Fastest way to drive out of London

[AcedOut]

I love driving back on a Sunday, as can use most bus lanes. Most people don't bother checking the times!

[macroban]

Friday afternoon?

Streatham, (Greyhound Lane), Sutton, Cheam, Ewell, Tolworth.

[ratty]

I do the A3 all the time to get back to the fatherland. I go Brixton then down to South Circular. Over to Balham then through tooting, colliers wood. Past the Sainsbury's of death and on to the A3. This is the fastest way I have found.

[Ladygooner]

To get to the M4 I go up to Vauxhall, along the embankment, through Earls Court then left onto A4 - takes 45 mins on a good run to get to elevated section

[DaveR]

To the A3 I usually go Clapham South - Wandsworth Common - Plough Lane - Haydons Road - Merton High St and straight on

Avoids Tooting and the "Sainsburys of death"

[SteveT]

Forget Friday travel

go to bed early

get up early

earlier the better

out of london 30 minutes

take no notice of traffic lights

provided there is no traffic.

[Only me!]

I travel to Swanage several times each Summer.

Eveings are always horrendous. 4 Hrs or more.

Leave ED at 05.00 Sth Circ, M3, M27w, A31 etc.

Door to door. 2 hrs 20 mins.

Excellent MPG.

Beautiful drive with the Sun-rise behind U.

[kristymac1]

To the A3, we usually go South Circular to Clapham Common then turn off onto nightingale lane, through earlsfield - like all routes through london can be a bugger at busier times but before 10.00am on the weekend it's a breeze - and beats driving through Wandsworth......

[ASR]

the biggest downside to the M4 is those wretched speed cameras! the m40 has a few cameras at the beginning but then they dye out, as for the M1 there arent any cameras untill J6 which is when you hit the roadworks for a few miles but the rest of it is pretty quick and camera free!

[Grotty]

If you are going North/North-West, by far the fastest way we have found to get out of London is to back street up to Elephant and Castle, cross over Blackfriars Bridge, keep going straight up to Kings Cross and left onto A40....used to be a nightmare but the last few times we have done this traffic flow was constant and the hellish roadworks around St Pancras seemed a thing of the past. We have got out and back into London faster than any time we have tried coming in on the M4/earls court/vauxhall way...

[benmorg]

i've lost count of the number of times I've driven from East Dulwich to Manchester (via M4 usually), trying south of river, earl's court to M4, through greenwich & A12 towards M25, up through islington to A1 M1, across hammersmith & acton to M40 etc. etc.

I can confirm that the quickest and easiest route at any time is camberwell, oval, Vauxhall Bridge, Embankment, Earl's Court, M4. then connect to M40 to go north.

You can try and avoid heavy traffic up to Earl's Court by wiggling through Fulham, and joiningg talgarth road via baron's court of North end road (not sure which), but if you end up getting sucked into fulham palace road you can be stuck in a traffic jam for an hour (as happened last time I drove to manchester).

Best advice is to drive when there's little traffic. Saturday morning before 9 a.m. is ususually a breeze. Friday evening is the worst possible time of the week and also the most dangerous, as it's the most common time for road accidents.

[benmorg]

Grotty Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If you are going North/North-West, by far the

> fastest way we have found to get out of London is

> to back street up to Elephant and Castle, cross

> over Blackfriars Bridge, keep going straight up to

> Kings Cross and left onto A40....used to be a

> nightmare but the last few times we have done this

> traffic flow was constant and the hellish

> roadworks around St Pancras seemed a thing of the

> past. We have got out and back into London faster

> than any time we have tried coming in on the

> M4/earls court/vauxhall way...

this can work well if you're lucky with traffic on marylebone road and later on A40 (which is much slower than M4 out of london in my experience). Though crossing blackfriars & going through the City is usually very quick at the weekend.

A variant is to cross waterloo bridge and go through the underpass to kingsway and russell square, then wiggle through small roads from russell sq to euston road and then west all the way to A40/M40. But you still have to brave the A40 bottleneck. I've given up on the A40 after finding M4 much quicker once you pass chiswick.

[LibraCarr]

Hi,

I can be at any junction of the M25 after leaving Dulwich within the hour. (M23 35 minutes) I find that if I leave at 6am or after 7pm then the traffic is less. My answer is forget the south circular road, and if going north west the A40.

If I have to go to Oxford M40 I go via East Dulwich Grove, Half Moon Lane, into Brixton, left after the tube to Vauxhall, stay on the south bank, pass the dogs home then turn right to take you over the bridge. Go into Earls Court keeping at all times to the right lane as it is quicker. Turn left onto the A4 keeping in the left lane, again quicker and carry onto the M4. When you get to the M25 go northbound for a mile or so onto the M40. Far quicker than coming out of London on the A40. Use the same route for the M4.

If you ever have to go to the A12 route go via Bermondsey Tunnel, up the M11 then round to the A12, again a lot quicker.

Finally, I think if you go to the RAC website, they will do a root for you!

Regards,

Libra Carr.