And as for going North of Stansted - not a lot out there
Yak97,
Head north of STN up the M11 and it joins up with the A14 dual carriageway that connects with the M1 at the M6 intersection, i.e. from STN there is a direct northern dual carriageway track connecting STN to the M1 and M6.
Whilst the trucks on the A14 can make for less than optimum progress at least it's steady moving traffic rather than the standstill traffic congestions of south of the M6 intersection on the M1.