Sam said:
.........sensible distance driving over a few days - which makes a difference from a one day hit.
Just trying to get a realistic grip on trip planning.
Obviously location and terrain makes a difference so I'll keep it simple and set some easy parameters to work on.
Driving alone, good tarmacked roads.. and lets say a few thousand miles on a 50-50 split between tolls and A type roads across Europe.
Any thoughts?
Sam, by driving alone, do you mean alone in the vehicle, or lone vehicle? It makes a big difference if you have a family on board. The other factors are food and accommodation, if your living out of the vehicle, cooking and camping, then it's much more pleasent to arrive, set up camp and eat in daylight and then relax, rather than do it all in the dark. If your fast fooding it, and staying in formula 1 hotels along the way, then you can afford to drive further and stop as the light fades, but with that the time of year then becomes a factor
I would say that a target of 400miles per day is an achievable target. Have a 15min tea break every 2hrs, stretch the legs, quick comfort visit and perhaps an apple. Have a 45min lunch break with a nice light lunch. At the last afternoon stop, of shortly before arriving at your days destination fuel up, as a lot of fuel stations are closed on Sundays (except for the services on the toll roads). With this schedule you should arrive at your destination between 17:00 - 18:00, plenty of time to unwind and get a good nights sleep, before doing it all again.
It's also good not to thrash the car unessecarily, lots of people load their car to the gunnels and then thrash it along the autoroutes for 4hr stints all day, at 85mph. This means you consume loads of extra fuel, finds any weakness in the car and often leads to break downs, (tyre blow outs, or overheated engines). Plus if you've set yourself a big target, for example 800miles, then people also feel the need to take risks to maintain a high average speed. I find it's better to sit at 65 - 70mph, not consume so much fuel, go easy on the car and have a more pleasent journey. This tends to result in less fatigue at the end of the day, you don't want to kill the car on the first few days of the holiday.
With most people being tied to a 2 week annual holiday window you don't want to spend a large chunk of that travelling to and from your destination, so making the best use of toll roads, although pricey, provides the best driving conditions to cover the distances easily in the time frame. Note: If your towing, you are required to slow to a lower speed limit for the larger descents on the autoroutes, plus it'll take you longer to get back up the other side! There are some monster hills in southern France.
Speaking of time frames, I personally prefer to use the 'Le Shuttle' to cross the channel as opposed to a ferry. The train only takes 35mins so it ends up having a lot less of an impact on the time available to cover the ground in Europe, instead of being stuck on a ferry.
As a guide you should be able to reach either the Alps or the Pyrenees by mid - late afternoon on the second day.
This site is a good route/time guide:
http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/