Weighing up whether to fly or drive from Manchester for a business thing. Flight times are a pain requiring an overnight stay on Friday which stuffs a weekend thing for me.
A colleague was down there last week and it took him 8 hours with combo of accidents and r/works but 5 hours on way back.
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5 hours ? That must have been out of rush hour and involved illegal speeds ! About 6 months ago it took me 6 hours ish each way out of rush hour - that was excluding breaks and with no significant traffic occurrences - and I thought I was doing well.
I have to say that it would need to be a pretty significant weekend for me to do that again. I did check at the time that no rail service was viable, but I did wonder afterwards if I could have found some combination - i.e. drive to place x, then train to Plymouth - or something similar.
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www.airsouthwest.com/plymouth-manchester.shtml
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M5 to exeter, trains to plymouth every 1/2 hour approx 1 hour journey time
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Can you drive down the night before?
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AA says 5hrs 15mins Rochdale to Saltash so obviously male pride says I'll be looking to take 30 mins off that!
As posted previously flight times are all wrong on Air SW
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M5 to exeter, trains to plymouth every 1/2 hour approx 1 hour journey time
You might as well drive all the way here if you are going to drive as far as Exeter! Exeter to Plymouth is approx 30 minutes drive, Plymouth itself is a city without any real traffic issues.
Infact bar Birmingham and Bristol it's a pretty straightforward drive.
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5 hours ? That must have been out of rush hour and involved illegal speeds !
i can do Bath to Huyton, Liverpool in 3 and a half hours. take off say 30 minutes for the Bath to M4/M5 interchange leg and 15 minutes for the M62, and that's Bristol to Manchester in less than three hours.
Bristol to Exeter is 90 minutes tops, if Michael R is right (no reason to disbelieve him) and it's 30 minutes further on, then 5 hours is doable, nasty bits are Stoke, Birmingham and Bristol.
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5 hours is possible, it is about 300 miles, all motorway so an average of 60 should be on. However the M5/M6 junction and the M5 past Bristol are bottlenecks, no problem overnight however if a day return business trip I reckon leave Manchester at about 06:15 in time to hit Birmignham by around 07:45 then Bristol as the rush hour is finishing at around 09:15 and Plymouth by around 10:15, if youy are lucky!
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"nasty bits are Stoke, Birmingham and Bristol"
Couldn't agree more. But what about the driving conditions?
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i went to plymouth about 2 years ago thought the new half was a complete dump all flat and undulating shops but loved what wasnt bombed .............especially the church in "the middle" think i found a weatherspoons but cant really remember?
Tip ...........dont use the bus station.....
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Came back home on sunday; Wolverhampton to Saltash in 3 hours 10 minutes. Traffic quite busy but no hold ups. No stops, average about 70.
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I do the journey Rochdale -> Moretonhampstead often and have done it many times in just over 4 hours with no stops.
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If you do drive watch out for the mobile speed camera van that parks on the A38 about 5 miles outside Plymouth.
Aparently you can't do 85mph down that hill.
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Around a year ago a did Stoke-On-Trent to Bovey Tracey (15 miles outside Exeter) in 3 hours 10 minutes non-stop leaving Stoke at 6pm....Its all down to the M6. Once you're past Brum ur generally fine unless Bristol goes crazy.
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How does 4 hrs 30 mins sound from Nottingham to Newquay?
Obviously without stopping and at quiet times of day... I think its about 320 miles
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I used to do the drive every other weekend in my old 1.2 clio from Manchester. 5 hours tops! with one 15 min stop just after Brum. M6, M5, A38 if im not mistaken? Used to stay at the travel lodge on the Marsh Mills roundabout as you come into Plymouth. Its was exactly 290 miles from where I live near the city centre.
Lee
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5 hours in a 1.2 Clio - I hope she was worth it
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Nsar,
That made me chuckle, thats what my mates used to say :)
She was indeed ;-) spare a thought for her, she used to have to drive up here in an old 1.0 micra :)
Lee
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