M25 North
Where can you get a meal? Where can you find a free cashpoint? Where can you fill up with petrol at a sensible price? As well as the "official" sites there are many local services if you know where to go. Years of commuting and finding alternative routes when traffic is heavy mean that I have used every junction clockwise between the M40 and the Thames rather more than I would like.
Tuesday 20 October 2020
Electric Vehicle Charging
Thursday 25 October 2012
Junction 30 / 31
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Thurrock Services has all the usual facilities of a motorway service station including a hotel. Electric vehicle charging is available. Opposite the exit is the Lakeside shopping centre. Traffic for this can be heavy, before Bluewater was built queues at Christmas and for the January sales backed up onto the motorway.
Travelling clockwise this junction marks the end of the motorway. There is no path for pedestrians or cyclists over the QE2 bridge. Cyclists must use the dedicated cycle track to the Crossing Control point from where a patrol vehicle will ferry them across.
The toll plaza for the Dartford Crossing has been removed and the charge must now be paid on-line
or through a Payzone outlet.
I have found that if travelling anti-clockwise at busy times leaving the services can be a pretty slow process as you need to cross the traffic stream leaving the motorway for London.
Junction 29
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Junction 28
Tucked in a stub of the original road cut off by the roundabout is a filling station and a noodle bar in a former Little Chef. The noodle bar is owned by a small local chain and is open for lunch and evening meals Tuesdays to Saturdays and all day from noon until 21:45 on Sundays (times verified 5 Jan 2024). The filling station has toilets, a free cashpoint, a Deli2Go and a Costa Express although there is no seating or standing area for the last two.
There is also a coffee stall in the car park..
Carry on for a few more yards and the Nags Head public house is on the right. This is now a popular restaurant. Almost opposite is a Holiday Inn and just across the traffic lights by the pub a small convenience store.
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Tuesday 16 October 2012
Junction 27
Junction 26
On the anti-clockwise side take the A121 towards Epping. This takes you to the edge of Epping Forest. The Woodbine public house on the left offers food while the former Volunteer opposite is now an Italian restaurant.
On the very edge of the forest there is a parking an picnic area which is a good place to let children run off some steam.
(Updated January 2024)
Junction 25
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On the left is a parade of local shops including a convenience store, a cafe and a fish and chip shop. There are garages on both sides of the road and on the right are a McDonalds and a Burger King drive through. Both garages offer Costa Coffee and the Shell garage has an electric vehicle charging point and a small Budgeons store.