Driving to Exeter - best route?

[beansprout]

Hi there,

A friend and I will be driving to Exeter this weekend. Just wondering if it is better to trek across London to get on M4 or is it possible to connect with M4 somewhere along M3. Or is it better staying on M3, A303 etc.

If anyone has any other routes or ideas do shout.

Thanks.

[womanofdulwich]

I'd avoid A303 etc if poss. But need to make an early start to get to m4 before traffic builds up.

[alex_b]

Play it by ear and use Waze to keep checking the fastest route. Usually M4 is quickest, occasionally A3 to A303 is better but it gets really congested especially in summer. Going late on Friday or very early Saturday are your best bets. The last two trips I did to the West Country on a Friday afternoon it took me as long to get from ED to the M4 as it did from there to Bath.

[DuncanW]

Alex is right. M4 then M5 is normally quickest so that?s the way to go - and I would say: regardless of what Waze says when you are heading off.

Parts of the A303 are single-carriageway so if there?s a problem, it?s likely to be a serious one.

Early Saturday morning is the best time to go. The start of the M4 is just 11 miles from here so if you beat the traffic, it shouldn?t take more than 45 mins to be on the motorway.

The M4 has a 50/60 speed limit currently from Heathrow to Reading - but it?s still the best way to go.

Have a great trip.

[beansprout]

Thanks all

[womanofdulwich]

Just to clarify early I'd say before 6.30 am.

[Abe_froeman]

There are some significant road works on the M4 at the moment

[Lynne]

As a regular user, I'd say the A 303

[mrwb]

It will be dynamic depending on traffic or any unexpected road closures etc. Use Google maps if you can.

[womanofdulwich]

Just announced on the radio about m4 closures this weekend.🙀

[beansprout]

Thanks woman of dulwich and all. If we do go will be M3, A303 route. Might start off at midnight with hope of getting there lunchtime!

[SpringTime]

M4, M5. Go early. Check closures, especially M4.

[roywj]

I use to study at Exeter Uni and always preferred the M3 A303 as it is a much more scenic route, stonehenge, pig farm etc. Also less miles than M4 M5. However, when we had young children I use to go M4 M5 as there are plenty of stops but it is just long boring motorway. More miles too.

[charlieechodelta]

We've just driven down to Dorset and trusted Waze directing us to the m4 to then go m25, m3 - absolute nightmare, best part of 2 hours to get to the m25 (at which point we were further from our destination than home) and a crazy route through back streets of Chelsea. I think my instinctive route of south circular to clapham then a3, m25, m3 would have been much quicker. This was lunchtime on a Friday.

[Seabag]

I?ve driven there many many times. I used to prefer to get to Wandsworth, then M3/ 303 and head down there that way.

(I live in Sevenoaks now, only 10 mins from the M25 which has greatly improved my work travels)

The motorway is often tempting, but ultimately it?s a ball ache, way too many miles.

But it?s timing that does it. I do a lot of events and festivals for work. I?ve never left and thought ?I wish I hadn?t left so early? but I have regretted leaving late. Leaving late is for amateurs. Nothing better than actually being on the road at 5:00am.

However once with a friend who had this crazy ?I?m going to be late? thing going on (it?s a genuine condition I since discovered) we left so early for Holyhead in Anglesey North Wales, that we actually woke the lady up who owned the B&B, much to her annoyance.

?You?ve travelled from London?!, I?ve not even started breakfast yet!?

Best of luck, have a safe journey.

[malumbu]

Go during the quietest times. IF you need to drive go through central London - Vauxhall Bridge avoids the congestion charge, then M40, and onto the M4 via Maidenhead. In quiet times the A303 is a lovely route.

If you don't need to drive train is preferential, faster and less hassle. Fares are expensive at the moment, I assume due to a restricted service. But when train travel returns to something near normal savings can help cover car hire, Uber and the like the other end.

Full economic cost of driving the close to 400 mile return is around ?180, this is based on whole life costs, and doesn't discount the sunk costs (buying, taxing and insuring the vehicle)

[intexasatthe moment]

malumbu - I'm not very good at all things directionwise/map reading ,as in really bad ,so apologies if this is a stupid query ...Looking at a map I can't understand where the M40 comes in .Do you mean the A4 ?

[malumbu]

M40 runs almost parallel to M4 for a short while. You go through central London, staying on the ring road to Victoria, round Hyde Park corner, down Bayswater and follow the signs for Oxford/M40/A40 and the like.

Elevated section of the A40, out at Shepherds Bush staying on the A40, M40 after Park Royal (this is all the same road effectively) and around High Wycombe take the A404 that takes you South to join the M4.

The advantages of this are avoiding the South Circular, which can be very busy, avoiding the A4, which can be similarly bad going through London, and the early sections of the M4 which are often very busy.

The A40 can get congested around Shepherds Bush but will tend to clear by Perivale.

I've long since been fed up of taking an hour or sometimes two to get out of London, so either go at very quiet times if I need to drive or take the train. I used to drive a lot with work in the 90s so got a taxi driver's knowledge of some of the main routes. Things change of course, but it was also pretty congested then.

Others will have alternatives for getting to the A40 or A4, but for example around Earls Court it can be horrendous.

[intexasatthe moment]

Ah ha ,got it! That's really kind of you to give so much detail .It sounds a good route .

[Seabag]

intexasatthe moment Wrote:

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> Ah ha ,got it! That's really kind of you to give

> so much detail .It sounds a good route .

This isn?t the 90?s anymore. That driving route above is nostalgic to say the least.

Avoid Earls Court, Sheperds Bush and such likes, avoid Park Royal. Avoid that whole area. Avoid motorway speed restrictions on the M4

My business is a distribution business, we avoid those areas in 2021

[malumbu]

Still use that route, but very occasionally as I try not to drive. I think that you have now advised not to use any route through London. So out down the A2 to the M25 and round then? Or the other way round the South Circ, via Woolwich Ferry (when it runs) and through NE London.

I have family that managed to go the wrong way round the North Circ to get to here.

Just teasing of course, all dependent on the time of travel but when not too crazy M40 is a good route on my limited experience.

[peckman]

Am I missing something? Get up early , fill up with petrol the night before and follow google maps ? It's not rocket surgery !

However for the record m4

[Seabag]

Who goes to fekkin Exeter anyways

It?s a dead place like Reading, that smells of Greggs.

[Sephiroth]

Having lived in/near both Exeter and Reading for several years, I would take Exeter over Reading all day long

I do think Exeter has become much more homogenised and dull over the last 10-15 years - but it will always be the place I saw Bill Hicks twice. And at that time there was much more of a buzz about the place. It's never going to be "a scene" but I like it and it's location