chazzer:
After several years of double manning in the world of F1 where we had to use hotels as unless you work for Eddie Stobart as the teams have always decreed that drivers should have a decent sleep and shower especially when you were a lot more than just a truck driver, eg tyre or fuel technician, I now drive mostly on my own (apart from the fact there are usually several of us running together) except for the occasional back to back race where we have to D/M. So it is nice to be able to find a good Routiers en route and enjoy a good meal and a drop of vino in company without having to move on and find a hotel. We cab it for which we get a bonus as it saves the team a hotel bill and it’s nice to find that some of the old haunts are still open and thanks to apps like Truckfly find some new ones. By the way Stobarts drivers get about the same money as the UK and have to spend every night in the cab even when at a race.
Truckfly is brilliant, though I have one criticism of it. Often the so-called routiers are not really that at all, but workers’ restos which are not always open (for meals at least) in the evenings. I always preferred ‘cabbing it’ even when the choice was given because for me the meal at the end of the day is just that, the end of the day, and I don’t want to get back behind the wheel to find the hotel. Drink was always in the back of my mind, but I take water with my meals now but still keep to the same principle. This coming weekend is a (very) rare occurrence, and normally would be refused but I have to do a collection south of Toulouse at 4.30pm Friday and then a 2nd at 1.30am Saturday at Cestas (Bordeaux). I have only agreed because it is a rdv with a Spanish transporter who will turn straight round and head south again. So, a couple of hours sleep after the meal and then on to Cestas where, once loaded, back to bed again for about 5 hours before doing the 2 and a half hours to delivery, and back home nearby. But, as I said, very rare and I would normally have stipulated 8am or nothing.
When planning my route I have 3 ways to find my stopovers, Truckfly, the Routier red book and an old Michelin of mine where I mark every routier new to me that I see. Then, if it is July or August, or any Friday, I always ring ahead to make sure they are open. 