I'm Recovering From This Epic Non-Stop Drive

[Lordbenny]

Just done this non-stop drive, blimey it was hard:

Depart - 7:30am Thursday

Versailles to Dunkirk - 191 miles

Dunkirk to Central Paris - 180 miles (This included doing 10 miles in THREE hours in a jam!)

Central Paris to Calais - 180 miles

Put car on Shuttle

Dover - Brighton - 104 miles

Arrive - 02:00am Saturday

Total Hours Driving 17.5

Total Miles - 655

Now rather cream crackered!

[The Riddler]

What were you driving?

Ave speed?

Ave MPG?

PH, Facts matter.

ETA.. Congrats, I really hate spending more than 4hrs behind the wheel at a time, especially on motorways!

Edited by The Riddler on Saturday 10th July 19:13

[LuS1fer]

...and do you think that was a safe thing to do? Having driven 2.5 hours after a 10 hour flight, I'd guess not.

[TonyRPH]

I have driven a few marathon stints when I lived in South Africa.

Drove from East London to Johannesburg non stop (1200 KM) in 9 hrs. (IIRC best time ever was around 7.5 hours.) - this was about 16 years back.

Also - went on holiday there (from UK where I now live), landed at Heathrow after 16 hours flight, then drove from Heathrow to Leeds (this was around 9 a.m.).

[MartinQ]

LuS1fer said:

...and do you think that was a safe thing to do? Having driven 2.5 hours after a 10 hour flight, I'd guess not.

I drove 2 hrs after a 7 hr flight last week and had to stop after 45mins at the services for a kip. I've never felt so tired whilst driving and it actually scared me how much it affected me. I'll certainly not do it again.

ETA - Conversely, I drove from SW of Toronto to Montreal on the holiday in one go (~8hrs) with no ill-effect.

Edited by MartinQ on Saturday 10th July 19:20

[LuS1fer]

MartinQ said:

LuS1fer said:

...and do you think that was a safe thing to do? Having driven 2.5 hours after a 10 hour flight, I'd guess not.

I drove 2 hrs after a 7 hr flight last week and had to stop after 45mins at the services for a kip. I've never felt so tired whilst driving and it actually scared me how much it affected me. I'll certainly not do it again.

Yep, amazing how hard it is to stay in a lane on a straight motorway. Never again for me either.

[Hitch78]

I love a good all day drive; tunes on, stopping occasionally for a coffee, tracking progress cross country on a proper map. Perfect.

[Willy Nilly]

That's a long day. I've done 750 miles in the US in a Semi pulling an oversized load, we probably would have had to do the full 1100 miles, but fortunately the law would not allow use to move big loads after dark, so we had to stop for a sleep. It was only about 14 hours IIRC. We weren't limited to 56 mind;)

[rottie102]

I'm afraid you must try harder for an EPIC status.
I've done it quite a few times in ONE GO, no rest on ferries etc. Just occasional coffee, fill up and pee break. 600 miles is easy...

[Balmoral Green]

Sorry OP, but I don't think it was all that. Hell of a long time to cover just 655 miles too

[edo]

Lordbenny said:

Just done this non-stop drive, blimey it was hard:

Depart - 7:30am Thursday

Versailles to Dunkirk - 191 miles

Dunkirk to Central Paris - 180 miles (This included doing 10 miles in THREE hours in a jam!)

Central Paris to Calais - 180 miles

Put car on Shuttle

Dover - Brighton - 104 miles

Arrive - 02:00am Saturday

Total Hours Driving 17.5

Total Miles - 655

Now rather cream crackered!

Not bad - must try harder!!!

[Lordbenny]

edo said:

Lordbenny said:

Just done this non-stop drive, blimey it was hard:

Depart - 7:30am Thursday

Versailles to Dunkirk - 191 miles

Dunkirk to Central Paris - 180 miles (This included doing 10 miles in THREE hours in a jam!)

Central Paris to Calais - 180 miles

Put car on Shuttle

Dover - Brighton - 104 miles

Arrive - 02:00am Saturday

Total Hours Driving 17.5

Total Miles - 655

Now rather cream crackered!

Not bad - must try harder!!!

Ok then, how about the fact that it was the last day of the Cannonball and up until that point I'd driven 2200 in 4 days!

That makes nearly 3000 miles in 5 days!

[SVX]

edo said:

Out of interest, what car is that satnav from? The font looks familiar...

[DennisTheMenace]

BMW

[Conian]

not 1 continuous drive, but did 3500 miles in 6 days in USA
well it was a hire car, it seemed rude not to

[SVX]

DennisTheMenace said:

BMW

Thanks - they have certainly come a long way from the last BMW satnav I used.

[ewenm]

Did 745 miles/1193km yesterday in 15 hours (Chamonix - Calais - Bath).

In the Caterham. That was hard work.

Edited by ewenm on Saturday 10th July 20:14

[Balmoral Green]

Lordbenny said:

it was the last day of the Cannonball and up until that point I'd driven 2200 in 4 days!

That makes nearly 3000 miles in 5 days!

Well why didn't you say so then, instead of just telling us about popping out for some milk at the end.

[tstain]

TonyRPH said:

I have driven a few marathon stints when I lived in South Africa.

Drove from East London to Johannesburg non stop (1200 KM) in 9 hrs. (IIRC best time ever was around 7.5 hours.) - this was about 16 years back.

Also - went on holiday there (from UK where I now live), landed at Heathrow after 16 hours flight, then drove from Heathrow to Leeds (this was around 9 a.m.).

impressive. sorry for the barrage of questions to follow... but i'm fascinated by epic journeys. what were you driving, what was your route, was it surfaced road the whole way and was it interesting or a monotonous empty road?

[mybrainhurts]

SVX said:

edo said:

Out of interest, what car is that satnav from? The font looks familiar...

I'm guessing Verdana Bold TDi....