Location: Crewe station buffet, wish I'd stayed there!
I suggest you phone the club in the morning for clarification but I would assume that they have partly filled another coach and don't want to take any more bookings once that is filled otherwise they would be running it at a loss.
Location: Crewe station buffet, wish I'd stayed there!
Mr Wendal wrote:Thanks TD, but I don't fancy leaving Cheltenham at 2:30, far too early for me
Leave it any later in a coach and you could miss kick off, don't forget you have to get across to the other side of the City.
It is not an easy drive even when you consider you are going "against the tide" on the way in with all the traffic leaving London at that hour but once you reach the Square Mile you will hit traffic going east.
If you are going A40 beware of Oxford. After around 4pm the traffic can build up as you reach the ring road. Surprisingly the Boleyn Ground is only 103 miles from Cheltenham (according to the AA Routeplanner) but it involves a lot of urban driving in traffic. Also, please take a note of George Dixon's travel and parking advice at the top of the message board. James is also putting this on the official site.
Its some time since I have been to West Ham, so I cannot say what the current parking restrictions are - but in all highly residential areas such as West Ham, the residents alone fill most of the side street parking, so you need to be prepared for a 20 minute walk in if relying on street parking. In most areas of London, resident's bays are time limited making them free after 6.30, but there may be extra match day restrictions.
The route in is either M25/M11 (quite a long way around), North Circular Road or directly down the A40 and along the Marylebone/Euston Roads (avoiding the congestion zone - I cannot remember the exact time the zone runs to, if you drive in it by yaccident it is still possible to pay when you get home, but do it before you go to bed!). All these routes can be good or bad, and it is impossible to predict in advance. Either use a Sat Nav with traffic indications, or listen hard to the local radio.
Parking on the West Side of London and taking public transport is relatively straight forward - arriving by the M40, you have a number of stations on the Central or Metropolitan line to choose from, most have some street parking nearby and quite likely a pay car park. The faster route into Marylebone is also possible, but check the train times. Gerrards Cross is not far from the M40 and should not be too difficult. From the M4, I would suggest a mainline station such as Slough (pay to park) or West Drayton (street parking). If doing this, you need to leave at least 90 minutes to cross town.