The thing is, the distance you cover in a day is largely determined by the roads that you use - which will determine what you see.

To explain further. If you use the autoroutes (motorways) and split the driving, you can quite easily cover 4-500 miles a day, and still have a leisurely evening meal and a couple of drinks before bedtime.

If, on the other hand, you want to really SEE the area you're driving through, "That town looks pretty, let's stop for a coffee and a wander", sort of thing, then 200 or 250 miles a day could well be the limit.

Dunkirk to Murcia is 1,200 miles. By the quick routes. So it could take anything from 2.5 days to a week to drive down there, going by that.

Alternatively, if just driving solidly, with 3 or 4 loo/coffee/food breaks a day, you could do the trip in under 2 days. Leaving Dunkirk one morning, arriving in Murcia late the following evening.

It all depends on how long you've got to play with, time-wise. If it's a 2 week holiday, then you probably don't want to spend most the time driving there and back, with just a couple of days at the destination. If it's a week away, then I'd seriously suggest flying. Else you will spend a lot of time on the road, no matter what.

As an example, my longest ever driving day was from North Wales (where I live) to Thurso (just west from John o'Groat's). Left at 7am, coffee break about 10am, lunch at 2pm, coffee at 4pm, arrived there at 7:30pm. 540 miles. One hell of a long day behind the wheel.

I suggest you do not use the Paris péripherique. It's not good at the best of times and at other times is dire. Fortunately there are alternatives. If you're going to Spain, going west of Paris is best.

I feel I can drive safely for two hours before needing a break. If you use motorways (which you can for the majority of your journey through France) and swap drivers you can keep going for a whole day, though you will need to eat at some point. So the maximum comfortable distance in one day would be 300 - 400 miles, maybe a bit more.

Personally, I can't drive through France without factoring in some sight-seeing.

There is so much to see I hesitate to start a list. If you go down the "left side" of Paris you have the glorous cathedral cities of northern France, which are without equal. (However, Reims is on the other side.)

The central parts of France are full of stunning scenery. It really is up to you how much time you spend on the journey.

One thing that always amazes me is the Millau suspension bridge, in southern central France, which is on a motorway you may well use.

I can recommend a very good website (About France dot com), which will give you lots of ideas. The page to go to for routes is this:

tinyurl.com/oocvd4l

and there's plenty of other advice about where to go and what to see.

One other thing: if you go by ferry to Dunkerque, you're going by DFDS. They tell me that due to the disruption around Dover, you need to allow an extra 90 minutes to catch your sailing, and you may well find that services are disrupted, so allow for a later arrival in France than you were expecting. Don't forget French time is one hour ahead of the UK; you may not be able to cover as much distance on the first day as you may hope.

I'm thinking of going over myself in September!

Hi. My girlfriend and I have decided to drive to Spain. Neither of us have driven this distance before.

Have either of you driven abroad before?

Do not underestimate how tiring it is driving on the "wrong" side of the road, sitting on the "wrong" side of the car, with speed limits posted in km/h, road signs in a different language, different rules and road etiquette etc.

I have been living in Spain for a year now and drive most days, but I still need to concentrate much more than i did in the U.K. and consequently find several hours behind the wheel tiring.

As others have said, depending on how long you are going to be here, it may be better on you both to fly and hire locally.

Whichever you decide, drive safely and enjoy the trip

We have driven to Poland 2 years ago in my X reg Polo , 14 hours non stop , it was about with 1000 miles only taken a break for fuelling. We swapped driver seats a few times . I think Spain you looking at about 20 hours so you could break in half and do a stop over somewhere in France.

Edited by Mon06 on 05/08/2015 at 11:56

Take a crossing to Cherbourg and stop off to see the WWII beaches & Bayeux tapestry, then go via Le Mans to Poitiers and see Futurescope, (probably one night stop en route), continue south and see Cahors (and others) along the former N20 continue to Toulouse & Andorra (supposed to be cheap petrol there!) but avoid Barcelona (too many shananigans with tourist cars) ... return to take in Millau bridge then head back to Caen or Le Havre for the return crossing.

Rather than worry about daly maximum drives, look at your total trip duration, allocate time for Murcia and then split the remaining days for the journey, say 3 nights en route each way, some days will be more driving others more sightseeing. At a guess 300 miles max on non motorways or 500 on motorways, my old AA book says expect an average of 30-35 mph on single carriageway roads, experience tells me this is a good guide after allowing for towns etc. Whatever you do don't exceed the speed limit (by much if at all) as the police in France are much stricter these days, on the spot fines (1st hand experience 150kph on motorway) or vehicle confiscation are common dependant on speed above the limit. Also check rules for radar detection and sat nav, vehicle confiscation is a threat here too.

Have a great trip and please do post a report when you return.

Edited by Smileyman on 05/08/2015 at 23:15