Big trip 2016

Big trip 2016

Yes, the old trucker’s route program still comes in handy. At least I can see now were I’ve been…
But first the statistics. Without the time spent in the caravan at Swanley, of course.

Days out minus paint time159
Cruising days85
Cruising every1.87 day
Cruising time351 hours
Cruising hours per day4.13
Total miles585
Miles per day6.88
Miles per days out3.68
Locks per day5.99
Bridges per day0.34
Shortest day00:30 Banbury to Banbury
Longest cruising day10:45 hrs Wigan to Slipway

Now the weird part.
From Scarisbrick Marina to Stourport via Nantwich and Stafford is 3 hrs 25 min by car.
It took us 23 days/105 hrs cruising.
From Stratford-on-Avon to Oxford is 1 hr by car. It took us 16 days/61 hrs cruising.
From Oxford to Scarisbrick Marina is 2 hrs 50 min by car. It took us 28 days/130 hrs cruising.
From the DW Stadium to The Slipway is 29 min by car. It took us almost 11 hrs.

And even weirder.
We cruised for 85 days, with an average of 4.13 cruising hours per day.
If we had spent that much time in a car, doing 100 km/h, we would have travelled
85 * 4.13 * 100 km = 35,105 km. So we nearly did a trip around the world, the circumference at the equator being 40,075 km.
And starting at Ormskirk, while staying at the same latitude, we would have gone around the world almost 1,5 times. Because the circumference of the earth at the latitude of Ormskirk is  (equatorial circumference) * cos(L) = 40,075 * cos(53.568935) = 40,075 * 0.5938552 = 23,798 km.
And what did we, lazy bastards, do? Only a lousy 585 miles, or 941 km.

And now for the weirdest.
The maximum speed for a truck is 56 miles per hour. A maximum driving day for a lorry driver is 10 hours. So Lawrance could have done this in just over one day…! In certain circumstances Lawrance would have classed that as a relaxing day.

Can you imagine the problems I have to grasp our travels? To realize where I am, in relation to car distances, distances I’m more used to?
Take, for example the little village of Brewood. It’s about 5 km south of Wheaton Aston, or about an hour cruising. On the 27th of April we cruise from Wheaton Aston to Coven. When we walk into the village of Coven I notice the name of the road we’re walking on: Brewood Road.
Yep, it’s the same Brewood. From the bridge over the canal at Brewood to the bridge over the canal at Coven took us roughly from 10:15 hrs till 15:15 hrs.
By car it’s only eight minutes. OK, I got stuck in the stop lock at the end of the Shropshire Union Canal, had to slow down because of the narrows, and got grounded next to the dredger in the Staff & Worcs Canal. So it is a relatively hard and long day, but I’m still only nine kilometres (as the crow flies) away from Wheaton Aston.

And I’m not doing some of the previous calculations for days away, instead of actual cruising days. Because we were away for 159 days, so 159 * 4.13 * 100 = 65,667 km. Five of these years would have taken us to the moon. With our way of cruising, the moon would take us 238,900/3.68 = 64,918 days by narrowboat. Roughly 178 year…

It just doesn’t make sense.

2 thoughts on “Statistics

  1. What was the fuel consumption and the average revs!!?

    • The fuel consumption was 0.8 litre per mile, or 1.34 litre per cruising hour.
      The average refs were 1350 when I was on the tiller, and 1450 when Lawrance was on the tiller.

      Any more questions?

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