Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:14:05 +0000, Dave wrote:

My route will be Preston M6 to the M42 to the M40 to the A34 to the M3
to the M27 to the M275 and then through Portsmouth main roads to
Southsea.

Thats what TomTom said, personally I'd not use the M6 across the
north of Birmingham. It's better since the toll road but can still be
nose to tail 20mph stuff. I'd drop down the M5 then the M42. TomTom
says 4h14m 265 miles around the SW of B'ham v 4h12m 263 miles over
the north.

TomTom is a bit slow, isn't it? I have done that journey back home in 3
hours in a Montego estate :-)
At the time, I didn't let our son know, as he was in the navy then and
he would drive from there to the Lake District on Friday evening and go
back to his ship late Sunday night every weekend.

If I could I also avoid the M6 south of Manchester but you can't.
B-(

That looks very interesting, as it will make the journey shorter. Does
that short stretch of the M42 have those annoying gantries with speed
limits on?
TBH I have never had a problem with the M6 traffic in Birmingham, it has
always been in Staffordshire. I'll try the M5 tomorrow, but I won't use
it coming back, as the M6 slows to a crawl where the M5 joins it going
North.

The M6 S of Manchester is always a PITA until you get North of the M62.
What I don't like in that area is the part in Cheshire that has the
chevrons on the road, everyone slows down for them and when you have
been driving for so long and want to get home they are a PITA.

Many thanks for that info.

Dave