Cant remember the name of the outfit but the owner only had one leg and a shotgun under the desk, quite often got stopped by the law for a quiet chat like … but wanted to keep me knee caps so knew nadda !!
Arse! Mid axle trailer tyre has blown apart and the spare is in the rack with a big tear in the sidewall 
In the middle of nowhere at Calatayud south of Zarragoza. Now having to strap the axle up to get it to a workshop we use just north of Madrid. Third trailer problem in as many weeks … 
AndrewG:
Arse! Mid axle trailer tyre has blown apart and the spare is in the rack with a big tear in the sidewall
Andrew,
Just a question, as have been reading your posts recently, what way do you go from Calais / Reims to Malaga ?
How would you end up in Calatayud?
Just curious is all
Tubbysboy:
AndrewG:
Arse! Mid axle trailer tyre has blown apart and the spare is in the rack with a big tear in the sidewallAndrew,
Just a question, as have been reading your posts recently, what way do you go from Calais / Reims to Malaga ?
How would you end up in Calatayud?
Just curious is all
Most of us go Zarrag- Huesca-Jaca - Candanchu onto Pau. A bit of a zig zag through but avoids the scales.
Onto Madrid in the morning first thing now is getting the tyre replaced
Most of us go Zarrag- Huesca-Jaca - Candanchu onto Pau. A bit of a zig zag through but avoids the scales.
[/quote]
Andrew, if as stated on other posts that you run legal why should you wish to avoid the scales ■■?
AndrewG:
Just hooked up to tilt for return to Malaga and checking the trailer thought the tyres were bulging somewhat. Its loaded with high carbon iron/alloy blocks (used in casting which we take to a foundry near Granada). Paperwork states a total of 7350 blocks weighing 30,365kg. Take it down the road to the weighbridge we sometimes use and im grossing 51660kg! Its only been brought from Olso like this… another job well done…
Crack on drive, what’s the fuss pay by load.
AndrewG:
Arse! Mid axle trailer tyre has blown apart and the spare is in the rack with a big tear in the sidewall
Don’t they do walk around checks on the continent?
Here we don’t carry spare tyres. We call a tyre service company, and sit back with a cup of tea. 
raymundo:
Most of us go Zarrag- Huesca-Jaca - Candanchu onto Pau. A bit of a zig zag through but avoids the scales.
Andrew, if as stated on other posts that you run legal why should you wish to avoid the scales ■■?
[/quote]
I run completely legal, and still feel apprehensive everytime i drive past a check point 
the nodding donkey:
raymundo:
Most of us go Zarrag- Huesca-Jaca - Candanchu onto Pau. A bit of a zig zag through but avoids the scales.Andrew, if as stated on other posts that you run legal why should you wish to avoid the scales ■■?
I run completely legal, and still feel apprehensive everytime i drive past a check point
[/quote]
The new limeyphil here I think.
discoman:
the nodding donkey:
raymundo:
Most of us go Zarrag- Huesca-Jaca - Candanchu onto Pau. A bit of a zig zag through but avoids the scales.Andrew, if as stated on other posts that you run legal why should you wish to avoid the scales ■■?
The new limeyphil here I think.
[/quote]
So being suspicious of the VOSA man equates to being an international drug smuggler now?
A.
So how many years did limeyphil get??
Danne
Legal or not,surely we would all avoid checks if possible.You never know what the authorities will find if they try hard enough.
As it happens I drive home(by car) via Huesca and Jaca.Hard work with 40+ tons I would have thought.Last year in the Somport i was going a bit quick and the matrix sign told me to slow down in English.Clever technology?
Nice new 3 lane almost all the way from Irun to Bordeaux but there are 5 tolls to pay.Around 20€ for a car.How much for a truck?
Gidders:
Nice new 3 lane almost all the way from Irun to Bordeaux but there are 5 tolls to pay.
The Forest road…
Has gone? 
The Forest Road of old was covered by the new 3 lane motorway after several years of roadworks.The stretch from St.vincent to the France/Spain border is also slowly being upgraded to 3 lanes too.A toll price increase will inevitably follow.
Change of topic but does anyone know if the former BP Truckstop at St.Andre is still there.It was very run down and infested with east European trucks last time I passed by.
Gidders:
Change of topic but does anyone know if the former BP Truckstop at St.Andre is still there.It was very run down and infested with east European trucks last time I passed by.
It’s long gone…
It was handy for getting your laundry done and the supermarket next door but, they were the only reasons I’d stop there.
Some knew it as ‘the cabbage patch’.
the nodding donkey:
AndrewG:
Arse! Mid axle trailer tyre has blown apart and the spare is in the rack with a big tear in the sidewallDon’t they do walk around checks on the continent?
Here we don’t carry spare tyres. We call a tyre service company, and sit back with a cup of tea.
I always without fail check the spare but on this occasion with being at 51tonne and bent paperwork i forgot to check bar seeing it was there. I had to handball the iron alloy blocks off with no help onto pallets on the floor as the forklift was in the yard down the road being used and probably did 2 tonnes before jacking it in and taking it as it was. One consolation was the paperwork stating just over 30t but on the scales would have likely been 49t gross+.
Strapping the mid axle to get the wheel off the floor obviously put more onto the other two n/s tyres but as id rung ahead it was only an hour wait at the tyre depot to get it sorted. Ill be double checking the spare in future…
Gidders:
Legal or not,surely we would all avoid checks if possible.You never know what the authorities will find if they try hard enough.
As it happens I drive home(by car) via Huesca and Jaca.Hard work with 40+ tons I would have thought.Last year in the Somport i was going a bit quick and the matrix sign told me to slow down in English.Clever technology?
Nice new 3 lane almost all the way from Irun to Bordeaux but there are 5 tolls to pay.Around 20€ for a car.How much for a truck?
We do this route regularly Gidders, big hp numbers helps but yeah it is a bit of a drag in places, once through though and onto Pau its plain sailing…
Ten years back or so I went to load watermelons near Nyiregyhaza in Hungary. They were packed in square crates, 1m by 1m, around 80cm high. The crates were loaded two high, only the first and last row were left empty on the top deck.
Loaded and strapping up, another Estonian truck arrived with a russian driver. He asked me how heavy was the load? Dunno, they said 24tons. He replied that he had just loaded watermelons in Italy, same crates, 24t for just one layer of crates…
I had just driven empty from Odessa, Ukraine, about 30hours with just a couple of hours kip somewhere in Romania taking account the three border crossings, more than 800kms in 40+c heat with a dead ac unit, I really just didnt care anymore as all I could think about was securing the tilt and pulling outside the gates for some well-deserved shuteye.
But boy did the 410 MAN struggle up the Carpathians and I have never until then and from then on followed the Polish 80kph speed limit so religiously You know you’re heavy when it doesn’t even want to roll downhill.
raymundo:
Cant remember the name of the outfit but the owner only had one leg and a shotgun under the desk, quite often got stopped by the law for a quiet chat like … but wanted to keep me knee caps so knew nadda !!
Gary Banham, he had those Belgian plated big Scanias, T cabs and longlines, Romantiek BVBA was the name he traded under.