Having only passed my driving test in september I havent yet been brave enough to go on the motorway. I am going home to visit family friends etc in Feb and will have to travel from Clacton to Feltham (Heathrow area). I will be using the A12 and then the M25 and am nervous but looking forward to going home. I am leaving at 6am on a sunday morning and am wondering if this will be a good time to go, eg quieter. Any advice would be appreciated.

My suggestion would be travel before your planned journey with someone who is well experienced with motorways & what can occur, who can give handy tips on the journey & if possible go at a quieter time for one junction(depending on distance between junctions).
Even for the more experienced drivers there can be some hair raising happenings & in my experience(22 years of driving) it is far worse out there than it was 5 years ago. I sometimes wonder what will I see next...my pet hate is middle lane drivers & only Saturday a new one on me outside lane driver!!!

The problem that the OP has is that there are NO motorways in her part of the world :) The nearest to a motorway is the A12, so I would suggest as many trips as possible at the busiest time of the day as practice :) I would recommend taking someone with you on the journey to navigate for you if possible :) :) Certainly, 6am on a Sunday morning would be the quietest time of the day - but when would you be coming back ?? :) :)

Good Luck :) I'm sure that you will be fine if you take it steadily :)

Daisy

> The problem that the OP has is that there are NO motorways in her part of the world

I wasnt to know that

No you werent Lexy and thanks for the advice. Daisy I have been on the A12 quite afew times and try to mostly stay in the slow lane and just keep to a steady 60 most of the time. I was going to have a little go on the M25 but havent got round to it as it takes an hour or so on the A12 before you get to it. I probably wont come back until the next sunday although I may leave a bit later. I will be using my sat nav for directions and also my son is coming with me. He is only 16 but so much better than me at directions.

leaving early on a sunday it should be clear. just drive stready and never change lanes without looking twice
you have to do it some time

I dont though and thats the prob. I need to do it soon or I will get to the point where I will never do it and that defeats the object of driving.

> I will be using my sat nav for directions and also my son is coming with me. He is only 16 but so much better than me at directions

That sounds brilliant :) My son was an excellent navigator when he was a teenager :) :)

Best advice I can give you is the earlier the better, the roadworks and hold ups on parts of the M25 are terrible, I'm talking major tailbacks especially up to Heathrow. It's surprising how many cars are on the motorway even early Sunday morning. If you are used to the A12 as it will be dark at 6am- best time to go. :-)

Have a safe journey. :-)

Living in the Thames Valley, or as it is more often called these days, the M4 corridor, motorway driving is a way of life. For my children I paid for them to have a couple of motorway driving lessons once they had passed their tests..Maybe this would help you out too..

When my daughter passed her test she mentioned to the instructor that maybe a motoerway lesson might be a  good idea.
His reply was to ask if the family would worry about her being away overnight as the nearest motorway was in Glasgow about 200 miles away lol

;-) :-)

When you come back try not to leave it too late as by Sunday afternoon the M25 can be as busy as a weekday.
Jeff.

I've been stuck in many car parking incidents on the M25!!! I used to love driving on it, but recently it appears to of got worse. Around Heathrow is a nightmare for holdup's especially between there and the M3 junction. So as Jeff has said by mid afternoon the traffic will start to build up. It won't make driving any more difficult(just watch for the lane switchers) but a long and boring journey for sure :-)

I do drive the M25 regularly and just watch all the speed restrictions they do change and there are more camera's on that stretch than anywhere I know.
Just dont rush take your time, and dont hug a middle lane. To be honest it will be busy whatever the time but outside of Mon - Fri rush hour its a doddle.
It is well signposted, the Feltham exit is well signposted and its not as scarey as its made out. Its just an awful place to end up parked on in rush hour.

Make sure you stop for pee breaks regulalrly and put on some nice calming music and go with the flow you will be fine.

> its not as scarey as its made out

> but outside of Mon - Fri rush hour its a doddle

Hmmm :) :) :) I've lived within a few miles of the M25 since it opened (until we moved away a year ago) and I'm not sure that I'd totally agree with those comments, particularly for those who are not used to motorway driving  :) :) :)

> Make sure you stop for pee breaks regulalrly

If the OP is travelling around the north part, there is only one place to stop, at the A1(M) junction

Daisy

I will be on the North part and will have to make sure I go before I set off as dont want to stop. Should hopefully only take about 2and a half to 3 hours so should manage without a pee break lol

The northern side of the M25 usually gets snarled up around Potters Bar a few junctions along from where you join it, then at the M40 junctions, and again at Heathrow so just take your time and try and leave a decent distance between you and the car in front (not always easy with the lane hoppers). From memory the exit junction for the M11 is more than one lane so just keep focused on staying in the correct lane. It's a good idea to have a passenger as motorway driving can be unnerving for the inexperienced, just take your time and you'll be fine and hopefully not too busy when you set off.

Just an update have done my m25 journey. Left at 5.30 on sunday morning and got there at 7.45. Wasnt too bad but wouldnt do it in the dark again. The worst bit was the roundabout (brookstreet) where you come off the A12 and go onto the M25. Got beeped on that and was panicking a bit. Came back the next Sunday and left at 7, was much quieter coming back and did it in just under 2 hours.

Well done

Well done after 30 + years of driving istill hate motorways I will drive in all weathers anywhere but motorways so ur doing well

Well done you & you did it in a good time as well!

I was lucky, an ex-policeman took me on the motorway after I passed my test & yes, it was M25!  I now live a long way from a motorway but having spent 20 years driving to dogshows & 5 years driving around City of London in rush hour I think I've done my apprenticeship of driving.