Furthest you have driven

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Roboframer

Furthest you have driven

Post by Roboframer »

In one go/one day, when and why? is there a story?

I think mine must be Portadown in N Ireland to Canterbury. 1990.

The longest stretch of the journey was Stranraer - Canterbury, but it didn't end there!

A girlfriend lived there, well, I'd never actually met her before - she became a girlfriend after .........don't ask!

My kids were in Milton Keynes, I'd just split up from their mum, I drove past them to get to Canterbury, but they would have been in school at that time - So - after a shower and a meal, we - the girlfriend and I, drove from Canterbury to Milk'n beans - took the kids for a pizza, and then drove back to Canterbury!

Missed the M25/M20 junction on the way back - was going to go back on myself, but she said she knew London. She lied!
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by Davie »

Mines was Haddington, Just outside Edinburgh to heathrow....For a bloody mutt (japanese Akita) after getting there it turned out the breeder had split from her husband and had suddenly moved out, My then wife, wanted this dog as it was top lines and excellent pedigree, But what could we do....we drove home to Haddington, arriving back there was a message from the breeder to say sorry and she was at tickhill Doncaster, and if we wanted the dog we had to be there that night as someone else wanted him.....After a fair exchange of views and my blood pressure through the roof i was off to doncaster, getting the hound and five hours later we were on our way back, my eyes out on stalks the dog was sick pissed in the car and the last two and a half hours home the ex missus and i never said a word (BLISS) and the dog lived for twelve years....Best mutt i ever had....Till now.....My now partner is originally from stranraer, and she nips my head about .....Yep the bloody dog.....
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by Jonny2morsos »

When I was 20 my boss at the time bought me a brand new company car (Ford Escort Mk2 1.6 Sport) (babe magnet) then promptly asked me if I would be so kind as to pop down to Weston Super Mare and pick up his mother who had been staying with her sister.

So set off nice and early and got there for lunchtime hoping to get a cup of tea and possibly a sandwich on arrival plus a short rest. Knocked on the door and the old girl passed me her suitcase to put in the boot of the car turned round to see her getting in the passenger seat having shut the front door of the house.

So off we went on the return journey to Cambridgeshire and it p***ed down with rain all the way home. I think we might have managed a quick break on the M4 services but that was it.

AA route planner tells me the round trip was 383 miles.

A few years later I went to a sales event at Gleneagles Hotel drove up one day stayed one night drove back the next morning 352 miles each way.

John.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by Roboframer »

Google Earth says Stranraer-Canterbury is 473 miles and Canterbury to MK is 117 miles, (without the inner London detour)

So, without the Portadown- Larne trip, which must have been the night before anyway - I did at least 707 miles that day.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by JFeig »

From my home in metro Detroit, MI to Atlanta, GA and back after the end of the show, 3 days later - 3 times. To attend the the Picture Framing Trade show.

On the last trip, Dermot from Ireland made himself comfortable (sort of) in the back seat of my Van. The trips were all basically non-stop, other that for fuel for the car and body, taking about 13-14 hours (750 miles) each way.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by prospero »

Nowadays I don't drive much further than the bank and back. :? Few years ago I drove to London to pick up a computer. I had to find a flat somewhere at the back of Baker Street. I knew it was the West End, but that was about the extent of my 'knowledge' of London. It was a Sunday and I set off at 6am. It's about 150 miles stright down the A1. It's great driving at that time of day. At one time I had six lanes and not another vehicle in sight. Got to roughly the location at 8:30 and parked up. Rang the flat, I was just around the corner as luck would have it. Loaded the 'puter, had a coffee in Starbucks and set off back. Picked up the Edgeware Road and straight back on the A1. If I hadn't stopped off in Stamford at an art exhibition I would have been home well in time for lunch. :P
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by Davie »

my second post on this and not the furthest but the one that really p****d me off.

Done a job for the RBS job was done and awaiting collection, when i got a call asking if all was ok for delivery to london (Shoreditch) "erm i thought they were for Edinburgh, Thats what i was told" NO! London and the fitters will be there tomorrow to hang them, (Time 4pm) My courier company just said no way.....So nowt for it...into the van eighty of them squeezed in like sardines and even in the front with me....5PM im off all i knew was shoreditch and i could not get hold of my contact at the RBS......4am i arrived in london so i tried to grab what sleep i could :head: i then found the bank no problem underground parking (great) but to get the pictures to where they were going (Nightmare) along two0 corridors up the elevator another corridor to a silly wee lassie standing with a sheet of A4 "yes that on goes in this room that one goes in that room.....Grrr with the vains standing out on my neck i brought all the pictures in two at a time got them up to the floor and dumped them.....Im off.....Quick trip to Hamleys couple of miles away i think, tacky wee something for my youngest.....and HOME HOME HOME
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by framejunkie »

It wasn't exactly in one day, but i once drove from Val D'Isere to Amsterdam in one stretch. We set off about 8 one morning and arrived about noon the following day. Its 1170km, so if you think that sounds a bit slow you'd be right - but we were in a 2CV, and we did have the alternator go on us somewhere in northern France. Driving a 2CV around France in those days(early 90's) was great - apart from the fact that every town we pulled up in we had the perfect ice-breaker and instant friends, every time we broke down there was some sweaty moustachio'd mechanic round the corner who always had the part we needed in stock. In 6 weeks of touring this happened about 5 times.

Eventually we woke up one morning and said to each other "Sod it lets drive to Amsterdam and get........(this post has been edited on the grounds that it may incriminate a third party, namely my college mate Will).
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by WelshFramer »

Did Nice to Brighton once - well, I did have a sleep on the Ferry - and a pause changing a wheel when we had a blowout that shredded a tyre on the autoroute.

Our cat had been taken very ill and we felt we had to get back to see her before she died. In the event, she behaved in typical cat fashion - recovered and lived for many more years.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by gesso »

Norwich to Corfu (hols), last part with dipped headlights! never again now you can fly direct.

Did Norwich to Amsterdam to cognac (our wedding & honeymoon) in our 2ltr 79 bay vw camper auto.
suffice to say we returned in a rented car and the van (with blown head on No3) followed six weeks later
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by danchip1 »

when i was 20...sigh...

Drove from a town south of Granada, Spain, to Burgos, in the north, Got there, did what i went for and imediately returned, It took 24 hours, I had one hour of sleep, I started smoking again and got myself through three packs of Malboro, drove through a rain storm south of Madrid, turned the roads to mirrors as it got dark, had enough time for a beer at the end whilst trying not to fall of my stool. I vowed never to do it again, and for various reasons did the exact same trip, with a passenger, 24 hours later. The car was a left hand drive (handy!) toyota Corrolla, the wheels were so out of balance it was impossible to go more than 60mph :Slap:

I did the trips as a job and think i got paid £50 per trip!!!

i would not be capable of doing that now, aagh the joys of youth 8)
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by gesso »

Sounds like one of those trips that will make you smile for the rest of your life.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by w00dward »

A couple of years ago I took the family to Ullapool from Coventry for a weeks break.

From memory it took about 11.5 hours and was about 550 miles. Keeping a 3 year old amused was the most challanging bit of it. I loved the drive between Inverness and Ullapool, didn't get stuck behind anything and the roads were perfectly clear.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by Davie »

Sorry to keep hogging this, its just everytime i read something here it brings back memories....Not all good!
Ah ullapool, I was there in 2000 just having split from my wife, i took to the road for a few days, anyway i ended up in ullapool, having booked into the ceildh house hotel i went for a wander, as i was going down the street i heard someone shout at me, i turned to see an old school mate who was working up there, we had a chat and went for a small drink.....I woke at 5.30 am in the residents lounge which had an open bar and honesty box, i was cuddled into an empty bottle of mcallans, my jacket was gone and i had a slight panic attack as all my cash was in it, back to my room the door was locked and i had no key back to the lounge again no key and no jacket so back to the room again it was definatly locked, down to reception and noone there....i started to hunt for a spare key...No luck, i headed back to my room, thinking id need to force the door. I tried the door and was about to force my weight against it when it flew open, on the bed was my jacket and key and the cash was still there, two hours later i went for breakfast nursing a major hangover, in the dining room a guy was bitterly complaining of some maniac trying to get into his room....OOPS! breakfast done and out....Never been back to ullapool....Maybe someday.....Beware the amber dew :Slap:
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by birdman »

Fastest turn around OR what you'll do for a good friend - Drove from Dortmund (in Germany) to Luton for my mates wedding and drove back the same night. So I left the Friday night, arrived Saturday morning, went to the wedding, drove back and arrived Sunday am, totally cream crackered. About 850 miles return.

Longest journey OR what you'll do for a girl friend - Dortmund to Oban return for a long weekend Friday to Tuesday (must have been a bank holiday), leaving Dortmund Thursday night and arriving back early hours of Wednesday morning in time for work. 886 miles each way!

Only stopped for a "pinkle pauser" and the ferry. Amazing what you can do when you're young. I can be asleep by the bottom of my drive these days.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by griff buch »

In July 67 I was living in London, thats Ontario,Canada and a mate in the flat upstairs suggested that we went to Vancouver to earn ourselves a fortune and being young and no worries I said yes. We drove in his Peugeot 404 via Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis/St Paul and through the Blacklands of Dakota (Doris Day springs to mind). We were taking turns with the driving and went north to meet the Trans Canada Highway at Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan; onto Medecine Hat and past Calgary into the Rocky Mountains. Kamloops then was then a god-forsaken place but now a ski resort I believe.
We had been driving constantly since London apart from fuel ,food and loo and by the middle of the second night we were both totally knackered, so we decided to stop for a few hours kip by the road side before the last three hours drive into Vancouver. As dawn broke we found we had parked 3 ft away from a 100 ft ravine filled with a rushing torrent & with only the odd post to stop us getting an early morning swim!
About 1800 miles over which the car behaved impeccably; 404s were winning the East African Safaris etc. in those days and during my stay in Van. I took my Canadian Driving Test using the Pug. The gearchange was 4 speed with column change. As soon as you let go the lever in 1st or 3rd (at the top) the lever fell to the bottom and you then had to lift it back up before changing out of those gears into 2nd or 4th. The examiner congratulated me on my being able to drive the car as he couldn't tell whether I was in the right gear or not.
It was at the hight of the flower-power era and I had made the West Coast, however not Haight-Ashbury. After 1 month, no work, the money had run out, and so we headed back to Ontario but that's another story.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by Roboframer »

griff buch wrote:....... and so we headed back to Ontario but that's another story.
Tell it, tell it.

Great stuff folks, some of this makes my trip seem puny!
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by barefaced framer »

October 2005 Eurodisney to Hampshire via Calais/ Dover.

Using a very basic map of Paris (just the ring roads with no street map of the centre at all)decided to visit the Eifel Tower on the way back to England.Headed along the river parked very close for free and did the tourist thing.So far so good.

Son says' lets drive down the Champs Elysee' We had seen this from the tower and managed to hit the right road somehow but had to negotiate the Arc De Triomphe,BIG roundabout with about 8 lanes but no road markings just a case of 'go for it', definately not for the faint hearted, and the second time my husband had done this. :sweating: Got round unscathed luckily.

We then had to head out of the city for Calais with no clear idea of what direction to take. I discovered our road atlas of France was 8 years old and all the road numbers had changed. We just headed in vaguely northwest direction.

Just goes to show that some women are good at navigating as we still made the ferry with time to spare. 8)

My husband has vowed never to drive round the Arc De Triomphe again as its far to scary. Mind you we did the Amalfi drive in a hire car the next year and that is scary ,with mopeds screaming towards you on the very tight bends and sheer drops inches away from us.
Stunning scenery though!!

And yes I do drive.
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by fineedge »

1994 Cape Town to Henties Bay , Namibia 21hrs drive - Helluva distance to go and catch fish on the coast of a desert - especially when there were so many fish that it became like work, not enjoyable angling - but the night sky while driving through desolate areas was unbelievable - no wonder prehistoric man worshipped the stars
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Re: Furthest you have driven

Post by Not your average framer »

I was one of two drivers delivering a special purpose long wheel base Land Rover with a normal cab at the front and a portacabin on the back, which was fitted out as a mobile techincal workshop and laboratory, from south west london to a govenment facility in the far north of Scotland.

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere and to the north of Inverness the oil warning light came on and there was no garage for miles. We drove to the next small town, with a now very sluggish and smelly engine and finding no garage there, I went into the local shop and bought several bottles of Spry "crisp and dry" cooking oil. I refilled the engine oil with this and continued to my destination. For the rest of the journey, I kept on thinking I could smell fish and chips.

The vehicle was my responsibility, so I handed over the vehicle, said nothing and never heard anymore about it. It was a very long, slow and scenic train journey home through little railway stations which seemed to have somehow almost remained in the Victorian era. I bought a bar of chocolate from a vending machine which was so old that it must have been a collectors item.
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