004 22:14
London - Swansea Route Alternatives - DavidHM
I drive almost the entire length of the M4 on a regular basis and there aren't many alternatives to it.

If you're coming from SW London then the M3/A303 may be viable if the M4 is totally blocked through Berkshire and Wiltshire but obviously J25 is north to north-east London and so it's hard to see any good cross country roads as alternatives.

If things were really desperate I suppose you could go cross country to the M40, cut across and head back down through Gloucester or the M50 but that seems like an even bigger diversion than the one I've suggested and probably riskier, too.

Otherwise I'm afraid that even the feeder roads that largely run parallel (mainly the A4) will get blocked up at pretty much any stage when the main road itself is blocked. Sorry about that.
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Wed 13 Oct 2004 22:56
London - Swansea Route Alternatives - Altea Ego
The M4 is usually one of the more reliable motorways. Ok it gets blocked towards the m25 so a diversion up from maidenhead up to the m40 and avoid the worst bits is probably called for
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Fri 15 Oct 2004 10:38
London - Swansea Route Alternatives - Truckosaurus
If you are flexible on the day of travel, try a Thursday, traffic out of London around 1pm should be fairly low.
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Fri 15 Oct 2004 11:23
London - Swansea Route Alternatives - Canon Fodder
Kerry,

I regularly go from Central London to Chippenham on a friday evening and I prefer M40 to Oxford then A420 down to Swindon to pick up the M4 at J15, where traffic is generally lighter.

Watch out for the Oxford Rush hour though, if they're all piling out of the Cowley Mini factory then ring-road is very slow.

I'd avoid the A40 west of Oxford for the time being as that's in the process of being dug up at various points.

The slow bit of this is crawling through Acton on the A40, although it's fairly consistent at least. The actual M40 is fine.

I usually take about 2.5 hours to Swindon leaving London at 5.00pm

CF
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