In may we are going to Haven wild duck in Great Yarmouth. we will be coming from Plymouth and according to a route planner its 349 miles and just over 6.5 hrs and takes us on the A30,A303 M3, M25 and onto Yarmouth.
Whenever i have gone London i have always gone M5, M4 never done the A303 route before, so what i want to know is how many services or stops are their on that route for leg stretching and toilet breaks. If it was just myself, wife and son i would go that way but we are taking my parents who are both in there mid 70s and my father had a stroke 12 yrs ago
and cant sit down for long periods and a weak bladder.
I know if we go M5, M4 and pick up M25 and get to Yarmouth that way there will be plenty of
services and its slighty longer but it would be nice to drive roads iv never done before.
Thoughts and advice please.
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303 definitely provides better roadside scenery Chris ( including Stonehenge ) plenty of petrol stations etc and of course you're never far from a town or village. If in desperate need of "facilities" just find a large supermarket. Usually they include a decent cafe and clean lavs. Much cheaper than the motorway services too. I guess you could google for Sainsburys/Tesco/Morrisons/Asda superstores etc in advance and plan your potential stops.
Those I know who live in Somerset always use the 303 to London rather than the M5/4. They say it's much quicker. Avoid obvious rush times though I suppose, but then that would apply to the motorway too.
Others with better local knowledge will advise on whether to go "under" or "over" London on the M25. Might not be much in it but I suspect the northern ( clockwise ) route will be best.
East Anglia will be nice in May.
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"I suspect the northern ( clockwise ) route will be best."
Yes definitely go north and take the M11/A11 to Norwich and pick up the A47 to Yarmouth
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Wild Duck? Think we went there a good few years ago!
Loved Gt Yarmouth, weather was always great and there was a restaurant on the front that did the biggest mixed grill I have ever had!!
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>> Whenever i have gone London i have always gone M5, M4 never done the A303
>> route before, so what i want to know is how many services or stops are
>> their on that route for leg stretching and toilet breaks.
>> I know if we go M5, M4 and pick up M25 and get to Yarmouth
>> that way there will be plenty of
>> services and its slighty longer but it would be nice to drive roads iv never
>> done before.
>> Thoughts and advice please.
There are far far more places for breaks and stops on the A303 than the M4/M5.
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>There are far far more places for breaks and stops on the A303 than the M4/M5.
Cheaper, more friendly and better quality too.
Just be aware of varying speed limits. The A303 and A30 are festooned with cameras in questionable locations.
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Good point about stonehenge and will look at supermarkets on way. Will also update
sat nav for the camera locations thanks kev.
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If there's an incident on a motorway you're stuck where you are without any facilities. You can turn round on an A road.
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The 5 minutes away website comes recommended for finding decent stopover points (I don't remember the URL, but Google should find it), though I've found the best way of spotting promising stopovers is to look the route up on Google Maps.
Then trace along the stretches of road where you think you'll want to stop and you'll find many eateries/garages/hotels/supermarkets are marked on the map. Or else, if you use ViaMichelin, it'll flag up stopping places every two hours on the routes it suggests.
Thinking laterally, if you're unsure of suitable stops (or delays in traffic), could the parents travel by train and you collect them from the nearest station to Haven? No worries about loos, stretching your legs or snacks from the tea trolley/dining car then.
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I'd use the A303 but I have to say, Stonehenge is one of the world's great disappointments. It used to be on my patch when I was a hack in that part of the world and I used to be well versed in the debates about the place.
Years ago we took SWMBO's American stepmother up to Stonehenge when her world cruise stopped over in Southampton and she asked if we could take her to see the real one instead! Mind you, she said the whole New Forest/Salisbury Plain area was like Lilliput Lane...
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>> I'd use the A303 but I have to say, Stonehenge is one of the world's
>> great disappointments.
maybe, but I have vivid memories as a kid, on the family dawn run down to the west country, traveling along the A303 as the Henge appears out of the fold on the plain with mist curling through the stones. You could stop in those days and walk round and through the stones, touch them.
Not at all disappointing. Then.
But now its fenced? with hordes of septics complaining how small it is and that they have bigger ones in Hawaii?
Not the same at all now.
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>>You could stop in those days and walk round and through the stones, touch them.
Aye indeed, and while I suppose I do understand why they stopped that, I do sometimes despair at how many things have been either banned or indeed conversely made compulsory in my lifetime alone.
Perhaps some of them needed to be I suppose. My view is that we need far fewer rules but we need to enforce the important ones more rigorously and persuasively.
Anyway, sorry Chris, major drift again, I'll um...
:-)
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.>>>maybe, but I have vivid memories as a kid, on the family dawn run down to the west country, traveling along the A303 as the Henge appears out of the fold on the plain with mist curling through the stones. You could stop in those days and walk round and through the stones, touch them.
Visited Callanish on the Isle of Lewis a few years back. No fences not many tourists and you still get that magical feel walking round the stones. Recommended.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Wed 17 Apr 13 at 17:39
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>>, Stonehenge is one of the world's great disappointments.
No, I couldn't agree with that.
Just being near the stones, and understanding that they were moved by ordinary people, so many years ago, on such a long and impractical project I find absolutely awe-inspiring.
I think if you expect it to be big, cover a huge area, whatever, then you're just not understanding. My house is older than the US, so there's not much chance of most of them understanding the significance of Stonehenge.
Although to be fair whilst I have taken many nationalities there, I did once take an American, and he was pretty impressed. I've also taken Brazilians, Chileans, various Europeans, Asians and Canadians. I don't think any of them have been unimpressed.
And for me, like I said, awe inspiring.
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>I did once take an American, and he was pretty impressed.
My dad once picked up a VIP American buyer from Manchester airport and drove him over Snake Pass to Sheffield. The thing that impressed him most was dry stone walling.
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I suppose he felt he had to say something positive given that the rest of the journey involved Manchester airport and Sheffield...
:-)
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I drove a septic from LHR to Newbury on the M4. I pointed out Windsor Castle on the left hand side, and he asked why the Queen built it under the flight path.....
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"I drove a septic..."
Septic tank?
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Wed 17 Apr 13 at 22:53
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Definitely use the A303. Far more interesting drive, quite apart from the better facilities on the route.
My earliest memory of Stonehenge was being driven past it in the back of a BRG 1924 Aston-Martin Le Mans in the pouring rain on the way back from some Aston-Martin Hill Climb meet in the West Country. I guess I was about 8 at the time. It was cramped, noisy and wet. But highly memorable!
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>> "I drove a septic..."
>>
>> Septic tank?
Yeah, one of them.
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Nothing further to add from me, A303 has plenty of stopping places and supermarkets a few minutes off it. M25 is usually perfectly alright from M3 to M11, and even if there is a hold-up it won't be a long one as the traffic management systems are properly set-up now. M25/M11/A11 to Norwich much better than A12 all the way up too; lots of break points / laybys for leg-stretching through Cambs / Suffolk / Norfolk too. Hope you have a good run MC.
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Thanks for all the input so far Im sold on the A303. I was talking to my father today about
the journey, many years ago late 60s early 70s he used to drive HGV for a company called fryers and the 303 was the main route he drove london to plymouth.
He was saying how it was all concrete in those days and wide enough for three vehicles, which gave quit a bit of brown trouser moments when cars would over take him and then someone else would over take at the same time in the opposite direction and then a game of chicken was on.
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>> He was saying how it was all concrete in those days and wide enough for three vehicles
The section from Ilminster to near Yeovil still is, example streetview here: goo.gl/maps/2I0X3
These days it's marked out with double white lines allowing 2 lanes of traffic one way and 1 lane the other, with the "extra" lane alternating between east- and west-bound every mile or so. Quite an effective way to stop solo cars getting stuck at 40mph behind caravans and HGVs.
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Oh dear, I remember that and I remember Fryers too!
Do watch the speed camera's Chris, if ever there was a road where they don't 'play fair' the A303 is one of them.
Pat
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Travel Advice - Runfer D'Hills
