For a soul night my longest was drive to Preston from North London / Herts, and then drive back at the end of the night at 2 am……seem to recall Geoff was with me and the petrol bill was not funny. I've also done Prestatyn and back in a night (similar to Simsy), Wigan and back in a night in the 90s etc.
Back in the 70s went by coach to Wigan, once and once only…..well train from Kent to London, then coach from Victoria Coach to Manchester, then legged it to Manny Vic station and got a train to Wigan. Same in reverse coming back, except we stopped at Derby bus station and lost a passenger. When we eventually found him, and got back to London and got the train from london back to Kent it was 7 pm…..dinner in the oven, bed, then off to work next morning.