Drove to Gatwick on Monday morning from hop, left at 6.15 and arrived at 7. Went cp, followed by Whitehorse road to Croydon then south Croydon rather than the a23.
Arrived back at Gatwick @ 4.30pm today and went back the same route so hit hop at 6pm.
Normally take train though
Either direct to east Croydon and change or
Hop to new cross, new cross to norwood junction, norwood junction to Gatwick which opens up additional train slots/ arrival times to gatwick if your carrying light luggage