Anyway here got much experience of the North Circular?
I've got to get from J1 of the M40 (Uxbridge) to J1 of the M11 (South Woodford) (where it meets the A406 North Circular).
I've done the M25 route several times, and barring the frequent delays due to accidents it takes about 55 minutes and is 52 miles long.
OTOH the North Circular route is 29 miles, which is a fair bit shorter. But what's the traffic like? How long would it take do the 17 miles on Sunday lunchtime?
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Dont do it, everyone is visiting the shopping centres on the A406, Ikea, Brent cross, etc etc
stick to the M25.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I've never found getting to Ikea/Brent Cross that busy. Never been further round than that though.
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I've never found getting to Ikea/Brent Cross that busy. Never been further round than that though.
so really your question is misleading, and relates only to the small bit from ikea/brent-cross to a406/m11 junction?
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so really your question is misleading and relates only to the small bit from ikea/brent-cross to a406/m11 junction?
Well it's 13 miles and half the length of the entire A406, and more than twice as long as the A40->Brent Cross bit, so I'm not sure it really counts as a small bit, but yes, it's that part that I'm unfamiliar with
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the A406 near Ikea is a lot better than it used to be..... there must be changes to their car park or something, because it used to be hell on earth anywhere near the place
don't forget there are plenty of speed cameras on there with differing speed limits all over the place.......and in places it is down to one lane (how can this still be??)
if you're rigid with your speed i'd do the A406 at the time you're suggesting
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the A406 near Ikea is a lot better than it used to be..... there must be changes to their car park or something because it used to be hell on earth anywhere near the place
Ikea had a major £25m refurb about a year ago, and they actually advertised their exciting new car park.
www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/ikea_near_you/uk_wembley_reb...l
Traffic in the area does seem to be a bit better.
Single carriageway areas with lots of red lights are more of a worry in terms of delays.
I think I'll give it a shot though.
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But do note what Westpig says about the variable speed limits - 30, 40 and 50 with many changes. I think the North Circular's OK too. But you can always be unlucky.
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no ones mentioned this weekend is the final premiership games -Spurs are at home to Man city the single lane areas will be a nightmare- normally I'd recommend the 406, but this week def use the M25
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no ones mentioned this weekend is the final premiership games -Spurs are at home to Man city the single lane areas will be a nightmare- normally I'd recommend the 406 but this week def use the M25
oh dear, sounds like a bit of a nightmare. I'm actually driving on from South Woodford to just before Tottenham Hale station, going for lunch at 2pm (kickoff is at 3pm, so probably a bad time to be going). So I'm going to end up going on the A406 anyway.
The White Hart Lane traffic should be coming down the A10 though, and to get to Tottenham Hale from the East looks like I need to come off a couple of miles before that and go past Blackhorse Road station. Hopefully this route should be ok? tinyurl.com/334u2z
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M25 every time, unless the RDS nags you into diverting.
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M1 to M11 section of the 25 has been OK whenever I've driven it on a Sunday. The A406 was a 'mare when I lived in London - and that was a long time ago!!!
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I would go M25 - unless you get unlucky with an accident the traffic will be OK.
A406 on the other hand will be busy with shoppers - I find the shopping traffic on Sundays is almost as bad as Saturdays these days, don't you?
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I use both all the time
its 6 of one and half a dozen of the other
worth trying it for yourself I would say
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its quite amazing how london is the heart of the country but its had so many arterial by passes ie m25 to restore flow from the a406 i think any more furring of the system and it will have a cardiac arrest , how man has mirrored circulatary problems is quite amazing
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in a city the size and alleged importance of London...you ought to be able to go from one end of the NCR to the other at 50mph without stopping on a 3 lane road with proper flyovers etc
and while i'm on a moan........why not have the South Circular the same......and.........join the two together..........so that there's an inner M25 type road?
there's houses boarded up in Ealing that have been like it since 1980 when i first used the thing, waiting to be knocked down for the road improvements that 27 years later still haven't happened!
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in a city the size and alleged importance of London...you ought to be able to go from one end of the NCR to the other at 50mph without stopping on a 3 lane road with proper flyovers etc and while i'm on a moan........why not have the South Circular the same......and.........join the two together..........so that there's an inner M25 type road?
The South Circular isn't so much a road as a series of road signs that happen to take you round the south side of London
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I'd probably go M25.
The main argument in favour of the NCR is that it's shorter and a short traffic jam is better than a long one. But the M25 is likely to be much less stressful on a Saturday.
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The South Circular isn't so much a road as a series of road signs that happen to take you round the south side of London
sometimes.
Most of the time you end up lost for days. The last time I used it (pre sat nav days) I ended up on the woolwich ferry.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Well, I tried the M25/M11 there and A406/A40 back. M25 was 55 minutes, with traffic flowing but not that quickly due to the heavy rain.
A406 was just less than 45 minutes, but far more dangerous:
a silver Mercedes decided to undertake when three lanes merged into two and used his horn to mean "I am going to cut you up because I'm too arrogant just to slow down"
a maroon low-grade Peugeot using an inner lane to undertake at twice the speed of the rest of the traffic
various cars trying to undertake by moving from inside to outside lane and back again.
Generally far too many nutters making the road a dangerous one. No such issues on the M25
Traffic flow was generally good apart from about 3 miles before Muswell Hill.
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