One Day Driving Distance?

One Day Driving Distance?

Author
Discussion

revvingit

Original Poster:

444 posts

87 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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What do people consider a sensible one day driving distance/time?

Have you ever had an experience where you've utterly miscalculated this one?

Driver101

14,376 posts

128 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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I've done about 550 miles driving to or from London a few times. A couple of stops and normally I'm not bad doing that.

The only time it's gone a bit wrong is when I've done it when tired. Once tiredness kicks in it becomes frustrating and obviously a good stop needed.

mmm-five

11,437 posts

291 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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About 12 hours is about the most I'm comfortable with - with regular breaks of course.

Distance will depend on the type of road, and DC/motorway/autobahn driving is much less tiring than twisty roads in Wales or the Highlands.

RazerSauber

2,548 posts

67 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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It depends, I've covered 800 miles in a (very long) day. I took regular breaks and felt ok at the end of it. I've also covered 400 miles and been very tired at the end of the journey.

I don't think there is any particularly "safe" journey. Stop driving when you notice you're tired or you're making minor mistakes you normally wouldn't.

Riley Blue

21,632 posts

233 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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I once drove 750 miles from Ostend to Austria stopping only for fuel, coffee/food and to have a pee. I wouldn't do it again, almost certainly couldn't in any case but it was fun then (40 years ago).

ALTO77

321 posts

149 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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Approx 1200 miles, leaving at 9pm and arriving at around 11pm the next evening, including a quick ferry ride but no sleep, stopped several times at service stations for fuel and food. Did the same trip on the reverse leg two weeks later. I wouldn`t do it again without an overnight stop to break up the journey.

ARHarh

4,280 posts

114 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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I did 620 odd miles from Buckie to fleet one winters night. Had everything, floods, snow, fog, land slide (well a bit of gravel fell off a hill) and bright sunshine. A transit van crashed up the embankment somewhere on the M6 in front of me so I had to stop at an emergency phone (mobiles had not reached the masses yet) and let someone know. Never did find out if he was OK or not as i could not go back and other people had stopped. It took me what felt like days to get home. And all in a very tired MK2 Cavalier 1.6l.

psi310398

9,704 posts

210 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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Just over 800 miles from Stresa, North Italy, to Hampstead, alone, with only fuel, fag and pee breaks apart from the respite in the Eurotunnel. Almost all of it on the motorway.

IIRC it took around 16 hours, including the breaks.

A very hard slog which I would never have attempted in much besides the Panamera I actually did the journey in. And a dull journey made duller by keeping to French speed limits.


RDMcG

19,515 posts

214 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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1233 miles from Springfield MO to Scottsdale AZ. Solo run, only stopped for fuel, coffee and washroom.

Glasgowrob

3,264 posts

128 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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actually do this kind of work for a living lots of one of the country to the other stuff.

most i've managed in a single day is 1200 miles Glasgow-Inverness-Portsmouth-Glasgow,
perfectly fine doing that run but have the luxury of once we drop we can stop anytime we want. i've had others where i'm doing a Glasgow-oxford and then stopping on the way back for 5/6 hours kip, just depends on how you feel on the day
Atm my regular run is 2/3x Glasgow to Oban returns a day which is a lovely easy day albeit a bit on the long side if you stretch into a 3rd.

Cheib

23,756 posts

182 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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1200 miles I’m a day is really going some....don’t think I could do that ! I drive out to The Alps a couple of times a year which is 600 miles each way with an hour Tunnel crossing. I can do that comfortably but any more and I think I’d struggle. Can’t drink too much coffee as that would result in loo stops.....

gavsdavs

1,210 posts

133 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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Nice -> London. Started about 6am. Needed 3/4 fuel stops. Got a bit of respite on the ferry but was a right mess when i got to the end - too many fags, too much coffee, too little sleep. Was exhausted but my ears were ringing and i couldn't calm down.

Would not recommend more than 400 miles in a day tbh.

RDMcG

19,515 posts

214 months

Friday 30th August 2019
quotequote all
Cheib said:
1200 miles I’m a day is really going some....don’t think I could do that ! I drive out to The Alps a couple of times a year which is 600 miles each way with an hour Tunnel crossing. I can do that comfortably but any more and I think I’d struggle. Can’t drink too much coffee as that would result in loo stops.....
On the long runs ( and only on the long runs) , my stop usually includes a refill of Red Bull. Horrible stuff but does the job.

JuniorD

8,819 posts

230 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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Riley Blue said:
I once drove 750 miles from Ostend to Austria stopping only for fuel, coffee/food and to have a pee. I wouldn't do it again, almost certainly couldn't in any case but it was fun then (40 years ago).
How long did it take. I’ve done that route by train countless times, think it took about 14-15 hours

Crazy4557

689 posts

201 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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900 miles from Marseille to Lymington in one day incl the hour or so in the tunnel. Stopped only for food, fuel and loo breaks. Set off about 9am and got in around 2am the following morning. This was whilst towing our 2.5 ton boat back too with a max speed of 74mph before wheel wobble from out of balance trailer wheels!

Chris944

338 posts

237 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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In the bit too much category I did a 900+ day drive to Vienna from London once. Boxsters go well.

Geekman

2,887 posts

153 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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This is the longest I've managed in one day. Was surprisingly OK actually, although I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.


cgauk

167 posts

135 months

Friday 30th August 2019
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Portsmouth to Chambéry in the French Alpes ~700 miles. I thought it would be sensible to leave at 10pm and drive through the night to miss the traffic. I was young enough that all-nighters for work were easy, but I underestimated the monotony of driving at night for mile after mile of autoroute.

I woke up in a field with bunnies hopping around and a light mist, with dawn breaking. I thought I’d crashed and died. Then I remembered I’d pulled into a lay-by to get some rest and must have fallen asleep!

Nowadays I wouldn’t do more than about 6
-7 hours in one day and I’d use each petrol stop as a walk around and get coffee opportunity.

Mr Tidy

24,313 posts

134 months

Saturday 31st August 2019
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In 2010 I did Salignac Eyvigues to home in Berkshire in one day (just over 600 miles) which was fine - but I was pretty tired when I got home!