Driving to southampton port

[rumpelstiltskin]

Never been to Southampton before.

 

We're renting a car one way from LHR & dropping off at a location near the docks.

 

We're thinking about spending the night before embarkation in the Dorset countryside.

 

I found on theaa.com website that it is less than 2 hour drive from Dorcester to Southampton.

 

I'm a bit concerned about the possibility of heavy traffic near the port which may delay us.

 

Are my concerns unfounded, or is it advisable to book a hotel room the night before?

[WatchHill]

This past May, we spent over a week driving through Wales, Cornwall and Devon. The night before the cruise, we spent in Bournemouth at a lovely hotel overlooking the water. DH dropped the rental car at Bournemouth Airport. After breakfast, a friend who resides in the town, gave us a highlight tour of the area and then drove through New Forest, stopping to check out a few of the shops and have cream tea at a beautiful old inn. We then drove to the port, with light to moderate traffic, mostly as we approached the pier.

 

Darcy

[John Bull]

A very pleasant part of the country.

Dorchester is nice enough though un-remarkable, though it does have on the outskirts the iron-age earthwork hill-fort of Maiden Castle and Thomas Hardy's cottage. Plenty to explore including the Jurassic coast, Weymouth & Portland (consider a hotel - with parking - in Weymouth rather than Dorchester), Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Corfe Castle, Bovington's excellent Tank Museum.

 

You should manage the 55 miles from Dorchester to Southampton in about an hour and fifteen, I can't imagine any significant problems other than :

- on a summer Sunday, late in the day (or earlier if the weather's foul), as Londoners head back from the coast to the big bad city.

- yes, on a Saturday there can be congestion / delays over the last mile or two approaching the docks if there are three or four ships turning-round that day, because cruise traffic mixes with saturday shopping traffic.

 

If you venture off-route into the New Forest as WatchHill did, avoid Lyndhurst - it's notorious for major traffic jams because of one light-controlled junction which fouls-up the village's gyratory system every day in high season. I do recommend a drive through the Forest, but if you want to put it on the agenda I can suggest a scenic route that avoids Lyndhurst.

 

What day / date?

What ship?

And what car rental agency?

 

JB :)