M49, M4 and M5 Sunday 24thJuly

[Tertiary]

Hi all

This Sunday morning - 24th July - is not going to be the best time to travel in the Avonmouth/Stroud/Thornbury areas. There is a very heavy and wide load leaving Avonmouth on the M49 between 8 and 8.30am, heading onto the M4 then north on the M5 as far as Junction 13 Stroudwater(estimated time 10.30am), then U-turning and back down the M5 to the next junction, J14 Falfield/Thornbury (estimated time 11am). It is then heading down the B4059 through a number of small villages arriving at Iron Acton sub station around 2pm....

Its a very large electrical transformer being moved. 235 tonnes, 55 metres long and 5 metres wide.. It can only travel between 10 and 15 miles an hour and will straddle two motorway lanes so potentially causing some serious disruption

Just to make matters worse, the 'Old' Severn bridge will be closed all weekend for maintenance, from early Saturday morning until late Sunday evening

Just a heads up for everyone...anyone thinking of travelling might be advised to leave earlier or a LOT later...

No idea how to put a link up but if you google Bristol Evening Post, scroll down and you'll find it...

[Bob]

Thanks, and the schools break up, too.

[Tertiary]

Thanks, and the schools break up, too.

Yeah, it's going to be lovely Bob. I think we will have to camp on the lawn this weekend

[Jillygumbo]

Phew! Glad I'm going in a different direction!

[BongoBongo123]

Spotted this before we left given we were fairly close to it near Worcester. We did not have any problems but were close to this disruption. Still a nightmare drive (as always it seems) 185 miles taking 7 hours and 6 hours with a 45min break. UK roads are a bit of a joke really, handy to have warning like this.

[mikeonb4c]

Spotted this before we left given we were fairly close to it near Worcester. We did not have any problems but were close to this disruption. Still a nightmare drive (as always it seems) 185 miles taking 7 hours and 6 hours with a 45min break. UK roads are a bit of a joke really, handy to have warning like this.

Handy to have a Bongo so you can stop and have tea and a kip if it gets too much

[BongoBongo123]

It is the right vehicle to be in for sure... but ours looks normally like a refuse dump in the back after a weekend away. It goes in neat and turns into a mountain of jumble on the way home

[mikeonb4c]

It is the right vehicle to be in for sure... but ours looks normally like a refuse dump in the back after a weekend away. It goes in neat and turns into a mountain of jumble on the way home

Sad but oh so true

But hopefully it still has water and rations aboard, and maybe even a loo, unlike the poor car drivers at Dover

[BongoBongo123]

I saw notifications on the problems on the A2/Dover delays on the info boards on the M5 so thought that must be something serious, we are 180 miles away from that. I do love driving the Bongo when it is smooth, a real pleasure but as a general rule traffic in the U.K. is a serious thorn in the side, so frustrating, we waste hours and hours sitting in tail backs on every single journey. It does not matter where we are going North or West always a few hours jam somewhere. I always search "BBC Radio county name" and check their maps which are very useful but even if they say it is clear something always gets in the way somewhere some hours into the journey.

Each and every time it takes us 2.5 hours, almost without fail, to come round the M25 65 miles !!!!!

That's motoring life guess, luckily we are typically not in a crazy rush to get where we are going.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/wiltshire/incidents/road

[mikeonb4c]

Move North bb123 - i love the south but there's too many people in it

[Bob]

That's why we can oftn be found on holiday in Shropshire/Staffordshire and come August - Cheshire.

[mikeonb4c]

That's why we can oftn be found on holiday in Shropshire/Staffordshire and come August - Cheshire.