Glasgow to Montpellier by car

[Steviebeee]

Evening,

Managed to talk the wife into letting me drive again this year for holidays. Questions: how far down would you drive from Scotland on the first day? I was thinking 5am start, Dover to Calias 12pm and four hours on the continent, leaving 300miles or so on the next day to the house near Montpellier.

I'm fairly new to continental driving holidays. Twice so far, once to Quimper (lovely but too cold) and last year to Limoges which wasn't quite far down enough to get the good weather.

Any help from the experts greatly appreciated

Stevie

[Toaster Pilot]

What car will you be in? Makes a big difference to how knackered you'll be in my experience - most of the cars I've owned would make me pretty bloody tired after driving from Glasgow to Gloucester but in the likes of my Laguna II I could've driven much further.

[Krikkit]

Worth considering driving in shifts between you and your wife if it's going to be that much on the first day. Do a few hours from home, then let her take over down to the channel while you nap.

[bodysnatcher]

Traffic to the channel port is the biggest variable - read M25. I'd plan the break near to Dover/Eurotunnel, getting off early day 2.
I see you plan Glasgow to Dover in about 7 hours - shade optimistic. 7.5 probably nearer the mark if you stay basically legal.
Viamichelin shows Calais to Montpellier about 7.5 hours - again at roughly legal speeds
stopover this side of Channel seems obvious. non?

Edited by bodysnatcher on Monday 13th January 21:47

[ceebmoj]

Have you considered one of the overnight ferrys to reduce the driving I.e. hull or one of the others

[Vaud]

Toaster Pilot said:

What car will you be in? Makes a big difference to how knackered you'll be in my experience - most of the cars I've owned would make me pretty bloody tired after driving from Glasgow to Gloucester but in the likes of my Laguna II I could've driven much further.

If it's the one in his profile then 7 hrs would be fine. But personally I'd avoid the stress and leave at four allowing for a bacon nutty or two on the way - or you can normally get on an earlier train if they have room (+/- 1hr? - I forget)

Or I'd do the overnight in France. Feels like holiday then when you wake up for brekky..

[Impasse]

Drive down to Portsmouth and get the ferry to Spain. Rumble around South of France for a while, then drive back up to Le Harve etc.

[r129sl]

Much more than 1,000miles in a day is pretty tough if solo driving. I would break that journey either at the French side of the tunnel, or in Paris or on an overnight ferry (there's one from Edinburgh, no?)

[Steviebeee]

Toaster Pilot said:

What car will you be in? Makes a big difference to how knackered you'll be in my experience - most of the cars I've owned would make me pretty bloody tired after driving from Glasgow to Gloucester but in the likes of my Laguna II I could've driven much further.

Hi TP,

I'll be in my IS-F. Great thing for touring in. 90mph is just a touch over 2,200 rpm in 8th so a fantastic cruiser. Very comfortable too.

Stevie

[Steviebeee]

Krikkit said:

Worth considering driving in shifts between you and your wife if it's going to be that much on the first day. Do a few hours from home, then let her take over down to the channel while you nap.

Kirkkit,

Julie will drive from time to time, but it's not something I want to rely on unless we are nearer to home. She panics too easily, even in our side of the road!

Stevie

[Steviebeee]

bodysnatcher said:

Traffic to the channel port is the biggest variable - read M25. I'd plan the break near to Dover/Eurotunnel, getting off early day 2.
I see you plan Glasgow to Dover in about 7 hours - shade optimistic. 7.5 probably nearer the mark if you stay basically legal.
Viamichelin shows Calais to Montpellier about 7.5 hours - again at roughly legal speeds
stopover this side of Channel seems obvious. non?

Edited by bodysnatcher on Monday 13th January 21:47

The only part of the journey I don't look forward to is driving in Southern England. Traffic is alway murder, getting stuck somewhere along the line being unavoidable. Once on the continent, traffic moves wonderfully

I've done Brighton in 6.5hrs, so thought Dover in 7 was doable. Still, the journey is that long 30mims either way for each days not really going to matter.

Stevie

[omniflow]

Glasgow -> Portsmouth in one day
Overnight ferry to St Malo
St Malo -> Montpellier in one day

[Steviebeee]

ceebmoj said:

Have you considered one of the overnight ferrys to reduce the driving I.e. hull or one of the others

I would definitely be interested in that. Do you know what ports I need to search for? 800 miles less driving would be welcomed by Julie! Still, would need to consider costs. Think it maybe quite expensive?

I'll fire up google and find out

Stevie

[Steviebeee]

Vaud said:

If it's the one in his profile then 7 hrs would be fine. But personally I'd avoid the stress and leave at four allowing for a bacon nutty or two on the way - or you can normally get on an earlier train if they have room (+/- 1hr? - I forget)

Or I'd do the overnight in France. Feels like holiday then when you wake up for brekky..

Vaud,

Totally with you re waking up in France Thats my goal. Up, in the car and sleeping in France that night. I won't be using the car in my profile! I wouldn't dare do 1000mile motorway driving in that, would be a waste and very trying by comparison to the IS-F.

Stevie

[dcb]

Steviebeee said:

Managed to talk the wife into letting me drive again this year for holidays. Questions: how far down would you drive from Scotland on the first day?

No more than 400 - 450 miles in any one day. You did say holiday, didn't you ?

470 miles in the UK is a royal pain. The Brits drive slowly and badly,
compared to most of the rest of Europe.

660 miles in France is far far further than I'd feel comfortable with
in one journey. Suggest break journey half way. Even if you think
you can drive it, your passengers will want to break it up.

Maybe somewhere half way like Dijon ?

[Steviebeee]

omniflow said:

Glasgow -> Portsmouth in one day
Overnight ferry to St Malo
St Malo -> Montpellier in one day

Hi omni,

I'd rather just stick to the Dover crossing taking a channel crossing. St Malo kicks me to far out to the west.

Need to look further into getting a ferry further down closer to Spain, sounds like it could be a contender.

[ylee coyote]

Last year we drove to San Remo from Scotland
We broke the journey in Manchester to see Santana but we left at 8 the next morning and got the 2 o'clock Dover to Calais ,we stopped about 3 hours into France ,in the middle of the Champagne region ,lots of nice out of the way places to overnight . So If you left at 5 am sharp ,you could have the same sort of itinerary ,btw we travelled in the middle of the week ,I would not attempt the M25 on a Friday....We came down on the M40 so had the choice of which way round ,we decided when we got the traffic reports ,in this case anticlockwise

[AnotherClarkey]

That is a pretty long drag. We did London to Bologna last Christmas which is probably a similar or slightly shorter trip and with lots of pee stops for the dog, some snow on Mont Blanc and traffic around Milan it took 21 hours door to door. A bit brutal.

I think Omni has the right idea with the ferry to St Malo. Some time out of the car with both of you resting after a half decent meal will be very welcome and makes it feel like the holiday has really started.

ETA Portsmouth to Le Havre might be a better bet for you.

[DuckDuck]

Just to add to the lots of other good advice. I have driven from (near) Glasgow to France and beyond for years now and the worst part of the journey, by far, is going through Englandshire. So now I take the Hull ferry, as has been mentioned already or alternatively the Newcastle one.

The rule I used to have was 400 miles or 8 hours, then a hotel for an ovefrnight stay. Now that I have a much more comfortable car then this is no longer the rule; it really makes a huge differance the car you are using.

Last year we went to Nice as part of the holiday, then travelling up to les deux alpes via route Nepolian which was fantastic. We broke that journey up on the way down by staying in Lyon; Lyon is a lovely city by the way.

Good luck anyway, hope this helps

Edited by DuckDuck on Tuesday 14th January 20:43

[Bisonhead]

I have driven from Cambridgeish to Annecy in one day. Left at 2100 and got to the other side at around 1030. Was absolutely ed though and was in bed from 1100 to about 1600.
Glasgow to Dover, I would have thought at least 8 hours but then I sit with cruise at 75 for long drives. Took me 8 hours to get from Alton, Hants up to Glasgow (Clydebank) with light traffic, probably a similar distance for comparison.
Good idea with boosting down to Portsmouth and getting the overnight to Le Harve. Still a belter of a drive to Montpelier.

If you want an overnight stop near Portsmouth Id be happy to host you and the Mrs for the night. Will help keep cost down.