[sidewinder]

Picking up someone from London Road Area of Sheffield  this Friday at ~6pm to continue onward to Keswick, as their seem to be quite a few Sheffield locals on here I was wondering if anyone here has any opinions on the merits of the two options that I can see, option A being snake pass then round Manchester, option B being up to scotch corner and across.  My initial preference was for the Snake pass option but on looking at google maps it appears that you drive around a lot of Manchester, what is this going to be like at ~7 on a Friday.  Thanks for any opinions, I am fearing quite a bit of traffic with either option.

[SA Chris]

Not sure how the other route compares, but I use that Penrith to Scotch Corner A66 quite often and unless you get stuck behind 3 combine harvesters like I did once, it's a great road.

[tomtom]

Picking up someone from London Road Area of Sheffield  this Friday at ~6pm to continue onward to Keswick, as their seem to be quite a few Sheffield locals on here I was wondering if anyone here has any opinions on the merits of the two options that I can see, option A being snake pass then round Manchester, option B being up to scotch corner and across.  My initial preference was for the Snake pass option but on looking at google maps it appears that you drive around a lot of Manchester, what is this going to be like at ~7 on a Friday.  Thanks for any opinions, I am fearing quite a bit of traffic with either option.

M60 should be fine by 7-7:30 on friday unless soemthing really bad has happened.. the E side of the M60 is normally much better than west as well (I use it alot..) and I guess you'll come off the M67, head anti clockwise on the m60 until the M61. You may well find that the snake is pretty busy at that time on a friday, so be prepared for a slow hoik over there..

I would have thought you'll be fine. Rush hour traffic starts and ends earlier on fridays on the 62/60...

[Johnny Brown]

I drive up to the south Lakes fairly regularly and am pretty convinced the Snake - M60 - M61 - M6 route is both quicker and easier driving.

The only big bottlenecks are Broadbottom (aka Glossop), though you will be going the opposite way to the bulk of the traffic, and the short section of the M60 between the M62 and M61 - not a big hassle just slow.

Edit: just remembered they're widening the A1 south of Scotch Corner so I wouldn't touch that with a bargepole til its finished. 15 miles of average speed checked contraflow.

[nai]

All being well it should be fine going Snake etc, anticlockwise around Mancs from the M67 is best and there are options in case of accidents (e.g. the M66->M65), slowest bit will probably be through Mottram to join the M67.

edit: what they said

Edit: just remembered they're widening the A1 south of Scotch Corner so I wouldn't touch that with a bargepole til its finished. 15 miles of average speed checked contraflow.

Yes, came back through this the other week, felt to be crawling along for a long way

[sidewinder]

Thanks very much, this is the kind of real world advice that is very useful, Snake it is, in light of the traffic to get out of Sheffield the other way and the roadworks and the reassurance that the bit round mancs is fine!