So I thought it has been a while since I did any sort of diary, so its best I prepare one! I was due to leave Monday 28th with work, however on the Wednesday afternoon I get a call asking if I can leave Friday to load at luton then head for Switzerland ready for the Monday to load, no problem I says. So I leave the yard just before 8am to be in luton for 10am. I get there, and the stuff I want isn’t ready (like being back on general!), so I sit there and prepare the cab for the next 6 weeks or so. Eventually the lading starts slowly but surely, and more and more gear gets added, so what was going to be an easy load looks like it may turn into a bit of a squeeze, its decided to stack about 4 boxes, and really that wasn’t needed as it fitted nicely. Its now just past 2pm on a Friday and I have the m25 to contend with, fortunately, the m1 is playing ball (but not northbound!) and I sail around nicely, en route I spot my brother going the other way, he tells me the dartford bridge is queuing back to the a127, and we are around potters bar at this point, not good. I decide to try my luck with the blackwall tunnel, what do I have to lose? I head down the m11 and onto the a12, it runs fine, little bit of queuing from the a11 split, but once were through its flowing nicely to my surprise! I get to Dover around 5pm I think, to be told I have just missed the next boat, but I will be on the 18.15, so not all is lost. My mate Gary is well ahead of me running empty down, so after a quick call, he is going to tell me where he parks up. I get off the boat and head for reims, and meet Gary in a services about an hour or so short of reims, its more than enough for the day, we have a glass of wine and a catch up, and decided to be gone by 10am the next day.
heading to dover
i felt sorry for this bulgarian, looks like an ex car transporter to spend weeks away in, cheers boss!!!
Day 2 and the alarm wakes me all to early, after a brew and a wander in the garage so Gary can grab a shower, he waits and waits and eventually gives up, (god knows what they are doing in there!!) with fresh cheese and bread on board we venture onwards, bright sunshine, empty roads and good music, what could be better!! We head to Troyes and then take the national 19, which cuts a large chunk out heading for Belfort and mlhouse. I love the drive across here, so much nicer than being sat on a motorway. We stop for our break, and decide to try the weil am rhein border as we had heard other drivers having problems with the swiss carnets I have for the goods from luton. We press on into Germany and down to the border where we join the queue on the motorway, this isn’t looking promising. After a brew and a bit of a read Gary decides we should go and try the rheinfeld border if we stand any chance of getting into Switzerland before the bans come into place (Switzerland don’t allow truck movements between 10pm and 5am every day without permit, and Germany is 10pm Saturday until 10pm Sunday), and not wanting to be stuck on a motorway for the weekend, we make haste for rheinfeld. Sadly we get there to be told its shut, what time Monday? Shrugs all round, great! So we give in and head back towards Weil am rhein where there is an autohof between the borders, we pull in, have a cracking meal and turn in for the night slightly gutted we are not on the doorstep for Monday.
parked having a break and a brew
heading across the french/german border
Sunday was a leisurely get up about half 10 to generally not do much, it’s a lovely day, and a light lunch with a couple of beers helps the day pass, these Indian summers are great, proper sleeping temperature at night and nice sunny days! We decide that a 4am start Monday to ensure we are fairy up in the queue for when they open Monday, my truck still needs to be registered for Switzerland so I can buy tax there so that will lose us a little bit of time, and where as Gary has 3 days to get up to rostock, I have to head back to Utrecht near Amsterdam for Tuesday to finish loading before I head for rostock and the ferry Thursday morning to Helsinki.
Monday morning rolls round all too quickly, and I soon find myself on the pump filling up with adblue before we set off for the border, within 20 minutes we are at the back of the queue, its only about half a kilometer maximum, so we sit and have a brew. After about 45 minutes Gary decides to head down as he is empty, an will find out if I can come down if the spedition offices are shut as I only need a customs man with a stamp for my carnets, I soon get a call from Gary saying to head down and use the empty lane and then go do the paperwork, after failing to find a ■■■■■■■■■■■■ then being told to move, I head in and get my paperwork stamped out the eu and into Switzerland “where do I register the truck for tax?” I ask, I think its gets lost a little on the swiss man, so his colleague barks at me “what do you want?” (Its little wonder why I don’t like the swiss people…?!) “I want an i.d card so I can buy tax” and a form is given to me, logbook and plating certificate are passed over, and a card duly made for my truck. Once the tax is brought, it’s about a 30 minute run from the border up to the small town of aesch where clair brothers are based. By the time im there and backed onto the bay Gary is loaded and before I have got onto the loading dock myself most of the boxes are out of my trailer, and the new ones are on. In total they put 7 boxes on, and when we question the weight it looks like Gary will be 3 tonnes overweight, so we apologize and they take off about 3 tonnes from Gary ad place onto me, and I still am only about one third loaded. With a carnet and cmr for the load sorted, a cup of coffee and break finished, we head back to the border. This time its there is no queue, but they seem to have changed the system of getting out, and we chase our tails around offices getting the relevant stamps etc, all in all, we are at the border over an hour, the biggest problem being that we have to do a transit in the carnet as the goods are not going into to eu first to be used, and the customs officer has never heard of the Finnish border (probably used to people stating eu destinations no doubt), so after searching google he is satisfied we are telling the truth! We press on into Germany, have a quick stop for lunch and say our temporary goodbyes as we are heading different directions. I press on and make asten truckstop for the night, and im shattered, but glad that I don’t have to set an alarm!!
on the bay loading
could have been a worse view on a monday morning!
I awake about half 9 feeling nice and refreshed, and after a shower, wander about with my camera then some breakfast, one of our other drivers appears from behind his curtains. So, after a catch up over another coffee, its now half 1, and I decide to head on towards Utrecht, im not scheduled to load until 5, but I may as well trundle there. While on route, I get a call from Dave the lead driver who tells me by the time I get there him and rob will be loaded so they will be ready for me! Im there a total of 20 minutes, most of which I catching up with Toby who I know from there jobs who will be on this tour. I cage my plan of heading most of the way to rostock, and the 3 of us all head for the first autohof in Germany and park up.
couple of finns at asten
Once again, no alarm wakes me but im up at half 8. After a spruce and obligatory cup of tea, we set off towards the road work riddled a1 towards Hamburg. Me and rob call in at sittisen autohof to get the trucks, washed. There is a bit of a queue and its generally slow, and we end up being there for just over 2 hours, after a quick brockwurst lunch, we head on for rostock, arriving just gone 4pm. We book on the boat and await in line. Im surprised to see a Scottish truck join us in the queue, its unusual to see other brits abroad these days, esp. heading up to Finland! The boat is starting to load at 10pm, but doesn’t set sail until 5am, giving us the chance to eat and chill out before heading for the cabins and sleep.
ex rico’s trucks awaiting new owners
almost there
waiting for the ferry
couple of boats in the harbour
Im awoken fairy early, and despite managing to stay in bed for a while, the 30 minutes until breakfast ends had me getting out my pit and down to the real world. Sadly there really isn’t too much to do on a 24 hour ferry crossing, so we chew the fat over several coffees, the sauna opens later in the afternoon, but once that is done its more time killing, and not too much to look at either, its more reading and coffee (Finland has a zero tolerance with alcohol levels I believe, and regularly breath check drivers coming off the ferry) and toping the evening off with a drink and a chat with the Scottish chap, who is en route to pori further north in Finland
arriving in helsinki
off the boat ready to go!
Its up bright and early after a terrible nights sleep for breakfast before we dock. Thinking ahead to the fact we could be a while at the border I stock up on the breakfast front, and pop outside to have a look at the dockside approaching! Just under a week ago I was baking near the swiss border, this morning, I can see my breath and it’s freezing!!! When we disembark, the truck is saying 2 degrees, so much for an Indian summer!!! We all head off east, stopping for a quick top up with fuel, and on to the Russian border. We arrive at about 11am, and then the waiting begins!!! Now some people really wish they had my job, but on days like this even I question why I want to come to Russia!!! It doesn’t even start well, where there is confusion at the Finnish side as to why our ata carnet (our paperwork) is a transit from Switzerland, and they don’t want to stamp where we need it done, lo and behold all the other trucks are though except me and Gary, who explains where they need to stamp it, and that if they don’t it can cause big problems. After chatting with several other customs officers, the lady agrees to what we are asking her, stamps the carnet, and we turn round to do passport control just as a bus has appeared with 53 passengers, a sign of things to come? We roll onwards and into the Russian compound. We are directed into an empty lane, and promptly fill out our entry and exit forms, and get our passports stamped and joining the 8 lanes into 1 weighbridge scrap!!! In front of me, Danny manages to catch his air tank valve on the crater like hole in front of the weighbridge, big problem!! I get underneath and knock it back so he can maintain enough air to get him into the parking area (it’s a regular problem for us, with low height tractor units, the valves are very susceptible to damage, I broke one in Sweden last tour) fortunately martin has a spare, and I have a large adjustable spanner (brought just for that sort of problem!) so I say ill sort it once were parked in the compound. We all arrive from the weighbridge into the main Russian customs building, and where we have 2 guys there to help us with the paperwork. The first problem of the day soon comes to light, Gary is 2.5 tonnes overweight on his drive axle, and another driver is 500kgs over, logbooks and gat passes taken, were left to wait, and wait…………and wait some more! (I have to wait with Gary as we are on the same carnet). Everyone seems to be having troubles; it takes about 4 hours for the paperwork to return so our carnet can be submitted!! We are passed from pillar to post, gaining some stamps, some want photocopies of peoples carnets/documents, others don’t, its all a huge mess. Gradually, one by one peoples spirits are broken and their sense of humor seems to be running out, it gets to the point where, for some reason, we have to submit our home address, the trucks mileage and purchase price(!!!) and where it was first registered!! This is becoming a true farce, why do these people need this information, let alone care?! Eventually, after 8 hours roughly, we have all the stamps and are free to go through the barrier, the sun has long since set, hunger has well and truly kicked in, and the thought of a cup of tea has turned to something slightly stronger!!! We park up about 12kms inside the border, all agreeing we have done more than enough for one day (im now sat after a meal) with a drink writing this, wondering what friends and family are doing this Friday night!! Luckily we have time on our side for once, so tomorrow looks to be a 8-hour driving day, so it should be quite pleasant!!!
getting there
couple of trucks at the border
now this renault has been impounded for at least 2 years!
the scrum onto the weighbridge
the hole which damaged dannys truck
The alarm goes off all to early, reluctantly im out of bed, dressed and nearside door open for the teeth brushing ritual to start the day, what I wasn’t expecting was a large frost and minus 4 temperatures!!! With teeth done quick sharp and back in the warmth of the cab with the kettle on, the rest of the wake up ritual ensues. It seems ludicrous that under a week ago we were parked sweating the day away!! So, 9am local time (its forward yet another hour from Finland, so 3 hours ahead of the uk) and we are off. Steam and frost sprayed everywhere, and the going is……well slow! Our lead driver Dave has told our ■■■■■■ to go between 80 and 85kms, the wheezy lada they are in seems to manage this when its straight for miles, but the mere hint of a bend slows us to about 60kms, and for some strange reason, all the traffic behind me (im last spare the moscavic ■■■■■■) is getting impatient and trying any sort of manouvre to get round us. It gets to the point of trucks overtaing on bends, and at one point I really thought I was going to watch a fatal accident with a fried which had undertaken get in the other lane and be held there by a Finn who had previously gone past, with oncoming traffic, I had dropped back and back to allow a gap yet here they were fighting for road supremacy with oncoming traffic! Luckily (I think) the fridge driver decided his life was still worth living, and with a huge snake he was back on the right side of the road, and no one coming the other way was killed! As we progress the weather deteriorates, and as per the weather so does the driving standard. As we are getting close to st Petersburg, we grind to a halt, up ahead, 3 trucks and some cars have come to grief, and the police have arrived and made it worse (sound familiar?!) a crane in the queue is commandeered, and while we are able to divert the first trucks are jammed in, so we wait for them to pull a u turn on the motorway (this is Russia remember, anything goes!)And we press on. More bad news, along the way are local police checkpoints, they pull in 2 or 3 trucks, while the rest of us carry on. We then get word there is problems with one of them, so we pull over and await the call to the problem. One truck gets released, while the other they still have a problem with (easy pickings!) so, as he has an ■■■■■■ car with him, the decision is made to press on and when he is clear he will catch us up
Now, one thing which I do love about going to Russia is fast vanishing, but I guess it’s a good thing (well that’s what everyone else says!) is the state of the roads. If anyone who remembers my warblings from last year will recall a place called Novgorod. (Novgorod the great the Russians call and map it as, why though is beyond me!) put simply, if you had filings in your teeth, don’t drive across here cos they would fall out!! As almost all our party had been here before, we were expecting the worst, however, as we approached, roadwork’s were in place (Russian ones though, so it was still a wrestle for the road!), and all of a sudden, it was like someone had ironed the road! Last year the suggestion of getting even close to 70kms round here would have resulted in belly laughs, now however, it’s a case of slow down there is a speed trap ahead! (Now it seems, some of the challenge of coming to Russia has gone) so, after about 8 hours driving we were parked up early, fed after a comedy of ordering, with our lack of Russian skills, their lack of English and understanding chicken impressions! It was agreed to head off at 10am the next day, as we didn’t have far to go
The rain awoke me, fortunate about half past 9. I was glad it was rain and not now after the cold past few days (although we are a bit further south from the border). Today is going to be a case of doing about 4 hours and parking up again as we cannot go into Moscow until Monday morning, we are presuming that the promoter would not pay for the permit for the Sunday too. So after a 4 hour drive, we squeeze into a garage, this isn’t looking good for a 9 hour stop, so one driver jumps in the car after the garage telling our escorts a better services was just up the road. Lo and behold, after 45 minutes, we were rolling again, for all of about 4 minutes!! Into the much bigger and better services we rolled. The wind is bloody bitter today, so the night heater goes straight on, I relax with a film then my book, pop into the restaurant for meatballs and rice (for about 2 quid), and back to the cab for more book and cups of tea. I have also noticed that the price of diesel has not really gone up since last year, its still around 50p per litre!! When I suggest getting some, im met with ■■■■ that, its mostly water, so I doubt we will stop for fuel heading back!
german just through the border
looks good eh! god bless adblue i guess
Half past midnight, and we are ready to roll for the final stretch, which will only take a couple of hours. Its an uneventful drive pretty much, the only thing which really stuck in the mind is that I followed the truck in front through an amber/red light, and the ■■■■■■ car behind went through on red and got pulled by the police! We pull off the ring road and are met with our permits to go into the city, its tipping it down with rain, luckily it stops when we park up, and we stand and have a quick drink before heading to bed. I don’t wake up until half past 2 the next day, and mooch about not doing much waiting to see if they will tip all of us this evening, fortunately they do, and were parked up in time to go get a meal and a much needed beer!
lined up at the olympski, moscow
The whole of Tuesday is a day off, so we go and do the tourist thing (again!) before heading back to the trucks
Wednesday comes round all too early, and before we know it the show is over in the evening. Although it finished just after 10, we are not all loaded until gone 2 (due to it being the crews first load out, and the rusian local crew not seeming to know how to lift a box). Once were all done, we set off west, pulling in after almost 4 hours. I crash out on the bunk, and im awoken an hour and a half later, if only there was more time for sleep! I am to set off with Brian, as he only has 1 fuel tank so he needs to get some fuel, I want to top up and also see if the only shell garages on the entire route sell adblue (they don’t) unfortunate, its not only me who is tired, and Danny catches a trailer wheel when leaving our parking, damaging the wheel and tyre. When they join us at the shell garage, we don’t have a jack between us (long story!), so its decided to carry on until we see somewhere, if all else fails, we will sort it when we park up, we seem to remember there being workshop where we are heading for. We end up parking where we were planning, just getting in there on our time, sadly our memories are not that great and there isn’t anything there, but an Estonian overhears, and speaks broken English and arranges a jack and the wheel is changed. Its decided that 4 trucks on 2 carnets will have a 9 hour break and see what the border is like as they are hoping to tip them on the Friday afternoon if we can get through, we are leaving much later than them at half 4. We are rudely awoken by our ■■■■■■ who wants to make haste, he doesn’t seem to realize most of us need a cup of tea before we even think of turning a wheel, esp. as he has woken us up before our alarms have gone off! After some shouting, and beeping his horn, to which we all ignore, we set off just before half 4 for the border. We get there just about on 4 and a half hours driving, and the other 4 trucks are not further ahead, there has been a problem with the translations it seems and the agent has not turned up yet. They get going eventually, and I am the last one through, it takes me a bit over 6 hours, so quicker than going in, but still a farce of stamps, paper and signatures!!! We pull out onto Finnish soil and into the first services which is within spitting distance of customs, and park up until the Saturday to run into Helsinki and load in.
parked up on the way back
dannys damaged wheel (not having much luck is he!)
khazakstan registered volvo in with us in moscow
and a few sites heading back, sorry for the quality of some of them
at customs, maybe the same one krybo spotted recenty!
makes a change to a volvo fm i guess!!
mudguards are for ■■■■■■■!!
blimey, a brit!!
i will continue this as i make more progress south, hope it has been interesting (m sure i have missed some pics etc out) and thanks for looking
