Like the title says, I’ve got a job on tomorrow, starting in West Yorks (Brighouse) then to Daventry & Norwich, it’s the second leg that’s bothering me seems like very slow going. Being a newbie I don’t have a sat nav, MS Autoroute gave these roads
Daventry to Norwich: A425/A45/A14/A11/A147
What do the experienced drivers make of that? Any suggestions for a faster route.
Will this all fit into the max of 10 hours of driving available to me? Looks to me like it’ll be pretty tight 
Are you staying overnight in Norwich. If you are doing a round trip then ‘no chance’ of getting back IMHO, its over 400 miles!, in europe you might do that sort of distance easily. Of course if you can average around 45 mph its do-able but whats the chances of that.
The route seems fine to me, doubt you could find a quicker one.
Sounds like the best bet to me mate. Once you’ve got yourself round the traffic lights and roundabouts of Northampton it’s all dual-carriageway to Norwich. Where abouts are you going in Norwich? I can’t think where the A147 is, or did you mean the A47?
Shouldn’t that read A14/A143/A140?
Or you could go A14/A11,which is shorter and takes you past Thetford,Snetterton and Wymondham.
Ken.
Quinny:
Shouldn’t that read A14/A143/A140?
It’s an option but traffic permitting i’d say A11 straight through from the 14 would be the best bet.
A143 and A140 are NOT duel carrageway…where as A11 is duelled some of the way…I would go A11 to norwich especially the way the OP is coming.
jayeastanglia:
A143 and A140 are NOT duel carrageway
You’re telling me. …although to be fair, you have a half mile stretch from the A14/A143 split to the A143/A134 roundabout, then another good couple of miles on the Scole by-pass. That’s getting on for 3 miles in all i reckon! 
As we said before mate, stick with the route you were originally given, it’s as good as you’ll get.
Cheers for the responses guys.
AFAIUI it’s not an overnighter, but I’ll have words with the TM tomorrow morning.
I don’t know the exact drops - it’s one regular feature of the agency work i’ve had, you only find the actual drops 5 mins before you’re due to leave 
Dr Dubya:
AFAIUI .
what that mean? very much doubt you doing it then back to yard in your hours
AFAIUI = as far as I understand it!
well Brighouse to daventry is 123 miles roughly 2 and half hours…daventry to norwich is 135 miles 3 hours drive…the back direct is 220 and 4 and half hour drive…all times are by multimap so it will take a bit longer and u have also got to load/unload at the places…so looks like a night out.
At 435 miles, (dependant on exact locations in these towns) Its certainly do able in a 10 hour drive, we regularly do 6 -700 kms a day on uk work, but it doesn’t allow for any major hold ups or several circuits due to diffuculty finding somewhere. Shouldn’t be a problem at Daventry, not sure about Norwich. Where you loading, Britvic?
I’d definately be pointing it out to the boss that it will be tight, taking your N/O gear & agreeing a N/O rate before going.
You may well get the answer “Well the other drivers always manage it” to which your response could be that they know where the drops/collects are & perhaps they don’t abide by the speed limit law.
Driveroneuk:
At 435 miles, (dependant on exact locations in these towns) Its certainly do able in a 10 hour drive, we regularly do 6 -700 kms a day on uk work, but it doesn’t allow for any major hold ups or several circuits due to diffuculty finding somewhere. Shouldn’t be a problem at Daventry, not sure about Norwich. Where you loading, Britvic?
Absolutely no idea until I get to the client !
Driveroneuk:
You may well get the answer “Well the other drivers always manage it” to which your response could be that they know where the drops/collects are & perhaps they don’t abide by the speed limit law.
Exactly! I’ll be talking to the Agency as I travel and letting them know the situation (on a hands free phone of course 
)
Use the A11 mate, it’s dualed almost all the way now, and a far better way in than the old [zb] they call the A47… If you’re going to hit Norwich between 8am and 9:30am then park up somewhere for a snack, and you’ll sail round instead of parking in traffic for an hour.
yep stright up a11 is best… if ur going northof city… go in via bowthorpe a47 west, if east go in via thopre a47 east, if centre, go stright up a11…
Quite a few burger vans on the southern bypass too. Thickthorn services is ok for fueling, but no overnight parking. If you have the hours, go for lunch at red lodge, or the burger van westbound in the forest about 5 miles before thetford.
If you’re going near the Airport estates, keep going in on the A11 until you reach the outer ring road, and take that round. Coming in on other roads is a bit trickier. South or north side of the city (apart from the bit up by the airport and west of there), then go round the southern bypass, and come in those ways.
FYI: it didn’t pan out, I ran out of driving time just after rejoining the A1 at Newark on the return leg, 70 miles short of base.
The guy in the traffic office seemed to think it should have been easy (because Microsoft Autoroute told him it was do-able… 
)
We told you it wouldn’t mate.
And if you look at his autoroute settings, I’d lay a tenner it’s set for car speeds.
Yep, next time the agency offer me something with this much mileage on non-motorway roads I’ll know to haggle a bit before accepting it at face value.
Trouble is, as a newbie working through agencies:
Oh well… at least I’m lucky enough to be getting some work on some kind of regular basis, I know others have posted on these forums that they’re finding work very thin on the ground
As for Autoroute, even the slow speed settings assume a motorway speed of about 59 mph 
So, did you get your night out? Where did you park?
Or did they send somebody out to get you?
More £££ for the n/o allowance & running in on day 2■■