How long will it take to drive from Brighton to Manchester, and how would I find out the best route

Asks BorisBru

A. The fastest route is by motorway from Brighton following the A3, M25, M40, M42 and the M6 to Manchester. But if there are any road works, accidents, or heavy traffic this might not be the best route, even if it's the most straightforward.

Planning a route online takes away the element of chance from your journey, as most of the sites are updated continually to take into account any traffic problems. But as you'll probably have to check the route before you leave, it won't be the most up to date account of what's happening on the road. This is where WAP maps on your mobile phone will come into their own, but as yet the technology is a bit behind the big boys of British motoring.

The AA, RAC and Greenflag all picked the above route to get you from Brighton to Manchester, but Greenflag and the RAC would get you past the post quicker than the AA by eight minutes. They estimate a 4hrs 40mins journey to travel 265.5 miles (the AA estimates 4hrs 48mins for a 263.2 mile journey).

Q. What is the best website offering a route planner service

A. To be honest the route planner service is pretty much the same on all three sites from the AA, the RAC and Greenflag, with the RAC's taking the longest to load. Greenflag planned a route, inclusive of mileage and estimated time in five seconds which is very impressive, and didn't bother to ask me to double check my destination and confirm it twice before giving me the same route. So for the quickest route I'd opt for Greenflag, but each of the sites offers different add-ons that have to be taken into consideration too.

The AA offers its very cool Travelwatch service that enables you to beat the traffic with updated news and routes, so it's good to check this out before embarking on any journey. Travelwatch allows you to save your favourite journeys and will email you with traffic alerts. It also offers information on insurance, loans, breakdown cover, car valuations, driving schools and how to find a hotel or B&B in the UK. It can provide you with a route via destination or complete postcode in the UK. It also covers Europe.

The RAC's site is a bit more staid to look at on the home page, but works just as well and is just as good on European destinations as it is on the UK. It also lets you plan 'via' into your journey so you can make stop-offs on the way and incorporates this into its overall planned route, which is a nice touch. Other add-ons on the site include RAC membership, driving schools, buying a car, finding a hotel, checking traffic and the best of all, planting a tree!

Greenflag, apart from being very fast, also looks good with a small map (with zoom in features) on the same page as the detailed route. It offers a similar service to the other two including good insurance, with the exception of letting you download an International Driving Permit online, which is very handy.

Although I really wanted to plant a tree with the RAC, and Greenflag are incredibly fast, I really like the AA's Travelwatch service, so I'd opt for the AA as the best overall site.

Q. Are there any other route planner sites

A. Michelin Travelgives you a good route to follow, with Michelin-listed restaurants and hotels en route, but its maps are pretty basic and the site took about 10 minutes to open on my computer. Multimap has fantastic maps, but its route finder is a bit more problematic as you have to know the exact address and postcode of both the departure point and the destination before it will plan a route - which isn't always possible and leaves little room for spontaneity.

Multimap has, however, established a unique link with London Underground and offers the first interactive tube map online - which allows you to view street level maps of London and view the locations of all underground stations and use both sets of information interactively. So, you can plan your way around London online, which is a great facility for tourists, or anyone unsure around London. You'll be able to give London cabbie's a run for their money with your knowledge if you use it often enough.

Q. Do any other sites offer journey information

A. A good site is Streetmapit allows you to look at any street in the UK and allows you to search via postcode, telephone dialling code, Ordnance Survey Code or plain old street name. It also features good aerial photographs. For the road anorak's UK Gatsos is a good site to check out. It details all known Gatsos (or roadside speed cameras to us) so you can plan your journey around encountering them - how sad is that

Q. Can I access route planners via my mobile phone

A. You can, but very slowly. If you have a WAP phone you're heading in the right direction, but internet access can be problematic at the moment as its not nearly as fast or as comprehensive as your computer. Having said that, in the future you would be more likely to plan a route via your phone as it's more immediate and the network knows exactly where you're located so should be able to work out a route from there, in theory. The best one is www.wap.genie.co.uk, but you have to navigate about 20 links before it gives you a route, and then each instruction is on a separate page - which is difficult, not to mention illegal, to follow while you're driving.

More original is Multimap.com's newly launched Store Finder service for WAP phones. The new service enables businesses with multiple outlets such as shops, restaurants, hotels and estate agents to offer consumers access to text-based information on outlet locations via their WAP phones. By selecting a relevant WAP site and entering the postcode of the area in which they wish to search, consumers can view a list of the nearest branches. They can then choose a particular branch to obtain text-based directions on how to reach it and information on opening hours. The service means that outlets can be found quickly and easily, while shoppers are on the move. Now that's more like it.

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By Karen Anderson