Drive time - Holyhead to Folkestone

Tommi

Just wondering if anyone has done the drive from holyhead to folkestone? If so whats the drive time, i want to drive across to poland and in minimal time. Any suggestions or alternative routes? Any help much appreciated.

I would say you're looking at at least nine hours on the road, twelve if you include stops.

I've regulary done Holyhead to Northampton in 4 1/2 hours and Northampton - Dover 4 hours (off peak).

Fratton Fred

Personally I would be more inclined to go Rosslaire - Pembroke and go M4-M25M2. If you get the ferry that arrives at midnight you should be able to do it in 6 hours comfortably.

loyatemu

ferry to france? - probably less driving involved and on quieter better roads. Irish ferries are doing a lot of deals over the autumn, and theres also Celtic Link which is a glorified freighter and probably quite cheap as a result.

Davidth88

I have driven H/Head-London many times , its about 5.5 hrs, Folkstone is about 2.5 beyond that ( without stops ).

Folkstone is a funny place , most of the x-channel ferries are from Dover, Dover is much easier to get to for that reason.

The M25 can be very touchy, you want to try to hit that well off peak.

FrattonFred , if the OP is going from Dublin then Rosslaire isn't really an option because its an extra couple of hours to get there also , then the drive is very similar , I have also driven that a lot , from Pembroke/Fishguard to the m/way is a bit of a pain

My route would be HSS-> H/Head, then to channel tunnel , then get going from there.

Fratton Fred

Davidth88 wrote: »

I have driven H/Head-London many times , its about 5.5 hrs, Folkstone is about 2.5 beyond that ( without stops ).

Folkstone is a funny place , most of the x-channel ferries are from Dover, Dover is much easier to get to for that reason.

The M25 can be very touchy, you want to try to hit that well off peak.

FrattonFred , if the OP is going from Dublin then Rosslaire isn't really an option because its an extra couple of hours to get there also , then the drive is very similar , I have also driven that a lot , from Pembroke/Fishguard to the m/way is a bit of a pain

My route would be HSS-> H/Head, then to channel tunnel , then get going from there.

I think it depends on what time of day. I quite like breaking the journey up a bit by taking the Pembroke ferry, especially if I'm with the family.

If I'm on my own though, yeah, HSS to Holyhead and motor straight through with a few cans of red bull and a packet of fags:D

Note to OP, always, always take the M6 Toll road (Midlands Express), even at 2 in the morning, it is a much nicer road.

Davidth88

Note to OP, always, always take the M6 Toll road (Midlands Express), even at 2 in the morning, it is a much nicer road.
Today 10:32

I concur, and although I would advise against speeding , and never do it , there are no speed cameras, little speed checking done on this motorway.

Fratton Fred

Davidth88 wrote: »

I concur, and although I would advise against speeding , and never do it , there are no speed cameras, little speed checking done on this motorway.

:D

do anything below 70mph opn that road and you feel like you're not moving

yayamark

I travelled to and from cologne in the last month.

Used folkstone/ calais on way over

Used Europort/Hull on way back.

The Europort /Hull was very hand takes a lot of driving off and the ferry is very comfortable, ahuge ship with loads on board.

Hull to Hollyhead is very handy, its just straight accross england a couple of hours.

My two cents

yayamark

yayamark wrote: »

I

Hull to Hollyhead is very handy, its just straight accross england a couple of hours.

My two cents

It's a lot more than a couple of hours! best part of two hours to cross Wales alone.

Bogger77

Tommi wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has done the drive from holyhead to folkestone? If so whats the drive time, i want to drive across to poland and in minimal time. Any suggestions or alternative routes? Any help much appreciated.

have done this is 7 hours, but that was being on the speedlimit most of the way, as ferries from France were held up.

9hours if doing it at night, the worse section is around Birmingham. Muck at all hours.
There's also (well was 3 weeks ago) at the Luton end of the M1, so might be worth avoid the M1 route to M25. (M6, M42.M40,M25,M26,M20, as alternative)

Victor

Remember that the Channel Tunnel is having problems, so allow time to get to the port.

Fratton Fred

Victor wrote: »

Remember that the Channel Tunnel is having problems, so allow time to get to the port.

I believe the M20 is still closed between J11 and 12 for operation stack.

darst

I am arriving holyhead 11am thursday mid june driving to folkestone and have been looking at many different routes and reasons for theses routes. I am leaning towards this one. any thoughts would be appreciated. looking at taking the A50 to link up with M1 instead of taking the M6 Birmingham and hopefully an easier time of it around london going east along M25 en route to folkestone.

alentejo

I have done Hollyhead to Dover and it takes 8 to 9 hours. If you get caught at a jam (on which the probibility is quite high) it could take you more.

I did find on the last hour of my journey I was knackered so be careful. You get very tired driving on 300 plus miles of motorway.

seanmacc

I work for one of the ferry operators and we sell landbridge tickets to Polish lads all the time. Off the late cruise ferries where you're arriving after midnight a lot of these guys say it can easily be done in 5-5 and a half hours. You're not hitting much traffic at those hours and its easily done apparently. We always recommend to people to allow 8 hours. Bear in mind the Eurotunnel is very frequent and very flexable. Generally when you arrive early or late they'll get you on the next available one once they have space.

darst

so I did the drive and ended up going the m6 route and what a nightmare.
5 screaming kids and stuck in a jam for 4 hours. couldn't even get off anywhere and go to M1 as part of that was closed also. Ferry arrived in holyhead at 11am and I arrived in Northampton at 7.30pm...lucky i had book a hotel in northampton with a view to tackling the london part of the journey very early next morning. I set off from northampton at 5.30am and it was the right move but then what happens...when we get to euro tunnel there is a four hour delay due to stowaways in the tunnel...unbelievable. French side went fine..Coming home I did go the M1 A50 etc and all in was a much better route. I dont think i will ever drive across England again as the chances of getting caught in horrible traffic jam somewhere along the way are high and also the French side seems to be better. That said if it was a late ferry and the kids were asleep in the car for hours it maybe worth thinking about