For most of us, the journey to work is something reasonably bearable. We sit in the car for half an hour or so, listening to the radio, or read a book or newspaper on the train. Most people probably hate the job more than the journey. But 1 in 10 people spends more than 2 hours commuting every working day, and for 740,000 people – 3 per cent of the population – getting to and from work is a marathon lasting 3 hours or more. Journeying by road, train, bus, ferry or even aircraft, some might spend a month every year just getting to and from work. With a recent Department for Transport survey finding that the average length of a commute increased by 6 per cent between 1996 and 2006 and that, as a nation, we are making fewer but longer commutes, a phenomenon has been born: extreme commuting.

In America, where it all began, some people cross whole states to get to their office. Here, 12 per cent of all long-distance trips are now commutes, and the richer you are, the further you’re likely to travel: according to a recent study, households with an income of less than £10,000 commuted an average of 5 miles; those with incomes of more than £40,000, double that. It’s a case of have money, will travel.

Kate Lumsdon, 40, is currently commuting from her home in London to the Isle of Wight, a journey of roughly three hours each way. A barrister and mother of two young children aged 9 and 6, Lumsdon leaves home at 6.20am to catch the 6.37 train from Clapham Junction to Southampton. At Southampton she gets a bus to the ferry terminal in time for the 8.15 boat. Half an hour later, she’s on the island, where she has another half-hour on a bus getting from Cowes to court in Newport.

“It’s an endurance feat,” she says resignedly. “I come out of court feeling quite energetic, and by the time I get home I’m absolutely shattered. The journey is just too long. If I’ve finished court I feel like I could be with the kids, but I’m sitting on a train.”

She admits she couldn’t do it if it weren’t for the fact that her husband, Andy, has a more amenable commute – his Battersea teashop, Crumpet, is just down the road both from home and the children’s school.

“He deals with the children entirely,” she says. “He takes them to school and picks them up. His life is probably more frantic than mine.”

Like many people, Lumsdon has ended up with such a horrendous commute by accident: the English Bar is divided into six circuits, and all barristers are members of one of them. The Western Circuit – Lumsdon’s – stretches from Truro to just west of Guildford and has, she says, a well-deserved reputation for being a good circuit to work on. She and her partner had always intended to move out of London to somewhere more rural. But 15 years of marriage, two children and a string of London teashops later, they accept that they’re probably never going to. So Lumsdon is stuck with being an extreme commuter.

“There are upsides,” she maintains. “You’re commuting against the traffic, so if you know which train and where to sit to get a table, you can do quite a bit of work, and I factor this in to my work schedule… And the nice thing about taking public transport is that if the train or boat is cancelled, that’s an official excuse, whereas traffic jams aren’t.”

If court rises by 4.30pm, she can be home by around 8, in time to read her children a bedtime story. If not, it could be an hour or more later. Once, immersed in her work, she forgot to change trains at Basingstoke and ended up in Reading. “I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she says ruefully.

According to a survey commissioned by the Scottish Executive, “Despite the numerous disadvantages of long-distance commuting, eg, fuel, environmental impact, ‘wasted’ time… there are considerable positive effects.”

The researchers identified lower property prices further from the city centre, the creation of economic links between the city and surrounding areas, and access to rural locations and lower crime rates as some of those positive effects.

But for many people, the length of their commute is determined by housing: a 2007 study found that for every minute spent on the train leaving London, house prices dropped by £1,000. Perceived quality-of-life benefits don’t just include a bigger house, but also a rural upbringing for the children, good local schools, possible proximity to extended family, less crime. All combine to make spending hours getting to work a viable prospect.

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