Hook up and leave at 2am or not

I had a walk round it a couple of months ago when I stopped for lunch heading north. Surprisingly quiet considering the proximity of the motorway. Being the middle of the day, it was empty.

Back to the original query, being new to caravanning, I would counsel against a journey of 400 odd miles in a day. Back when I towed, I had a rule of thumb of 200-250 in the UK and 300-350 on the continent. I would suggest trying to get 150 odd miles under your belt the day before and an earlyish start the following morning.

When in my forties and fifties I used to drive through the night to Dover from Yorkshire and then on to Beaune,after a broken sleep on the ferry.Today I would not entertain the idea.You arrive feeling like a "chewed chip" and it takes a couple of days to recover.Snappiness in the Family often ensued..As my eyesight has deteriorated with the onset of cataracts I try to avoid night driving,if at all possible.The flare from the headlamps of oncoming lorries makes it difficult to accurately judge their proximity to the outfit.I gave up towing in favour of an MH,now pulling into a "park-up" en route is far easier to do.

Today,if on a long haul, we set off after "rush hour" and as darkness falls I find a halt for a while .Then as dawn breaks off we go.Over the years we have worked out where we may safely pull in for a short break en route.

These days  I try to avoid "long hauls" if I can by doing hops and visits along the way.It is meant to be a holiday not a test of endurance,after all.

Still,if you have to,a night drive can be quieter-  like you I was in the position of having to slot holidays into time frames once. 

Good luck and try not to have a blazing row with the OH when you arrive exhausted and she insists on putting up the awning straight away!The kids may still be asleep and of minimal assistance in setting up camp.

 

That’s going to be a long tow, even if traffic is light. We live in South Yorks, 10 minutes to M1, and if we chose to use M1/M42/M5, Thats a good five hours plus into North Cornwall without stops of any kind. 

Try and avoid Bristol area between 7.30- 10.00am. 

We tried the overnight tow a couple of times, it never worked for us, but others swear by it. We used to set off Friday evening, do the M1, come off onto Fosse Way and find somewhere to overnight for a few hours, getting back on road around 5am, so we were well down past the main bottlenecks by 9am. 

Good luck and safe journey.

We once tried and overnight tow to take advantage of a very cheap ferry fare to France. The boys were probably 12 and 14. I can't remember what time we left MK but I don't think we got much sleep before we left and the plan was to have a snooze at the Services on the M2. That didn't really work out either so by the time we got to Belgium we were far from refreshed. We eventually got to our site in Holland and started to set up and the boys went off to explore. When they returned they found us both asleep in the van!!!

Obviously it depends how young you are but as Ken mentioned if you remove yourselves from normal sleep patterns it can mess you up for days. Have you thought about doing the journey with an overnight stop?

David

Hi I have done Newcastle to Devon some years gone I left at around 10.0pm drove for about 4hrs and pulled in to a big services next to other caravans to have a sleep for a few hours 

If your going to connect the Electrics up from caravan to car make sure your not going to drain your battery as you may be live from car to caravan when you turn off the ignition.

Good luck

John 

If possible take a long break at Gloucester services, they are probably the best for space and access. I think they are also the only ones I'd recommend for an overnight stop although I think the cost is over £20 and the services have limited overnight access. This gives a head start for getting through the "Bermuda Triangle" (Bristol to Exeter) where delays can cause long tail backs.

Good point John. All too easy to drain car battery.

We never drive through the night, we'd rather arrive late and collapse into bed but our son always drives overnight between the SW and the NE. We used to live a ten hour drive from the SW and the visitors who drove overnight to see us often missed the following day, having  to recover. But we do start early on some longer trips, 5-6 am is about the earliest we attempt and it certainly gives you a head start on motorway traffic. 

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Even living in Bristol and close to the M5 we are leaving early evening to stop overnight in the services.

Caravan is in storage unable to get to it before 7am which by then makes the M5 hard work.

Cant park outside the house street full of cars.