A Conversation for The Unofficial h2g2 Christmas Party 2004
It's all about timing
coelacanth Started conversation Nov 22, 2003
Now, I'd like to be there of course, but I have a problem. I'm in Bristol for the day on a course which finishes at 4pm and I was going to drive there and back home in a day.
Can anyone who has done this journey before tell me the likely time it will take to drive from Bristol to London on a Saturday afternoon? Legal speeds please! 
It's all about timing
2legs - Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side... Posted Nov 24, 2003
Hmm, no idea 
But will be great if you can make it 
It's all about timing
GreyDesk Posted Nov 24, 2003
Central Bristol to say Heathrow should take you no more than a couple of hours. The fun and games begin when you get to London.
My advice would be to carry on along the M4 until you hit Hammersmith (J2 I believe) then dump the car somewhere around there - lots of well lit residential streets. Then carry on to the meet by tube.
I'd say it would take you 3, maybe 3½ hours tops for the whole journey 
It's all about timing
coelacanth Posted Nov 24, 2003
Thank you for the ideas. I shall study my maps carefully. 3½ hours doesn't sound too bad on its own, but on top of a 4+ hour drive in the morning and then sitting in a room on a course all day, by the end of the meet I'll still have a 1½ hr drive left before getting home, so perhaps I'd be pushing it a bit to fit everything in to one day.
Driving right into central London on a Saturday night doesn't bother me in the slightest. I've always done this for the meets anyway. I feel much safer that way and it's free to park.
It's not so much the going *in* to London by public transport early in the evening that bothers me. It's the journey *out*, after the pubs have shut, where I wouldn't feel safe. I absolutely would never, ever, travel alone on the Tube that time of night, even if it was to a well lit residential street I had never seen before in my life, in a part of London I didn't know at all. So I think the Hammersmith parking option is out for me - if I'm that close I might as well just carry on into central London.
This clearly needs thinking about, but thanks for the help. 
It's all about timing
Lightman Posted Nov 28, 2003
Autoroute calculates aprox 3 1/2 Hours
Centre to centre. Finding parking space! Who knows.
It's all about timing
I'm not really here Posted Nov 28, 2003
It won't be the same without you if you can't make it! 
It's all about timing
dasilva Posted Nov 28, 2003
I've lived in Salford, I live in Birmingham, I have no qualms about the safety of London 
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It's all about timing
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