anyone familar with the greater manchester area please could you advise me the best route to take from London to Shaw? I need to be there at 9am, and am unfamiliar with the area, understand the m62 can be a nightmare at that time of day, so can anyone recommend an alternate route?

big thanks in advance

Come up the night before? Its not he sort of trip I'd like to make if I really had to arrive by 9. e.g job interview.

Shaw as in Oldham ? M.1,M.6,M.62,M.60 for a bit, back on M.62. Its goes tits up from Junction 16 of the M.6 ! think of the M.25 at it's worst but not in a circle...just stretched out in a line ! Night before is better !!!!!

The motorways around Manchester can be a nightmare during rush hour, they are nearly as bad as the ones round London, with frequent crashes closing carriageways in the morning. If you need to be in Shaw for 09:00 then the only sensible suggestion I can give is to find a cheap B & B (or other digs) the night before.

Yup.. if its urgent.. get up the night before...

Yup, nite before! You would have to leave at 5am at the earliest! Could get a hotel room for 40quid within striking distance of Shaw, so worth the outlay.

If you went M6 -> A556 -> M60 you can come off at Oldham and go along the A62, which will take you out to Shaw avoiding the M62.

Or you could take the next junction which will take you along the A627(M) and then onto the M62 at J20, from which it's only one junction across to Shaw.

A556 can get busy, but so long as you allow a 1.5 hours or so from J16 of the M6 you should be fine...

Other possibility could be to go up the M1 and cut across the A57 and then go up via Ashton-under-Lyne and Oldham - though if your navigation isn't great it could be easy to get lost...

Rob.

A friend of mine, who was always a bit of a night owl, would always set off from his place in London (village!), at about 4 or 5 in the morning.

Drive the 3 hours to where ever he was going, then have a sleep in the car for an hour.

This way, he always missed the rush hours and got to his 9am meetings nice and fresh.

So, go to bed early, set off 1 - 2 hours earlier than you need to, get to the place you are going and have a kip.

Make sure you set your alarm on your phone or something.

If it is an interview or similar, don't sleep in the car park, especially the MD's spot. First impressions and all that. !

Recommend night before, Manchester motorway system confusing (part of M62 renamed M60, then back to M62...and both M62 and M60 have a J19 within 1.5 miles of each other.....

I used to do the early start to go Manchester to London, the morning works, but you're dangerously tired getting back (if you are coming back the same day).

Personally I would say get on the M1 and then go over Woodhead Pass which is the A628 at Junction 35A then head towards the M60. Roadworks are the problem though with speed cameras

id go with robmawer personally as we both live that end, or go night before as everybody else says.

I'd drive up the night before!

Get a good nights kip and possibly organise a meet awell.

thanks all for your advice, I did indeed drive up the night before, easy.