Long distance driving in a sparsely populated country is quite different to long distance driving in a densely populated one. Driving the length of the UK means

Long distance driving in a sparsely populated country is quite different to long distance driving in a densely populated one. Driving the length of the UK means passing by 3 or 4 major cities. The road gets wider, motorways merge, traffic gets heavy, maybe there's a traffic jam or traffic lights, the drivers are mostly local and get more aggressive. It becomes mentally taxing. Driving long distance when there's nothing around (eg the M6 between Preston and Glasgow) is so much simpler. You can definitely drive longer when you're not constantly negotiating city-adjacent traffic.