London orgers road travel help please.

I am from the north of england with no knowledge of the London road system.I will be staying with a relative in Chiswick,and this is where i will start my car journey to the 02,and whay a nightmare it looks on the map!!!.
The aa routefinder is telling me to drive through the very heart of London.
Do you think the a205 from Chiswick would be a better idea?.
What will the traffic be like on a Friday afternoon.
Any ideas?
Thanks.

road traffic on a friday afternoon (from about 2pm-8pm) will be shit in London/M25/South East.

try and avoid central london if possible unless you want to pay the congestion charge also!

The AA would be sending you the best way - from Chiswick you basically ned to get South of the river and turn left (so that the river is on your left) all the way to Greenwich. It'll avoid the congestion charge too.

But like smoo has said, traffic in London ANYWHERE at that time of the day (as especially on a Friday) won't be good at all. If you insist on driving i'd give yourself at least an extra 30-45 minutes.

You'll be better off on the tube to North Greenwich.

Like others have said, the tube would be easier for you. Assuming you can get to Chiswick Park station, you can take the District (green) Line to Westminster and then change for the Jubilee (grey) Line to North Greenwich.

If you're wanting to drive because you're going to the aftershow, you'll need to get a proper route sorted out. My suggestion:

Go to www.theaa.com/travel and then look for the route planner on the right hand side. Click "advanced search".

Type in your relative's postcode and the O2's (SE10 0DX). Tick the box saying "Avoid toll roads and congestion charging" unless you know you'll be travelling after 6pm, when charging ends. When I put in Chiswick and the O2, the planner said it would take 54 minutes. I would at least double that if you don't want to reach the O2 completely frazzled!

Hope that helps,

Max

Ok we have done this journey 4 times now leaving from Hammersmith and driving to the O2. Leaving at 6pm so far we have not arrived later than 8pm although we have not done a friday night yet.

Your best route is to avoid central london. My advice is as follows:

From Chiswick head onto the A4 until you get to the western edge of the congestion charge zone. Turn right onto the A3220 earls court road. Follow onto Redcliffe gardens and edith grove (its all one road with 3 names).

Turn left onto Cheyne walk with the thames in front of you.Follow this road with the river on your right until you get to Vauxhall Bridge. Cross the river here and head through kennington on the A3204. Follow this up to the elephant and castle.

At the elephant and castle double roundabout get to the second roundabout and take the A201 new kent road heading east. This switches into the A2 after about a mile.

Stay on the A2 now for 5-6 miles ish. You will go past new cross gate tube station, Just after deptford bridge station turn left towards greenwich in greenwich high road (A206). Follow this up into greenwich past the station and into the one way system which you follow round to the right past the cutty sark and then take the left hand turn on romney road A206. Follow this till turn left onto Blackwall Lane A2203. Go under the dual carriageway above you and carry on to the dome which you can now see.

You will arrive with signs to car park 1. DO NOT USE THIS CAR PARK unless you have paid in advance. If you havent paid already continue up and you will see the next right hand turn is for car park 2 and car park 4. Follow the signs to car park 4 and it only costs £5.

I would leave no later than 5.30pm from chiswick and given its the final night if you can i would leave at 4pm, arrive early and soak in the atmosphere.

Good luck. Its a slow but not too bad journey.

Tube all the way! Takes me 35 minutes from the same area. No hassles, no traffic, no charges, no parking etc.