London to Manchester by car: two hundred miles, and where they go wrong

Every long run up the western side of England meets the same obstacle: the M6 through Birmingham carries local traffic and national traffic on the same asphalt, and when it fails, it fails completely. There is no useful diversion at that point; the A roads either side are already full of people who had the same idea.

The M6 Toll exists precisely because of this. It runs east of the city, it is almost always moving, and it costs a modest amount per car. We take it whenever the free road is slow and we do not pretend it is free, because a twenty-minute saving is worth stating plainly rather than hiding in a rate.

Four hours is at the edge of what most passengers want to do without getting out. We plan one stop of ten to fifteen minutes, usually at Corley, and it works better than pushing through: coffee, legs, and a look at what the M6 is doing before committing to a route round Birmingham.

Guests who genuinely want to run non-stop can, and we will do it. It is worth knowing that the driver still has to comply with the rules on hours and breaks, so a stop happens somewhere on a full day of driving regardless of whether the passengers get out.

The last twenty miles vary more than the previous one hundred and eighty. Manchester Airport and the southern suburbs come off at junction 19 and are reached from the M56, which is quick. The city centre means the M60 and a run in through Trafford, and that can take forty minutes at the wrong hour.

Anywhere in Cheshire — Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Knutsford, Hale — is straightforward and does not involve the city at all. Guests heading there frequently find the car beats the train by a wide margin once the onward leg from Piccadilly is counted.

A day return to Manchester by road is eight to ten hours of driving plus whatever you are there for, which is a long day for a passenger and a very long one for a driver. It is entirely possible and we do it regularly; it simply needs to be planned as a day rather than as two transfers.

Where a meeting is short and the schedule is tight, the sensible arrangement is often to drive one way and take the train the other. We would rather suggest that than sell twelve hours of car for the sake of it.