Best Driving route to Cornwall? Any tips welcomed :)

[vanthorne]

Hi all - a bit trepidacious about the 5 (or 6 hour?) hour car journey to Cornwall that is coming up and never driven that way/far before with kids.

I was wondering if anyone has a good tip on best route to take (or roads to avoid!)...we need to end up near /Looe/Liskeard (off A38) and need to get there by late afternoon (between 4 & 8pm) on a Friday.

For example looks like there are 2 roads heading in that direction - A303 or A35 for starters and wondered which might be best.

Also any advice on short stop off for kids to stretch their legs on route (which I thought might be a challenge if we are doing motorways/A roads most of way).

Thanks in advance for any help/tips you can offer to a novice of this area of England!

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--- I had this posted in the Family section but someone suggested this might be better placed in lounge. The feedback so far is that I should take the M4 (west) then the M5 to get me down that way and avoid both A303 and A35.

The concern now is how to join up with M4 best...as its soo far west and we are all south east. Do we go thru london directly west or head east to join the M25 asap and then spin around on M25 anti clockwise to join with M4?

What do the experienced drivers think about getting to M4 the fastest?

Thanks a million.

[????]

Camberwell New Road-Vauxhall bridge-first left Embankment, to A4-M4, No way M 25...it could take you as long to get to the nearest bit of the M25 as it does the M4. We go down a lot and alternate between A303 and M4/M5 but the latter is normally quicker although less scenic and more miles.

[Marmora Man]

I'm with ???? - we do this journey a lot. If speed is the key then M4 / M5 but we usually prefer to take it slightly slower stopping off as and when.

Two stops offs to try on the A303 route - Heston Blumental's Little Chef at the beginning of the A303 or the Lamb Inn at Hindon - which is almost at the halfway point London / Launceston.

[paragon]

Ditto - M4 is by far the best route if you can get to it in good time and the best route is over Vauxhall bridge and hug the river. South Circular out to the M3 is a nightmare 100% of normal driving times.

Saying that we left to go to East Devon at 4am one morning and flew down the A303 in no time atr all. I would strongly suggest you leave early and stop for a leisurely lunch all MM suggestion.

[vanthorne]

This is really great advice...thanks everyone. I think I would have started in completely the wrong direction and still be driving 10 hours later if I hadn't listened to voice of reason and experience...(what was I thinking re taking the M25 around). I have had bad experiences getting thru london on south circular so its good to have that alternative vauxhall bridge and the A4 straight into M4 option - that sounds relatively straight forward (traffic permitting).

Leaving mega early not an option due to working late the night prior but great idea for another time- especially like the idea of sleeping children in the back seat making the journey far more pleasant!

Many thanks again all. Will let you know how it goes...

[bob]

Just done that journy M4 M5 A30 about 5 hours.

Bob S

[Sherry]

I used to live in Cornwall and travelled the route up country to London on a fortnightly basis. I always chose the south circular; M3; A303; A30; A38 (although I was in Truro so followed the A30 all the way down, and don't know the A38 stretch well) But I always had a clear road both ways (apart from the snow closing the road once!), and preferred it to the M4/M5 every time. I would be door to door in 5.5 hours (an hour being taken up just getting from the top of Cornwall to Truro) And I recommend MM suggestion for stops Heston's being on the west bound carriage way. Also there is Stonehenge on route. The view is beautiful. Enjoy the trip. I'm rather jealous I love it there. Looe is beautiful and Fowey beyond.

[suzza22]

Hi, If you go the A303 route I would avoid the StongeHenge section by going on the backroads. We got stuck twice here in a traffic jam for nearly 2hrs, with kids! I think people slow down to take a peek and it all bottles up in the holidays. Good luck!

[vanthorne]

Hi all,

A bit of a report on how things went. Unfortunately things didn't get off to great start as ended up leaving smack in the middle of the day at 12.30 so hit lunch time traffic going thru to vauxhall bridge. Our entire trip took 7.5 hours with about 1 hour all up in stops...so 6.5 hours driving time I suppose not bad considering the time we left.

The splits were about:

East Dulwich to M4 start: 1.5 hours

M4 to M5 Start: 2 hours

M5 to start A38: 1.5 hours

A38 to destination (near Liskeard/Looe) : 1.5 hours.

We decided to take the alternative A303 route on the way back and left Monday mid morning- we found the A303 surprisingly good...we also took the south circular back (A205) which wasn't too bad either at rush hour 5pmish. We made it in 6 hours driving time.

The splits were:

A38 (near Liskeard) to M5 start: 1.5 hours (as per forward journey)

M5 to A303 start : 30min

A303 to M3 start: 2.5 hours (30min rest stop not included).

M3 to East Dulwich (via A205) 1.5 hour

We liked the A303 route the best really for the scenery, but agree that the M4/M5 route is probably slightly faster if you area heading to vauxhall and M4 out of rush hour. Impressed that some people can do the trip in 5 hours or less.

It was good to try both routes so thanks to everyone for their help...now all we need to do is move to west london so we can get out of London quicker- either that or head to Kent beaches next time :)