What's the furthest you have driven?

[jaytip]

Reading an article in Evo magazine about the 720S being driven through Italy and it got me thinking that one day when the kids fly the nest I'd like to drive down to and around Lake Garda taking in the beautiful countryside all along the route. I'm under no illusions though that it would be a big undertaking as the furthest I have driven so far is to Glasgow, albeit from South Wales.
What's the furthest you have driven?

[valleywatch]

I did a lot of back-packing in the 80s.

One time , we went to America. Back then, you could deliver cars to different parts of the states. These werent new cars...........I think they must have belonged to people who "relocated" etc....

You were given a free tank of petrol, and a set time to deliver the car. We drove one from Fort Laudedale to L.A. The second one we drove from L.A. to Seattle.........we then took a bus (greyhound I think!) to Vancouver.

Longest drive was returning from Seattle down to Miami (or maybe it was Fort Laudedale!?) They gave us I think a week to deliver it....we did it in 3 or 4 days!! ..Hell of a long drive that was!!

I will always remember those drives.........Back then. I was driving old bangers! Cortinas, Escorts etc etc......To have air con and cruise control...... Wow!! Driving through Texas etc with air con and cruise control, electric windows etc etc....we thought we were millionaires!!

[Reeny]

On separate trips - Lake Garda, Lake Constance, and Florence in the Motorhome, 500 miles per day at 60mph.
I know plenty of people with holiday homes or apartments who drive to Southern France, or Spain.

My mate drove down to Nice in a transit (2-days), unpacked his furniture next morning, then headed back home.

[Kingstepper]

Agadir (Morocco).

Never driven to Wales or Scotland though!

[GraniteQuarry]

San Francisco to Miami

21 days and just over 4,000 miles

[Mr Curta]

I've driven the 1150-1200 miles between Budapest and central UK many times solo, it rarely takes longer than 24 hours. We've done it as a family at a more leisurely pace as well, there are many great and interesting places to stop on the way.

[CardShark]

I've driven from Essex to north of Inverness a few times, the best part of 600 miles in one trip. Not that far compared to the distances some have travelled I'd guess, I quite enjoyed it however I'm not sure I'd want to drive that much greater a distance in one go.

[tswatch66]

Got sent to Coventry once - Have not returned!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[pacifichrono]

After my discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps, I drove about 2,000 miles home in one 36-hour stint in wintery conditions. I didn't even stop for meals, as the starter solenoid in my 1963 VW Karmann Ghia was burned out, so I wouldn't be able to restart the car if I shut it off. I was hallucinating the final few hundred miles!

[noTAGlove]

I lived in Chicago for a year and two journeys spring to mind both of which where non stop except for 'gas' and food.

Miami to Chicago - 1400 miles and 21+ hours

Yellowstone to Chicago - also 1400 miles and 21+ hours

Back then I didn't hang around when driving.

To put it into context London to Malaga has a driving distance of the same 1400 miles.

[Mouse]

The most memorable, and tiring, have been........

Road America, Wisconsin to Ossining, NY - 20 hours ish non-stop........dually towing an artic size trailer. Much heavy rain along the way, was not fun

Florence area, Northern Italy back to Lincs - overnighted near Geneva but then non-stop , seemed a very long trip and I think the adrenaline kept me going.......Ducati 996........what a blast

Toulouse back to Lincs - a short nap at services somewhere in France, but otherwise non-stop. Bad weather again...........Vauxhall Corsa 3 cyl,1.0

Ah yes, Midlands to Estoril (right through France and Spain) and then back (thankfully via ferry from Santander) was an epic. Did have some stops along the way, but otherwise all I remember is white line fever.......Renault Espace

(I was much younger back then!)

[The Hack]

London to Poland in 16hrs straight. About 1000 miles. Pretty tiring and boring drive too. :(

[zelig]

1991 - drove 3000 miles around France in a 1981 mini city... in 1 week

Manchester - Southampton, then 7 days, 7 stops...

Cherbourg, Poitiers, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Valras Plage, Vichy, Dole, Belfort

All on the route nationales - it was a fantastic trip, but didn’t do the car any good :(

z

[-Ally-]

Central Scotland to Nurburg.

[robcat]

I’m another one who’s done a “driveaway” in the US.

Orlando to Portland, Oregon - went via Dallas, so it was about 3300 miles. We took the maximum time allowed as we wanted to enjoy a few stops.

It’s very different doing that kind of mileage in the US compared to Europe - there’s very little traffic outside the cities, so nothing like trekking down to France or Italy. It’s the boredom that’s the problem - I remember FL, Louisiana etc being endless miles of swamp (often on raised roadway - which was interesting at first, tedious after a while), then Texas and Oaklahoma being endless miles of plain. However, once we got the the Rockies, the scenery was stunning for the rest of the journey.

Ive since done a few road trips in the SW US, often doing 2000-3000 miles over the course of 2-3 weeks. It’s such a beautiful part of the world, I don’t really mind the long drives. (Hate the cities though).

[Mouse]

It’s very different doing that kind of mileage in the US compared to Europe - there’s very little traffic outside the cities, so nothing like trekking down to France or Italy.

That's exactly what I thought. Drives of several hours over there felt like a nip to the shops here. As you say, depending on the scenery, it's the boredom that can be the issue.

[Normunds]

Riga-Amsterdam ~1900km in ~24h I believe was longest I took in one take 15 years ago. Riga-Chisinau trip was 300km shorter, but much more exhausting, because of there were no highways, rural roads etc.

Now I don't take more than 1000km in one day or 1200km to Berlin, but then half of the trip is on highway. Last year we did 8000km round trip across Europe in 2 weeks and it was fun actually, because of I like driving.

[tiny73]

Driving back to the UK (East Yorkshire) from mid Germany with the cats (and two cars)is probably the longest I’ve done. I’d decided that flying would be too stressful and the overnight ferry would mean leaving the cats unattended overnight so we drove through Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France, got the channel tunnel and then up to East Yorkshire.

17 hours in total door to door and one of the little sods took a dump thirty minutes into the journey (fortunately the wife was driving the car with the cats in ). Would never do the drive again however.

[Yeti]

London to Disney Paris last year, and again next month. Takes us about 4 hours not including the train at folkestone.
Drove to Maastricht and Aachen for the Christmas fairs a couple of years back also. Mind you the Dutch and German trip was far superior when I had a 3.0tdi compared to my now 2.0tdi...

[Foxy100]

I've driven to the Alps, Pyrenees, Geneva, Frankfurt and so on but never anywhere more adventurous, which I regret now I'm married (the silence? Freedom?). Not so long ago a friend and I were planning on taking his six-wheel Zil Russian truck he'd had converted into a camper van to Morocco via France but he decided not to in the end.

[willie_gunn]

From Dallas to Chicago, but via Nebraska and both Dakotas. It was, IIRC, around 2,000 miles one-way.

Within Europe the furthest was probably from Berkshire to Lucca, in Italy, which was around 1,000 miles one-way.

And then a little closer to home, for over 20 years we have been driving up to the Scottish Highlands once, and many times, twice each year. Normally the round trip is about 1,500 miles.

[Chinnock]

Boston to Miami on Interstate 95. Hell of a drive and met some great people on the way.

[Dave+63]

My longest single trip was Alicante to Eastbourne when we moved back from Spain; 1200 miles in 22 hours with the dog for company.

I’ve done Eastbourne to Manchester and back in a single journey of 600 miles a few times too.

[afcneal]

EuroDisney to Aberdeen in a day - 840 miles IIRC. Left ED at 0700 and got to Aberdeen at 2100.

[Rod]

Expedition, 17,500 miles

[Gyp]

Longest trip - Gloucester to Amalfi and back, Triumph Tiger 1050 with my lad on the back

Longest in a day - Lands End to John O Groats, once on an R80RT, once on a K100RS

[Frankie169]

In a day, Lymington to Dover to pick someone up then onto a Liverpool

On a bike, Nice airport to Cherbourg 700+ miles on a ZZR1400, didn’t take that long 😏

[Mulliner86]

Roughly 930 miles from London to Barcelona took just over 12 hours door to door.

[yumma]

I have done Edinburgh to Essex non-stop once, that's my longest single stint, but I have taken it in turns doing Essex to Alicante in Spain doing 4 hour stints in continuous rotation, I think it clocked as 1200 miles. I do fancy a drive to the Alps to go skiing one year too.

[ralphy]

I've been to madness, via my wife.

R

[AlphaOmega]

Drove inland from Darwin for 1100kms in a 4x4 once.

Loved it. Saw about three people during the journey but plenty of wildlife - huge reptiles and spiders.

Stopped off for a swim in a waterfall on the way where fish were jumping out of the water (not because of me).

[Omegamanic]

We ride over 5k every year around Europe on Sept.

I think the most I've done on one trip in a car was a fair bit more than that last year when I was in Oz Mar-May last year. We did a number of road trips up and down the East Coast and a nice drive one long day front Queensland to Melbourne - I think that was my longest single day driving, ever.

[Velorum]

Drove from Reading to Edinburg to drop someone off, had a quick cup of tea and drove straight back.

In an 1100cc Skoda Estelle that struggled to get much above 70mph most of the way.

I felt like I'd driven much further when I tumbled out of the car at the end.

[village]

I regularly drive across France to visit my parents and I've done a couple 'circuits' in the US e.g. San Francisco to Vegas via Yosemite then on to Tucson and then over to San Diego. I've also driven down to Italy and back.
Mainly,however,I've spent the last 20 years or so driving my wife to distraction.

[snowman]

A few longish trips over the years

1. UK to St Anton, Austria for a skiing holiday (with only stops for fuel)
2. UK to Avoriaz, France a couple of times, again for skiing holidays (with only stops for fuel)
3. UK to Munich - driving alone a couple of times (with only stops for fuel)
4. Munich to Le Mans - stopped for about 15 minutes at most (with only stops for fuel)
5. UK to Venice, Italy - We did stop over on the German/Austrian border with friends for a couple of nights.
6. Roadtrip in the US - SF -> Yosemite -> Vegas -> Monterey -> SF over a week

All, except the last (obviously) were roundtrips with a gap of a day or two to a couple of weeks in between.

Might be a few others I've forgotten.

I used to work with a bloke who thought nothing of driving from Munich to Scotland with only the 1.5 hours on the car ferry stop!

As others have said, though, except for horrendous traffic the time we went to Venice, driving in the UK is much harder work.

We recently drove to Hull for a family wedding - We could have got to Munich quicker - and I balked at the idea of driving to Scotland when we went on holiday there!

With the price of petrol these days, even for a family, it's often cheaper to fly and rent a car when you arrive.

M

[BSB]

My longest trip in a day would be 961 miles from Maidstone to Glasgow (Renfrew) and back to see a client for lunch.

[wildheart]

Moraira in Spain is the longest in a Porsche 911 back in 1998!

[Zephyr]

Drove from Reading to Edinburg to drop someone off, had a quick cup of tea and drove straight back.

In an 1100cc Skoda Estelle that struggled to get much above 70mph most of the way.

I felt like I'd driven much further when I tumbled out of the car at the end.

You deserve a medal for that journey, did your Estelle have the usual bag of cement under the bonnet?

[Thewatchbloke]

In the 80's I did film work for a living (shatter film, solar film etc, not movies) and the company I worked for had a contract to appy the safety dots and logos on Boots glass shopfronts and doors. One day I'd been scheduled 4 jobs in Cambridge, Hull, Kendal and Manchester, and I lived in Reading. This was in the days before sat nav (and the M25 hadn't been completed from the M40 to the M11) so I set off at 3am, managed 693 miles and didn't get home until gone 9pm. Quite rightly it wouldn't be allowed these days!

[unclealec]

My worst drive was ironically to my beloved Cornwall. Left Manchester in my Transit 150 + car trailer, collected a derelict Riley from Market Drayton, delivered it at the end of a gruelling drive the same evening to St. Buryan, close to Land's End.
Nice meal, some Betty Stog's, and a kip in The Logan Rock, then the following day return to MC via Taunton where I collected a Riley 1½.
This on the first weekend of the school holidays - not the best of times to tackle the A30.

Knackered doesn't come close. I can categorically state that I will never undertake anything like that ever again.

[Carlton-Browne]

Expedition, 17,500 miles

Rod - you can't just put that one down without telling us more...

[markc]

Longest in one day - 950 miles(ish) Uzès (South of France) to Heaton Chapel (near Stockport). Set off at about 5am and arrived as the fireworks were starting for New Year at midnight. I wouldn't do that in one go again though. After that we always stopped off half way at a hotel!

Cheers,

Mark C

[Franco]

With a group of friends, we drove my VW Golf in 1990 from Sheffield to he island of Favignana , in Sicily. A total of about 2000 miles, but it took to us two weeks by stopping in several places in France and Italy. In Florence we picked up some more friends on their moorbikes and went to the islands off the Trapani coast in Sicily. Perhaps because I was much younger, but it has been a memorable holiday across Europe, visiting Sicily for the first time. On the way back , left my old LHD Golf in Florence and flew back.

[Jeremy67]

Hampshire to Alicante via Caen which is about 1000 miles. We did the journey there in two days going round the Western end of the Pyrenees and back in 3 days coming over the mountains using the Somport pass. The longest stint was probably Caen to Pamplona on the first day which was about 550 miles. It was made more arduous by having a 2 1/2 year old in the car who, despite previous car journey experience, didn't sleep a wink.

The one thing I find makes journeys like this much less tiring is cruise control. First your foot isn't stuck in one position for hours and secondly you can stop thinking about speed limit observance on motorways, we just went all the way at the relevant national speed limit. Our Saab 9-5 2.0 petrol turbo returned over 35 mpg despite a very heavily loaded car and the a/c on all the time and 100 miles or so of bimbling round Alicante.

[tixntox]

Yorkshire to Switzerland, towing a caravan! (1980's) Once we parked the van, we drove the three passes. Spectacular, tiring but rewarding. I would love to do it again but would not enjoy the drive with modern traffic! Also did Spain and Italy.

[Franco81]

With my Mrs and the dog a couple of years ago we drove to Norway, a journey of 1150 miles. We stopped one night in Germany when I couldn’t drive anymore and to give the dog a run. When we set off the car(a Vw Golf) has done about 10 miles as was brand new. By the time I had returned it back to work 2 weeks later it had clocked up 3500 miles. My work we’re not very impressed but it did a great job for me and returned an average of over 50mpg and I wasn’t hanging around on the Autobahns.


Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

[bobdog]

Bit off topic but some years ago took a taxi from Newcastle to Dover, the driver had a migraine, Oh Joy.

[Xantiagib]

last day of Uni - drove home from North London to Gibraltar, Ferry from Portsmouth to bilbao and then onto barcelona and down the coast all the way on the n340
took 5-6 days in the summer in a Ctroen CX25Gti Turbo - thirsty car but petrol was quite cheap in spain those days.... 6-8 hours solid driving everyday driven all by me and not taking turns

Then in 2005 drove from Gibraltar to Brittany and back for holidays @ 4000+kms in total - but the thought of doing similar now without taking turns at the wheel doesnt exactly put me off but it would take me longer ...

nothing more exciting than that sorry

Apparently according to youtube the longest you can drive on roads with no ferries needed is @14,000+km from Sagres in Portugal to the border Russia has with north korea...!

[tz-uk73]

I picked up a hire car in San Francisco with 55 miles on the clock and returned it 4 weeks later with 6500 on the clock... it took me up the west coast to Seattle, Vancouver island, then across the Calgary and Banff, down trough Montana and the rockies, to yosemitie, Grand Canyon, vegas, Los Angeles and back up to San Fran...best holiday of my life.

For a watch I have driven 1100 miles round trip to Glasgow and back overnight. Silly hobby!

[Velorum]

You deserve a medal for that journey, did your Estelle have the usual bag of cement under the bonnet?

Close.

Bag of sand.

Still truly frightening on the motorway.