[snip]
We use the A1 when travelling between Leeds and London. Much more pleasant*, and seems to take just as long as the M1.
*Pleasant, that is, until someone grinds their way through the nearside door skin and damages the rest of the nearside when they try pushing you into the central reservation barrier as you overtake them... At least he fessed up to the insurance.
Fair enough. Nice area. And as you say you don't need to thread the inner mess.
St John's Wood spans Camden and Westminster. IIRC Camden does have a fair few spaces (both pay & display and residents') on the St John's Wood side which are free at weekends.
Just in case your esteemed researcher has not found it, Camden has a site where you can check parking street by street:
:-)
I one borrowed a trailer to fetch two cars down from oop north.
We had one on the recovery vehicle and another being towed on another trailer behind.
We bought some dodgy cheap diesel up there..engine produced volumes of white smoke under acceleration..coming back going up a hill on the A1 we got overtaken by an army tank transporter. Our top speed was 30mph, he managed 40....how embarrassing. Fortunately a refill of diesel fixed the smoke,and the trailer went back to its owner in the same condition it left..
For traffic try this:
I prefer:-
I live 15mins from UCL but these days rarely go further N. than the M25. So I can only comment on the bit I know. I always expect at least an hour from here to A406/M1. In the early hours it can be 40 minutes, I've known it take two hours. Remember you wont be the only parent on the road Saturday.
The problem is not so much the centre as the endless suburban high streets filled with Saturday shoppers. Here in the centre, apart from the west end it's very quiet at weekends.
Both seem very very quick, how far do they say and what does that give you as an average speed? Even though the routes are motorway and/or dual carriageway an average over 40 or 50mph is rather optomistic if you value you licence...
As a rule of thumb, to include T and P stops etc, 30mph average is a good guesstimate to get an overall journey time from the distance.
As for the routes, the M1 can be chocka and is boring, the A1 has roundabouts and you can get caught behind one truck doing 56mph and another overtaking at 57mph... It's less boring and it's easier to dive off for a stop in a village or town rather than a service area. I'd say if you aren't in a hurry and are happy with "we get there when we get there" the A1 is the more pleasant and stress free route. I hate three lanes of motorway traffic all doing around 60 to 70mph.
I've found that TomTom with the live traffic data works well in London. My uses nowadays are limited but I sometimes need to get to Limehouse and back out to north London as well as occasional trips to Hammersmith and Heathrow. TomTom has worked well for me even in heavy traffic and I've had routes suggested that appear to avoid the worst of the clag that permanently affects London.
Agreed out in the sticks as well. Twice lately I've been impressed by the way TomTom live traffic has identified hold-ups and routed me round them. Late for a flight I was baffled at being directed off the main road well before the airport, but I went with it and was deftly routed to my destination on minor roads, catching occasional glimpses of the stationary traffic on the road I would have been on.
So if the OP is mainly interested in doing the journey as quickly as possible, I'd recommend a TomTom.
The route down (and up) the A1 is far more pleasant than the M1/M18 route and at least in terms o fHarrogate/London is roughly the same timescale. I avoid the M1 because of the roadworks by Luton.
The M1 drops you off at Staples Corner with a short journey east of a few hundred yards before you turn off at Brent Cross to take a right turn over the A406 onto the A41 southbound and onto the Finchley Road about a mile later - be in the centre or outside lane as you go up a short hill as you will turn right at the top at the lights. (You will see an Esso garage on your right.** Saturday traffic should see you into St. Johns Wood near Lords Cricket Ground in no more than 30 minutes.
The A1 joins the A41 at Apex Corner in Mill Hill. Follow that southbound until you go to Fiveways Corner where the A1 goes to The City and the A41 goes to the West End. There is a BP garage on the right about 400 yards north of this junction. Make sure to be in the centre or outside lane. Take the West End route and you are just 2 miles north of Brent Cross on the same road you would join from the M1/A406 route.
I wouldn't use West End Lane as it is a narrow winding road that can have delays - just stick to the Finchley Road (unless of course her address is off West End Lane :-)) )
** When you turn right onto Finchley Road, be in the outside lane if you want to use West End Lane as you turn right into it at the next set of traffic lights about 100 yards away.
Use your toilet. The entire south is one big shithole.
Oh, nostalgia. I used to live at the junction of West End Lane and the Finchley Rd.
What - in a safety deposit box !! :-))
*grin* The junction at the North end. In a block of flats called Buckingham Mansions.
Sounds like a service anyone considering moving house should look into
Details please.
Which used to be a (relatively) cheap fill-up before heading north.
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