Doing my first long journey (548m) on Monday - advice?

That's not a bad drive at all, I have to do similar for work but normally heading South from Glasgow to places in England. It is quite mild up here this weekend (6-7 degrees) and supposed to continue into next week so shouldn't be too concerned about the weather but if you've got supplies in the car then they are there if you need them.

Try and time your trip so you avoid hitting Birmingham at rush hour, rest of the road shouldn't be too bad after that assuming no accidents! When you come into Glasgow on the M74 follow signs for M73/M80 then onto M9 at Stirling (well signposted), A9 to Perth then A90 all the way to the Deen.

When you get onto the A9 just after Stirling and before you hit Auchterarder keep an eye out for Eaglesgate Retail Village on the left, it has a Baxters outlet. I strongly recommend you pop in for a cup of tea and one of the best pancakes you can get :)

Re fuel, obviously it's not particularly cheap in service stations. One of the cheapest places to get fuel is just before you cross the border, there's a petrol station on each side of the road (they aren't full services, just petrol stations only). BP is on the Southbound carriageway and it's a Shell on the Northbound. The Shell tends to only be 2p more expensive than supermarket prices so it's a good place to fill up. Or if you can make it to Dundee you'll drive by a couple of big Tescos that have usual supermarket fuel prices.
 
Thanks Windle! The actual driving itself I'm not worried about (been driving 4 years, I should know how to do it by now :p), it's more about where and when to stop. I've been told that a lot of the service stations through Scotland don't stay open overnight, so I don't want to end up needing a break and a coffee and not being able to get one!
 
TheVoice said:
Ah yes, good point. Knew there was something I needed.

Still debating whether to use my ageing TomTom for navigation, or to get a cheap phone mount and leave it to Google Maps navigation on my S2. The TomTom maps are a bit out-of-date now and it's caused me a bit of trouble before e.g. going to Weymouth where there's entire new road layouts that TomTom thinks are fields.
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I'd probably use a cheap phone mount, Google Maps is decent enough and will be much more up to date. I tend to just use it for the start of the journey (i.e. getting out of London) and occasionally the end if I'm going somewhere different but you'll probably have a good few hundred miles in the middle where the only purpose of the GPS software would be to tell you to stick to the motorway you're already on. For the majority of the journey you just need to follow the signs for The NORTH and you'll keep heading in the right direction. Maybe once you're across the Border it might be worth switching on your GPS if you don't know where you're going but between the there and starting off it's likely to be a bit redundant.

Have you decided whether you're going M6 or M1/A1(M)? The M6 might be a slightly safer bet at this time of year as you won't be going so high across the Border and the roads are busier so more likely to be clear but you will be going up the West Coast and you want to finish on the East so it will require cutting across the country in some way. The A1(M) tends to have better scenery and is a lot less monotonous but it can be a bit riskier in winter.
 
I also find 3 hours to be my limit. I can drive all day without getting tired, but my god my bum stings after 3 hours of driving. Heated seats help if you have those. My old fiesta nearly killed my back on longer journeys :(

I also have an ancient tomtom, must be nearly 10 years old now. I find the hardware is much better than some modern sat navs, like garmins etc. The software runs so poorly due to crap hardware, and the resolution of satellite updates is poorer so you end up missing turning's etc. I prefer my ancient tomtom to the much newer (albeit cheaper brand) navs at work.
 
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Matt82 said:
An emergency can of relentless as tiredness can come out of no where in my experts.
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Yup

Keep one handy, just in case. Tiredness can just suddenly hit you, quite scary!

A 20 minute nap at a service station can do you wonders if you're feeling really tired.
 
semi-pro waster said:
I'd probably use a cheap phone mount, Google Maps is decent enough and will be much more up to date. I tend to just use it for the start of the journey (i.e. getting out of London) and occasionally the end if I'm going somewhere different but you'll probably have a good few hundred miles in the middle where the only purpose of the GPS software would be to tell you to stick to the motorway you're already on. For the majority of the journey you just need to follow the signs for The NORTH and you'll keep heading in the right direction. Maybe once you're across the Border it might be worth switching on your GPS if you don't know where you're going but between the there and starting off it's likely to be a bit redundant.

Have you decided whether you're going M6 or M1/A1(M)? The M6 might be a slightly safer bet at this time of year as you won't be going so high across the Border and the roads are busier so more likely to be clear but you will be going up the West Coast and you want to finish on the East so it will require cutting across the country in some way. The A1(M) tends to have better scenery and is a lot less monotonous but it can be a bit riskier in winter.
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Good point on the sat nav. I'd just feel better having it there and running (even if it's just pointing in the same direction for most of the journey), I've never used the Google Maps nav before but might give it a try later if I have time.

My plan was M6, Google Maps reckons it's shorter (by 1 mile) but quite a bit quicker than the A1(M) route. It also says there are tolls; anyone know how many and how much they cost?
 
TheVoice said:
My plan was M6, Google Maps reckons it's shorter (by 1 mile) but quite a bit quicker than the A1(M) route. It also says there are tolls; anyone know how many and how much they cost?
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As LEUVEN says it'll be the M6 Tolls but you don't have to use the toll road, it's a bit quicker and usually without queues (except perhaps at the toll gates) but the old M6 still works fine. I can't remember the cost exactly but it's in the region of £4-5ish but it varies according to the day of travel.

I've also just looked on the map and noticed you're pretty close to the M40 as it is so then the M6 definitely makes more sense.
 
for me i use me motohome with satnav, so at least when i get tired i have a bed, a kitchen when im hungry and a loo so i dont use the bushes.

makes long trips loads more fun :)
 
Made it! Had breaks on the way but didn't bother stopping anywhere overnight. Last two hours were tough, but coffee, cold air and loud progressive-house music got me through!

And yes, High Wycombe does indeed suck. Glad to have escaped!
 
Aside from some pretty horrendous rain for a good 30-45 mins (and the tiredness towards the end) I actually didn't mind it. I think I'll try and to it in a more comfortable car next time though!
 
TheVoice said:
That said, I'm in no mad rush to get there, a nice steady speed will be a bit more relaxing, cost me less fuel and cause me fewer potential problems.
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Agreed. I normally blast around motorways at 80-90mph, however this often leads to frustration when people doing 65 move over and block lanes off. At 60-65mph i managed 40mpg up to Scotland on my trip, and i averaged 37mpg over my whole trip (2700miles). That was a large saving in fuel when i consider i get around 22-30mpg down here in London, but also miles more relaxing because i generally could stick to lane 1 and 2 instead of trying to fly past everyone.
 
Recently driven to Antwerp and back and all of the above is sound! Stop to take breaks, spare batteries for torches/phones/satnav too, if your car dies then you may not be able to charge squat from the lighter socket :)
 
TheVoice said:
Good point on the sat nav. I'd just feel better having it there and running (even if it's just pointing in the same direction for most of the journey), I've never used the Google Maps nav before but might give it a try later if I have time.

My plan was M6, Google Maps reckons it's shorter (by 1 mile) but quite a bit quicker than the A1(M) route. It also says there are tolls; anyone know how many and how much they cost?
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Only do the A1(M) if you like slowing down for roundabouts frequently. I drove that route as far as York and wished I hadn't
 
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