And also just to add, the Italians are the nicest people on the planet…until they get behind the controls of anything with an engine!
Twoninety88:
And also just to add, the Italians are the nicest people on the planet…until they get behind the controls of anything with an engine!
Yes lol ,Steve let us know just how many times they flash the lamps and give you horn wanting you to move over !
Nearest I actually got to Rome was once in the port of Civitavecchia which is about 40 odd miles away, was there for three days and planned on visiting the city but only got as far as the nearest bar outside the dock gates. Same as what happened in Thessalonika !! So much for broadening my horizons … 
If going off the motorway and using the free national roads, I noticed the signs do not make sense and send you back the other way or three or more signs that go different ways .
Some signs looked 30 years old .
You will see Lavaza everywhere, coffee.
Ask for a triple expresso for the ultimate eye bulging hand tremor and heart palpitation experience .
My first trip I took a wrong turn , to avoid a 3.5tom limit up a mountain goat track road, did a U turn in a farm gate .
The traffic police don’t give much grief to lorries unless you attract their attention .
Ladies of the night and day on the side of the road, in the winter they warm up by old oil drums with a fire .
Where are you planning on weekending?
I’m assuming that you’re not double mannng and don’t have any Sunday permits.
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I thought we were still barred from the Blanc??
The caff at the Italian side of the tunnel is/was awful the last time I was there.
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
Setting off on Friday morning on my first ever euro run delivering to Rome airport delivering shop fittings to WH Smiths and really can’t wait. Obviously I’ve never been over the water so can anyone give me any help and advise please what to expect and any tips to make it easier.
There’s 2 lads who have Euro experience traveling with their loads so should be fine as I’ll be travelling in the middle but as one said we will more than likely get split up at the Mont Blanc tunnel so I could be on my own for a while, I’m just guessing as I’ve never been.
What’s it like getting on the train as I’ve heard it can be quite daunting for a newbie?
With 2 experienced drivers you should have very little to worry about, even without you should have very little to worry about, but that’s easy to say with a few years experience.
If you don’t have French toll boxes, don’t go through the peage lanes with 30 above them, they’re tag only. Most French tolls issue a ticket automatically, or are just payment for a section without issuing a ticket, I’m sure the last 2 before the tunnel are.
Italian peages will also have a toll box only lane, but if you don’t have a box, when you get to the ticket machine you have to hit the big red button to get the ticket, which can be quite satisfying and gets rid of a bit of aggression 
Italian motorway signs are Green and National roads are Blue. so to head for the Autostrada follow the green signs, this is important on the way down from Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco as it will be then as the road splits for local and Autostrada traffic.
Other than that enjoy it, there is some great scenery, some amazing civil engineering on the route and as Andrejs has said its just driving on roads.
Andrejs is right in saying parking is full by late afternoon, the motorway services will be rammed with lorries from all nations .
There are not many places to stop overnight if on the back roads in rural areas, they have odd opening and closing times for family owned Tavernas in small towns .
Options are industrial estates or sensible parking in a village or town .
You must try a homemade REAL pizza, not this franchise muck in the UK , where the advertising says it takes time to make as its freshly made , bollax it is, its off a Brakes chiller rigid with a price mark up for the mugg that pays for frozen chuff .
Health warning : Real Italian pizza is the size of a lorry steering wheel .
Well we are 2 days in and done 800+ mile which would have probably been 900+ mile if my tyre on the trailer decided not to have a blow out near the Aire de Baralle rest area on the A26 in France 
Nursed the truck into the rest area and rang our place up and they got in touch with Goodyear, didn’t here ouwt back for about an hour and rang our place asking what was happening and they said Goodyear had passed the relevant information onto the French side of things so we were at their beck and call now.
Got a call from a lovely French woman who informed us that French procedure in a breakdown you must use the orange SOS machines which even the 2 lads with Euro experience didn’t know about. So we used the machine and explained to another nice French lass the situation and gave her the tyre and truck details. 30mins later a tooth pick chewing French tyre fitter rolls into the truck park to change my tyre result 
none of that 90mins minimum bollox you get in the UK.
Once the tyre was fitted we had about 49mins left on a 15 so called it a day, the tyre blowout cost us a good 2 hours driving we had planned on making the large services at Reims the other 2 lads had hoped we’d get to Millan for our weekend rest but as they said ■■■■ happens and there’s nothing we could have done.
4:00 start Saturday morning and crack on. Had a good run and gone from the mundane after a while scenery of the French countryside to the stunning backdrop of Mont Blanc and the Alps. We pulled of at a large supermarket to get some beers and set of to park up at the Chatelard rest area just at the start of the climb up the Blanc as we were told the cafe was open all weekend. We pulled up here with 30mins driving left to find we had dropped a right bollocknas it is shut all weekend and there are no amenities such as showers or toilets 
Oh well it’s a learning curve for me but I’m loving every minute of it the roads and rest areas over here put our country to shame. That’s us until 04:00 Monday morning and just over another 500 mile to go till we get to Rome airport, tip out there then who knows what next?
If you have parked behind the garage on the left after the road on stilts but before chamonix you can get a shower here and a bus in to town ,also there are various small campsites on opersite side with bars and pizzerias .edit there’s a car drives round after dark with no lights on in there looking for business
The old TIR park at Cluses (CRD) is still in use as a truck park and has a good restaurant open 7/7. . . .
Too late for now but may be useful on your way back. J.19 on the A.40.
toby1234abc:
Andrejs is right in saying parking is full by late afternoon, the motorway services will be rammed with lorries from all nations .
There are not many places to stop overnight if on the back roads in rural areas, they have odd opening and closing times for family owned Tavernas in small towns .
Options are industrial estates or sensible parking in a village or town .
I heard the Colosseum is a good place to park in when in Rome.
Health warning : Real Italian pizza is the size of a lorry steering wheel .
Normal lorry size or MAN size?
For parking near Milan, try Via Mestre 5, Cernusco sul Naviglio, 20063 MI, the train to the centre is not far to walk.
Get the red line to Duemo, you will see Gamco international transport on Via Mestre, a few Portuguese hauliers waiting to get load.
Safe there, no problem.
Which airport you going? Got tear gassed at Ciampino and had water cannons brought onto the runway.Oh how we laughed.
…and then ,did Steve ever get there? Or even return ?
Punchy Dan:
…and then ,did Steve ever get there? Or even return ?
Probably got stuck trying to find an easy route to avoid a steep hill.
Maybe he got arrested. Driving a truck near an airport.
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weeto:
Punchy Dan:
…and then ,did Steve ever get there? Or even return ?Probably got stuck trying to find an easy route to avoid a steep hill.
Hi lads yes I did get there and return safely we all ended up going to XPO at Colleferro due to the fact they were not ready for the loads at the airport so we had to deliver them all there for storage.
We headed just north of Millan for our back loads to a steelworks where I was due to pick a load up for Sheffield and the other 2 drivers each a load for ■■■■■■■■■■■ however we had a slight problem in that we needed trailers with sliding roofs as they loaded through the top so we were sat there for about 3 hours so our place could find other back loads.
We did succeed in getting 3 back loads however they were form different places, one driver had to go to Lyon to pick up IBC’S other driver went to Annemasse to pick up cosmetics and I went about 30 mile past him to Amphion to pick up a full load of water from Evian to go to Stobarts at Crick so I got the chance to drive in Europe for a bit on my own which I loved. Admittedly it was no major city and busy traffic but an experience for me to be on my own with no one to help me which I was grateful for tbh you have to learn somewhere.
I met back up with the driver who loaded at Annemasse and we started heading for Zeebrugge where we were to board the 19:00 Friday sailing. We had the back loads on by Wednesday dinner time and still had at least a day and halfs driving to do we left Annemasse and one of the first sights to greet us was the stunning sight of the Mattahorn mountain in the distance in all its snow covered glory.
Me and the other driver parked up for the night (God knows where I’ve forgot ) and got ready for an early start about 02:30 and get some good mileage under our belt and to meet up with the other driver who had loaded in Lyon. We met up with him at some services again God knows where we were and hit the road again and got to where we had been parked up the first night when I had the blowout and we had about 6 hour 30 mins driving left on the Friday to get to Zeebrugge.
I’ll Finnish this off tomorrow as I’m now off out with our lasses dad down the local WMC and into Barnsley for a few light ales 
have a good night lads.
Think that makes you officially an old hand now