Plymouth to Holyhead

mikesp

Hi there guys,

I'm going to drive from Plymouth to Holyhead (UK), and I need your help in order to decide which route to choose.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I have a maximum of 8-9 hours to do the trip.

I've attached 3 images with the 3 different routes that Google maps offered me.

I'm pretty sure that the most beautiful route will be the last one, avoiding roadways: Bristol - Newport (I suppose that there is a bridge or a tunnel or something) - Hereford - Shrewsbury - etc BUT the previous day I'm going to drive 800kms through Spain, so probably I'll want to finish the trip as soon as possible, so I think that one of the other two options will be better.

If everything goes OK, this subforum will have a new member quite soon

Any help or advice with the trip through UK would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance

jameshayes

i done that drive in the car once, worst driving experience ever... felt like it took years off my life...

if I was you i'd get on the ferry in cherbourg and come straight home

P.C.

I vote for the second route.

You get the most of the trip done, and then the last bit is more fun.

Just make sure that you ride the A5 in daylight, it is a fairly demanding road.

goldie fish

North Wales Holyhead to liverpool route is a disaster. Avoid at all costs. The run down the Welsh valleys is nice, but not when the weather is bad, because it gets seriously foul between hereford and the severn crossing.
Weather permitting, route 2 is best.

mikesp

I will take route 2 then.

P.C.: As I'm departing at 4pm from Holyhead I'll be taking the A5 tired and during sunset... so maybe it worths to take an extra holiday day and enjoy that demanding road at 100% during daylight.

Can't wait to have my motorbike here in Ireland.

Cheers!

Dub13

goldie fish wrote: »

North Wales Holyhead to liverpool route is a disaster.

I have done this route loads of times,once on a bike and found it grand.

Marcusm

goldie fish wrote: »

North Wales Holyhead to liverpool route is a disaster. Avoid at all costs. The run down the Welsh valleys is nice, but not when the weather is bad, because it gets seriously foul between hereford and the severn crossing.
Weather permitting, route 2 is best.

No idea what you mean by a disaster; have done it loads of times with only one problem. Latest was Holyhead to South London on Tuesday. Left ferry in Holyhead at 430pm and home in London before 10pm without breaking any speed limits ad including a dinner stop. The A5 route is a bit like Sally Gap in places. Generally A5 is not even dual carriageway so lower speed limits, more junctions and opportunities to get held up.

goldie fish

I must say, the last time I drove it was in the 80s... come to think of it. Back then it was a narrow windy coast road populated by coaches and caravans, with few overtaking opportunities.

Dub13

goldie fish wrote: »

I must say, the last time I drove it was in the 80s... come to think of it. Back then it was a narrow windy coast road populated by coaches and caravans, with few overtaking opportunities.

Yea it was bad back then its only in the last 5/10 years they have upgraded most of the road.

Marcusm

goldie fish wrote: »

I must say, the last time I drove it was in the 80s... come to think of it. Back then it was a narrow windy coast road populated by coaches and caravans, with few overtaking opportunities.

With the exception of a 30 mph zone for 2 miles and 2 50mph zones which are shorter, it's 70mph road all the way on my route to London and I think the same would apply for the M5/M6/M56/A55 road which was the first route. I imagine motorway is boring on a bike but I bet it's the fastest. For scenery, you still have Colwyn Bay.

mikesp

Hi all.

I finally drove option 1: 95% motorways. After more than 1200kms in 48 hours and a ferry trip I just wanted to reach Dublin ASAP. I was also suggested (not only by P.C.) to avoid route number 2 by night, so I did it.

I only found problems linking the M6 with the A55 (I just had directions for route 2), it was 11pm and was hard to find people to ask... but finally I did my best using (embrace for the impact) a compass

BTW as it was the Estoril GP I drove part of my trip (across Spain and England) with some English kind folks interested in where the hell I was going to

Thanks all of you for your advices.

PS: It has to be said that the Queen and her crew have good motorways

goldie fish

Maybe when she sees the state of ours she'll throw some loose guineas our way.

BenEadir

Long story short. I just arrived in Roscoff for the Irish Ferries ferry home only to discover I should have been in Cherbourg :'( What a complete tit!

After surviving 'that sinking feeling' and weighing up my options i decided to take tonights 23.00 Brittany ferry to Plymouth which gets in at 8am then drive to Holyhead to catch the 17.15 ferry to Dublin target than wait for the next Irish Ferries ferry from Cherbourg to Rosslare which isn't until Monday night.

The big question I have for my fellow boardsies here is can the Plymouth to Holyhead journey be done in 7 hours in a heavily loaded VW Touareg (roof box, bike track etc - typical campsite in France setup) and if so what route should we take?

Google Maps is telling me it'll take 6.5 hours via Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester.

Doable??

Ben

goldie fish

No. Bristol is a horrible bottleneck.

BenEadir

Left Plymouth at 9am, arrived in Holyhead at 15.45 with a 45 minute stop in a service station for a burger near Birmingham.

Long drive but easily done in 7 hours.

Ben

DOC2015

Hello,

Sorry for reopening such an old thread but I thought someone here might know:

Hoping to buy a car in Plymouth next month...I've never bought a car in the UK before but I've done a good bit of research on it. The only thing I'm not sure of is the best way to get to Plymouth. If I'm going over I'd be hoping to get an early flight from Dublin to either Cardiff, Bristol or Southampton. But then it's still between 2 and a half to three hours drive to Plymouth.

I'd drive it back then to one of the ports to end up in Rosslare or Dublin (hopefully all in the one day - optimistic I know but I'd have all the inspections done on the car and pretty much a done deal before I even get there, pending my own test drive obviously)

The forums say to get the dealer to collect you, but I can't expect them to come that far can I?

DJMG92

Hey,

I lived in Plymouth for a while and drove back and flew between there and Dublin regularly.

For flights, Ryanair to Bristol is the best option, the drive from Bristol to Plymouth is about 1 hour 45 mins. Hire a car with Europacar. Select a drop off in Plymouth (they have a base there). Or you can grab a train, there is a shuttle from the airport to Bristol temple meads train station. The train is quite expensive at about £70 for a single so hiring a car may be cheaper.

Going back, I'd go from Holyhead. The drive is about 6 hours. I've done it about twenty times. I will be doing it at the end of January again to visit the partners family.

PM me if you have any questions

Dubl07

DOC2015 wrote: »

Hello,

Sorry for reopening such an old thread but I thought someone here might know:

Hoping to buy a car in Plymouth next month...I've never bought a car in the UK before but I've done a good bit of research on it. The only thing I'm not sure of is the best way to get to Plymouth. If I'm going over I'd be hoping to get an early flight from Dublin to either Cardiff, Bristol or Southampton. But then it's still between 2 and a half to three hours drive to Plymouth.

I'd drive it back then to one of the ports to end up in Rosslare or Dublin (hopefully all in the one day - optimistic I know but I'd have all the inspections done on the car and pretty much a done deal before I even get there, pending my own test drive obviously)

The forums say to get the dealer to collect you, but I can't expect them to come that far can I?

Would FlyBe from Belfast to Exeter be an option? Then the dealer would have no excuse not to collect you.

DJMG92

Flybe also fly from Dublin to Exeter, but it's not cheap.

DOC2015

Thanks very much DJMG2 and Dubl07...never thought of renting a car and dropping it in Plymouth...will also check out flying from Belfast as an option.

Dubl07

DJMG92 wrote: »

Flybe also fly from Dublin to Exeter, but it's not cheap.

Never did Dublin-Exeter so thanks but their Dub-EXT flight on say 8th Jan is €49.50. It arrives very late in the day so a B&B would probably be required. It's all swings and roundabouts.

DOC2015

Dubl07 wrote: »

Never did Dublin-Exeter so thanks but their Dub-EXT flight on say 8th Jan is €49.50. It arrives very late in the day so a B&B would probably be required. It's all swings and roundabouts.

Ya there's so many options...also I really need to go either Fri night or Sat early morning to be back for work Monday morn.

DJMG92

€49.50 is cheap! Must be because of January. I've paid €500/600 return on that route before!

exaisle

Firstly, Consider returning via Fishguard/Rosslare. Ironically, the roads from Rosslare to Dublin are far better than those to Holyhead...and its the shorter of the two options timewise.

The M5/M6/M56 is a disaster area at the moment. Unless you're travelling at night/early morning, I reckon you can add the best part of an hour to what routeplanner will tell you. If you do decide on Holyhead, consider taking the A449 to Kidderminster, A442 to Bridgnorth, A458 to Shrewsbury, A5 and then A483 to Wrexham and on up to the A55. That bypasses all of the motorway road works and contra-flows and although you wont go as quickly you'll make steady progress all the way....I've used that route three times in the past year during the day and I've never missed a ferry because of traffic holdups...

Pat Dunne

exaisle wrote: »

Firstly, Consider returning via Fishguard/Rosslare. Ironically, the roads from Rosslare to Dublin are far better than those to Holyhead...and its the shorter of the two options timewise.

I'm with exaisle all the way on this one, drive to either Fishguard or Pembrooke and on to Rosslare for Dublin.

I've driven this route countless times and tried all the options South Wales to Holyhead, up through the centre of Wales on a tight schedule and in potential bad weather at this time of year is a chore. Bristol / Bath on through the Cotswolds, West Midlands, Chester, Shrewbury tried all the options over the years and the handiest of the lot, is to land in Rosslare and on up to Dublin.

stewygriffin

For me Dublin-Holyhead-Surrey is shorter in milage than going Dublin-Rosslare-Pembroke-Surrey.

Irish Ferries also have the fast boat so that gets you over to Holyhead much faster than the slow boat.


Agreed though that the roads down to Rosslare are nowadays much better and smoother.

Dubl07

I find that driving from Cornwall to Pembroke then ferry then a drive to Dublin leaves me utterly shattered. I much prefer to leave early, take my time via Betws y Coed or go a bit faster via the north coast and have time to shut down and relax on the ship followed by a very short journey on the Irish side than to end up with a long drive on both sides of the sea.