I regularly drive the 420 mile route up to Inverness to work, mostly without stops and I am not to bad at the end of it, certainly not shattered. In the old days I would do Warrington to Berlin via Dover Calais with just fuel stops and the hour and a bit on the ferry to get back whilst on leave, but was wasted after that and some parts of the journey would be on Autopilot

It used to be fun turning up at the corridor and the russian / east german border guards looking into a car with what appeared to pro-plus fuelled zombies behind the wheel.

I am pretty bad today, the wife hates doing long distances because I just want to go, enjoy the drive and get there, no peeing, no tea'ing, so she has perfected the art of falling asleep when exiting our drive, and waking on turning into the destination street.

All changed now with the kids, even short trips of 160 miles or so to my mum's can be purgatory with them and the mrs.

I learnt the hardway, twice, to rest when tired though.

Once I was heading down the A2 towards Gutersloh on my bike and nodded off and ran into the back of a bus .... that hurt.

The second time I was on my Buell (motorbike) and my mate's Mrs said I will be tired as I had just ridden to Southampton from Bielefeld and should have a kip instead of going out with the lads, I never listened and went out with the lads, hoiked up a minger (wheelie) and was tired, never reacted to my mate's in front stopping and wheelied into 2 of them ..... what fun

Even though I still do big mileages in one hit, I just keep aware of my driving, my concentration and if needed find somewhere to pull over for a kip.

Some very good points already covered above.

I personally think "stamina" is something that comes with experience but that can be also developed through mindset and environment.

Chris

Me - I'm 64 , and up to 3 years ago did massive mileage both at work and in Furby .One year we drove from the Midlands ( outside Coventry) to Fort william monthly ( trip took at shortest less than 7 hours - dad taken into hospital at 86),and for next year approx 2000 miles a month going up ,as he was transferred to Inverness .

I would suggest that experiance helps ,as that way you drive relaxed ,with something referred to as "lizard brain" waking the full system if neeed .The auto system of the body takes over ,the brain kicking in extra facilities when needed .But I've also got the advantage that from day one ,to get anywhere ,I had to drive 50 miles there ,and 50 back .

I learnt the hardway, twice, to rest when tired though.

Once I was heading down the A2 towards Gutersloh on my bike and nodded off and ran into the back of a bus .... that hurt.

The second time I was on my Buell (motorbike) and my mate's Mrs said I will be tired as I had just ridden to Southampton from Bielefeld and should have a kip instead of going out with the lads, I never listened and went out with the lads, hoiked up a minger (wheelie) and was tired, never reacted to my mate's in front stopping and wheelied into 2 of them ..... what fun

Did 10hr in one day on a ZXR400 all round the NE of Scotland. Pretty much fell off the bike when I finally got home and could hardly walk for 2 days after it. ZXR400 had a rear shock like a brick but with less give and a very aggressive front angle making it hard on the arms and back. It was an evil little shoite of a bike but good fun.

Depends on a number of things for me:

• General tiredness (if I haven't slept well etc.)
  
• Type of driving. When driving on a quiet motorway I feel far more tired than driving along some B roads or around town.
  
• Passengers. Having other people in the car seems to keep tiredness at bay
  
• How excited I am about arriving at the destination!
  

Regardless of how tired I'm feeling I will usually stop every 2 hours. If I am feeling really bad a chocolate bar and a coffee helps, I can't do power naps.

I've been a passenger with a very tired driver once and felt quite uneasy! He slowed down to 50mph on the motorway and kept drifting out of the lane. :no:

Edited 12 December, 201113 yr by vrsTom

I used to do 250 mile round trips to see my ex up North, often late at night. I used to have no problems staying alert, but I was usually knackered by the end of it as I'd spend the whole journey pretty much imagining the worst thing that could happen, and what I'd do if it did. Lorry shedding a load, blown out tyre, random person driving the wrong way, accident on the other carriageway, people lobbing stuff off motorway bridges, etc. Often I'd be the only vehicle on the roads for miles, so if I hadn't have been doing that it would have been a really boring drive at 2am...playing little mind games with myself did help though.

If i finish work at 8pm there's one section of a dual carraigeway when I drive home (not lit) and I get verrrry tired by there! I just give myself a slap across the face lol

Depends on the car for me. I reckon i step out of long journeys in the big 7er fresher than i stepped in

The octy makes me feel a bit fidgety, drained and generally poor after 300 miles.

I think it's what you're used to - I live in the midlands, work south side of london, so I stay down during the week. The drive back on a friday takes 4+1/2 hours, much of it near stationary on the M25. The drive down takes 3 hours, and I arrive at 2am on monday morning. So its def the small hours! It used to completely wipe me out both ways, but I'm much more up for it now.

The car helps too - my newly acquired cruise control roomie diesel is a lot more relaxing than my dear old 60bhp polo was - it made a noise like a bag of angry hornets at 70, sometimes it was hard just to keep up with the traffic.

If I'm feeling tired, I make sure I've got cold air blowing on my face. I haven't a clue why that helps, but it does.

Having said all that, knowing your limit is critical ! Most weeks I'm fine, some weeks I end up pulling up on a service station on the M40 for a nap before I continue ... that's if I'm running late. 2am is no time to be prizing the eyes open.

Holy thread revival batman. Someone must have pulled over and had a LONG nap

What is the general feeling regarding cruise? Does it make you more or less tired?

I had it on my Leon, but rarely used it on long journeys. I found the more I was doing, the less tired I felt. So I pretty much went back to doing it myself on long journeys, and just used the cruise control for short, steady journeys like commuting.

My cut-off for feeling tired during/after a long drive is around the 500 mile mark, but that seems to be coming down a little bit more with age. I have done 800+ miles in "one go" before and not felt tired.

I find there is no ryhme or reason to feeling tired when driving. It can hit sometimes in the morning. Not so much about the distance either.

I fairly regularly do 4-5hrs journeys. A lot of this is on A roads so harder work that motorways. Don't feel tired when driving but often fairly knackered at the end of the day. Concentration is the killer as at this time of year there is a fair bit of dusk/night driving on rural raids and see deer on almost a daily basis.

I do suffer cramps/back pain and find 2 1/2 hrs at a go is all I can do. 5 minute break and stretch sets me right. Love teh cruise control and use it at every opportunity (which are often few)

2 days / week I do around 250 miles, plus a further100 on another day.

I've routinely driven this sort of mileage for over 30 years and don't normally find it tiring, except at this time of year when I seem to spend 1 hour in the am and 1 in the pm driving directly into the rising and setting sun and developing a squinting headache.

Much of it is simply practice, or habit, but some is definitely down to the particular car.

ATM I've got a 2.0 litre Superb, which is a superbly (see what I did there ) comfortable, relaxing long distance cruiser. The worst I can clearly recall was a Mk1 Vectra, which used to leave me like a wrung out rag after 100 miles of wrestling understeer and unpredictable brakes.

Think longest drive i've evr done in one go was leeds to brighten and back again in day when i had my volvo a few years ago, i had a passenger on way there so wasn't to bad even though traffic on m25 was hurrendous on way there,

I've been doing regular trips from wakefield to daventry on training courses over last 12 months and setting off at half 6 and getting there for 9 with busy motorway traffic all way there isn't nice and i think i find it more frustrating than tiring due to volume of traffic

Old thread but worth adding to.

I am embarking on my yearly 1000 miles trip to Europe tomorrow. We drive through the night. I do it in one go over 15-18 hours depending on the weather, traffic and any roadworks. Stops for fuel and toilets.

In the car with me is SWMBO and 2 kiddos. That's why we drive through the night as otherwise it would be impossible with two young kids.

I developed a special technique to enable me to tackle so many hours behind the wheel. Two day prior to departure (5.30pm) I shift my bio clock for night activity. This means sleeping as late as possible (day off work needed) and going to bed very late, 2-3am. I also make sure I sleep min 8 hours for a week beforehand.

This way I can drive for 18 hours through the night. In case I have a crisis wife takes over for two hours while I sleep in the passenger seat.

One thing I noticed over the years is that there is no point in fighting when tiredness sets in. Better to acknowledge it, make a change and sleep for few hours instead of acting tough.

I do a lot of driving for work and find I find tiredness more of a problem in the morning. Once I've been working all day, the drive home is no problem. Seems to be if I feel tired at the start of a journey, I'm stuffed. Also doesn't help drivng a van limited to 70mph as on a motorway run, I don't even concentrate on maintaining a speed, just press pedal and go. Pretty dangerous really and a point I have raised at work, but as the limiter saves so much money in fuel useage, it's staying :(

But when I'm not setting off tired, 500+ miles in a day is no problem for me.

Stay well hydrated, and it may sound silly, but go to bed earlier! Driving subtly saps capacity which tires you out!! Also physical fitness helps with mental endurance!

If you know how, doing commentry driving can help if there's nowhere immediately safe to pull off.

I know its been mentioned already but a passenger helps, until they fall asleep that is!

As you are exploring the UK I'm guessing this is pleasure more than business so how about you take the wife along?

On second thoughts!!

Driving long distances in the states was tiring,

mostly down to miles and miles of arrow straight roads,

on cruise 90% of the time. Been a long time since I felt drowsy at the wheel

but it happened twice during our roadtrip.

Driving long distances in the states was tiring,

mostly down to miles and miles of arrow straight roads,

on cruise 90% of the time. Been a long time since I felt drowsy at the wheel

but it happened twice during our roadtrip.

I'd suggest that what you were feeling was as much boredom as it was fatigue.

I'd suggest that what you were feeling was as much boredom as it was fatigue.

No doubt, the heat didn't help either when it happened in Nevada.