# How far can you drive in an ordinary car from Calais **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2007, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480 "2007-08-30T10:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/1 "2007-08-30T10:02:26Z")
Take an ordinary 2WD car - your choice - without extra fuel tanks or cans of fuel. You can only refuel at petrol stations. Start at Calais. You can only cross water by driving over it on a bridge or through it. No boats, no ferries, no ice. How far can you actually drive? Can you reach the far tip of Russia? South Africa? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/2 "2007-08-30T10:08:02Z")
Just to clarify, I’m sure you mean: _how far away can you get by driving_ (You could clock up a very great distance and stay in Calais). - i.e. the distance travelled isn’t the issue, it’s the distance - as the crow flies - between start and finish. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/3 "2007-08-30T10:14:20Z")
Do political issues count? I.e., would you consider driving through Iraq a viable option? Crossing through Syria/Lebanon into Israel? ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/4 "2007-08-30T10:32:30Z")
Well, friends of mine made it from Glasgow to Israel on a motorcycle. Not a 2WD car, I know, but they weren’t carrying extra fuel or the like. Granted, they are disqualified by your “no ferries” condition, which I suppose would include the Chunnel. But from Calais, I’m sure they’d still have made it 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/5 "2007-08-30T10:49:35Z")
I’m pretty sure you _could_ drive right across to Russia’s Pacific coast, but the roads through central Russia aren’t up to much. A longer route, further south through Iran then central Asia and China might be an alternative, but more politically awkward. Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman rode motorbikes right across to Magadan on Russia’s eastern coast in their _Long Way Round_ project, but they found some strecthes impassable even on off-road-capable motorbikes. They’ve done a similar thing but with Cape Town as a destination, more recently. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/6 "2007-08-30T10:57:27Z")
You can get from one side of Russia to the other without taking anything but roads and bridges. See [here](http://www.ironbutt.com/about/getArchiveddocument.cfm?DocID=82) for a ride report on four guys who did it a few years ago. I don’t think they used extra fuel cells but they might have. Then again a car will get a lot more mileage then a motorcycle. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/7 "2007-08-30T10:58:47Z")
Beware of wogs! ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/8 "2007-08-30T11:09:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Beware of wogs! [/QUOTE] Are you aware that to many this term is deeply offensive, more or less equivalent to the ‘N’ word? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/9 "2007-08-30T11:13:45Z")
Nevermind ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/10 "2007-08-30T11:20:36Z")
Well I’ve just had a browse of Google Maps, and crossing Russia looks plausible. Getting from Calais to Russia would be no problem at all these days - most European borders are a breeze these days thanks to EU expansion (even 8 years ago I went by car from France to Hungary, Slovakia and into former Yugoslavia quite easily), so it’s a question of what happens beyong Moscow. Google Maps shows a pretty good network of roads, and even where there appear to be gaps in the “highway”, zooming in and checking with satellite views shows fairly good linking roads in most places. I reckon, as long as you timed it right weather-wise, you could drive Moscow - Novgorod - Kazan - Naberezhnye Chelny - Ufa - Chelyabinsk - Kurgan, cut across northern Kazakhstan to Omsk, then to Novosibirsk - Kemerovo - Krasnoyarsk - Irkutsk. The Wikipedia page for [Irkutsk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irkutsk#Transport) says that a “federal road to Vladivostok” passes through Irkutsk. And that would have saved me a lot of time poring over the map, as searching for “federal road Vladivostok” brings up [this article](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/20/wruss20.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/20/ixworld.html). It looks like there is a motorable road right from Moscow to Vladivostok, which was completyed in 2004. Paving it will take a little longer. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/11 "2007-08-30T11:44:34Z")
[QUOTE=PaulParkhead] Granted, they are disqualified by your “no ferries” condition, which I suppose would include the Chunnel. [/QUOTE] The [Chunnel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunnel) is a ferry? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/12 "2007-08-30T12:04:09Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Beware of wogs! [/QUOTE] **Sage Rat**. I _assume_ you were making fun of a remark by a British politician in the 1940’s– > [@](#): > > The saying “The wogs begin at Calais” was originated by George Wigg, Labour MP for Dudley, in 1945. In a parliamentary debate concerning the Burmese, Wigg shouted at the Tory benches, “The Honourable Gentleman and his friends think they are all ‘wogs’. Indeed, the Right Honourable Member for Woodford [i.e. Winston Churchill] thinks that the ‘wogs’ begin at Calais.” Wigg’s coinage, sometimes paraphrased as “Wogs start at the Channel” or “Wogs start at Dover”, is used to characterise a stodgy Europhobic viewpoint, and more generally the view that Britain (more so England) is inherently separate from (and superior to) the Continent. In this case, “wog” is used to compare any foreign, non-English person to those more traditionally labeled “wogs”. from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wog). Perhaps a link or an asterisk would have helped the clueless(as I was until searching). Carry on. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/13 "2007-08-30T12:52:46Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] The [Chunnel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunnel) is a ferry? [/QUOTE] You don’t drive through the chunnel, you take a train. I would say that putting your car on a train violates the intent of the rules even though Quartz didn’t specify it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/14 "2007-08-30T13:05:45Z")
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak] You don’t drive through the chunnel, you take a train. [/QUOTE] I didn’t realize that. Makes sense, you don’t want a car breaking down and blocking traffic under those circumstances. Okay, it’s a ferry. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/15 "2007-08-30T13:07:01Z")
It’s probably not as far in terms of straight-line distance, but you could easily reach the southern tip of Africa from Calais. It requires a significant dog-leg around the Med, but certainly achievable, I would have thought. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/16 "2007-08-30T13:22:22Z")
[QUOTE=e-logic] It’s probably not as far in terms of straight-line distance, but you could easily reach the southern tip of Africa from Calais. It requires a significant dog-leg around the Med, but certainly achievable, I would have thought. [/QUOTE] I know it’s been done in things like a VW camper van and possibly a double-decker, but not without help from 4WDs etc. to get through some awful ‘roads’ at times. A 2WD car by itself is going to struggle much beyond northern Africa, unless it’s very lucky indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/17 "2007-08-30T13:39:37Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I know it’s been done in things like a VW camper van and possibly a double-decker, but not without help from 4WDs etc. to get through some awful ‘roads’ at times. A 2WD car by itself is going to struggle much beyond northern Africa, unless it’s very lucky indeed. [/QUOTE] Surely it’s no worse than driving across the Russian steppes? I’d certainly want a 4x4 for any extended journey West of Moscow or Ankara. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/18 "2007-08-30T13:48:21Z")
It appears that [Magadan](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Province+of+Magadan,+%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4+%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD&sll=59.775757,151.743164&sspn=1.025866,5.454712&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=0,59.709521,150.851500&ll=59.883425,151.611328&spn=1.022555,5.454712&z=8&iwloc=addr&om=1) is the furthest city in Russia that is linked to the motorable highway network, at least nominally. However, the [Kolyma Highway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolyma_Highway), which links it to Yakutsk, is almost certainly not passable in a 2WD car. So my vote would still be, with a modicum of luck, Vladivostok. I’m not sure how frequent petrol stations would be along that road, though. **e-logic** , having seen what tropical downpours can do to even reasonably decent dirt roads in more developed parts of Africa, I think a north-south traverse of the continet would present some rather unique challenges (not to mention the civil war and general unrest across large chunks of subsaharan Africa). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/19 "2007-08-30T13:58:03Z")
I just did some googling and found a site that says Calais to Vladovostok is about 5630 miles, and Calais to Cape Town is 5570. I recall several years ago about some friends in London hiring a black cab to drive them to South Africa, so that’s absolutely doable, although I don’t know what route they took. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480/20 "2007-08-30T15:14:08Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] I just did some googling and found a site that says Calais to Vladovostok is about 5630 miles, and Calais to Cape Town is 5570. [/QUOTE] The straight-line distance from Calais to Singapore is about 6650 miles, though, so if we’re looking for greatest straight-line distance that’s where we should try to get to. Current political conditions might make a route south of the Himalayas inadvisable (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan & Pakistan aren’t exactly hotbeds of tourism right now); is it possible to cross into China from Russia or one of the -stans? Also, are there any roads running the length of the Malay Peninsula? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-drive-in-an-ordinary-car-from-calais/417480.md?page=2)