We are going to Cornwall in may. Travelling from Southport, Merseyside. We hope to leave about 5 am if not earlier. We want to drive straight there without an overnight stopover. Does anyone recommend this or do you think i should be booking an over night stop. Not looked at maps yet so not sure of route or how long it will take.
Thanks Kathy
------------- Warm Evening, Glass of Wine sat outside caravan......Nothing Better
I'd say if there is only one driver this is a fair old trip to do without a stopover.Why not stop at a site for a one night stop just to break the journey.
A lot of accidents happen due to tiredness and when your towing you need all the concentration you can muster.
We went to Cornwall last year and started off about oneish and just took out time and stayed at the services to take a leg stretch and have a drink, toilet break etc. We pulled a trailer and it was a great journey down we took it in turns driving and we got to St Ives at 8.30, we never got stuck in traffic, we really enjoyed it. I would try to do the journey all in one go.
I yes I would say to leave at 1am (but try to get some sleep before you leave). We went 2 years a go it was 13 hours to get there and that was leaving Stafford at 5am.
This year we are going to south devon and we are leaving Stafford about 2 am.stopping off for a breakfast then all being will setting up and having a couple of hours sleep.
It's not so much the length of the journey, because different drivers have different levels of stamina. It's the traffic you'll hit after Bristol thats the problem.
Leaving Merseyside at 5am you'll hit Bristol at 9.30 ish?
Traffic from there down ionto and through Cornwall, until you get past Bodmin will be horrendous.
Stop at Strensham Services (but don't forget to pay!!) We did this last year and will be doing it again in June. It's full of tin tent nutters and is a real good laugh!!
I did it from just outside Chester. It was a LONG drive, you get to the Devon signs and look at your map and think ' were nearly there!' but getting through Corwall itself is realy bad.
From our side of the Pennines, it takes about 6 hours. We plan on doing this journey at Easter. It will be the start of the school holidays and we are under no illusions that the journey will be trouble free in terms of traffic. We split the driving between OH and myself. We have planned a stopover on the way down but this is more because we will be setting off later than usual and we've to put another one on for the way back because we must call and see family. This will be the first time we have stopped, in previous years we just did it in one journey.
I suppose it depends on the amount of driving that your used to I drive 100/200 miles a day so find it quite normal for the first 3 hours,when I go from sheffield to newquay I get off as near to 4 am as poss so Its more of a relaxing drive down it makes a vast difference to the journey but every other caravanner seems to have the same idea but were all going together treat it as part of your holiday stopping when required and enjoying it
leaving southport at 5am you will hit the beginning of rush hour at birmingham and then the tail end of the rush hour at bristol, this place and time is to be avoided at all costs!!!!!!!!! if you can i would suggest getting everything packed up the morning before, and get to bed early, leave before 2 am and you should be ok with the traffic around bristol, have a break after then!!!! you can soon catch up on your sleep once you get to the site.
most of us that do this run for a living tend to do it so we travel during the night, it is much easier that way, and so much quieter on the roads.
a couple of years ago we did it from middlesbrough to st austell leaving at midnight and had the tent up by 8 am we had 2 stops the first at strensham and the next at exeter. no problems and we didnt even book a site either so we did very well out of it.
Touring mad my neighbour and my dad travelled last Monday from Devon to the Wirral AND back home again in the one day all to fetch another rapido confortmatic for me but that's cuz they lubs me They both said they enjoyed the journey!
I would certainly recommend travelling through the night. We have driven to Newquay for our last two summer holidays from Durham with a trailer.We travelled through the night for both journeys and made a point of stopping every so often to stretch the old legs and grab a coffee and the journey flew over.The roads were still fairly busy but nothing like they would be during the day. The site that we stopped at on both occassions had a holding field, so we grabbed a few hours sleep then. At the time we didn't have a caravan, but there was loads of vans parked up in the lay-bys on the approach to Cornwall and in the holding field that we were in, so obviously plenty of people with the same idea in mind to avoid the horrendous traffic jams during the day.
We have been to Cornwall for the last 5yrs, the last two of which we left our house about 4am (tell the wife that and we might be away by 4.30) so as to be in Falmouth for about 8.30ish without a break and taking it steady. We live not far from the Almondsbury interchange (M4/M5 split) so this will give you a rough guide for time. Whatever you do dont be anywhere near Bristol from 7-9.30am as you will just sit in traffic and all the other drivers will glare at you as they drive past thinking that it's your fault as your the one with the caravan on the back lol.
If you can, I would say stop at Michael Wood services for an hour then do the rest in one go as a lot of people do a sleep over on the A30 and then wake up for traffic all the way past Bodmin.
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Topic: Driving to Cornwall
I suppose it depends on the amount of driving that your used to I drive 100/200 miles a day so find it quite normal for the first 3 hours,when I go from sheffield to newquay I get off as near to 4 am as poss so Its more of a relaxing drive down it makes a vast difference to the journey but every other caravanner seems to have the same idea but were all going together treat it as part of your holiday stopping when required and enjoying it
They both said they enjoyed the journey!
