firstly , due the overwhelming response of the last what car , errr 2 i think , this diaries prize for the lucky winner is a luxury exclusive case of the finest vintage french beer called st omer , hand selected by myself at pidous and reserved
what is this car , make and model
day one
getting to the yard early and sorting everything out i finally leave mid morning and head straight to a village near deal to deliver 2 cars , that done i whip back up the 20 for the train . an hour or so later im in a wet and dull northern france , 3 hours later ive had enough and call it a night in mont de nizy on the 26
day 2
a flying start through reims and im soon pounding down the 26 to troyes , the a5 , 39 and eventually the a40 for the blanc , passing geneva there is a big cliff face on the right with a 360 digger half way down it , how the hell did that get there
then its a stop in the shell at bonneville for coffee , fuel and a fax
that done the next stop is the compulsory pull in for the tunnel
getting the ticket im soon on my way up the climb . straight through the tunnel into a warm clear italian afternoon , the autoporto at aosta is tonights choice to park
day 3
down the a5 onto the 4 im soon fighting my way on the milan tangenziale , coming off on the ss36 heading for lecco . a break parking on the lake side
m off again heading for a village called sorico , nice easy garage on the main road
i load a ford puma , a wnch job ttis one
40 or so km later im back down to lecco in the town centre looking at another silly street
a couple of blokes come out to stop the traffic ( or rather attempt to ) so i can back in . i pull forward to do a shunt when out of nowhere appears a moped who swerves to miss me , she hits the curb and falls off . she jumps up and starts shouting at me her arms flapping ten to the dozen , not to be out done i jump out and with my own limbs flapping a goodun i shout the only italian i know "ONE HAM SANDWICH AND A COFFE PLEASE " then i revert to english with a heavy italan accent i make a comment about her being related to red rum . much to the delight of the gathering crowd . she turns and starts gobbing off to them , and a few arms start flapping back , soon its like a mexican wave on steroids going on . seeing she is losing the battle she turns on me once more with a second wind of flapping then gets on the bike and darts off . i back in and go to the office where the owner says "who red rum is " to which i reply " a famous horse mate " he looks blankly at me so i do what i consider to be a rather good impression of a horse , naying included , the whole garage collapses in laughter as they look at this “crazy english” . a half hour later im finished loading a porsche 911
as i leave i can still hear the odd nay and giggle coming from the garage.
its back to milan then towards turin and aosta , tonight its the first services on the a5
day 4
its straight up the 5 for the blanc and france , admiring the view as i go
once into france its a clear run along the 40 to macon the the a6 for a town called chalon sur saone , a big renault garage in a big zi , load a vauxhall vectra another winch job
im soon back on the 6 for paris , then onto the e60 arriving in north orleans mid evening , i wanna be south but im getting short on time so i switch to stealthmode and tip toe though orleans centre arriving outside the garage in a village called saint denis en val virtually on 10 hours driving .
day 5
i get the renault scenic loaded quick
100 km later and im on the 10 at tours getting onto the a28 for my next collection north of le mans , a renault garage in a zi in maresche, i load a skoda octavia with a punctured radiator
that done im on the road again up the 28 and through rouen nice looking church there
then up to a town called neufchatel en bray , another renault garage
i gotta load an astra and find the car in a parking space , locked with no keys , it really winds me up when the owner knowing that their car is gonna get repatriated flies home with the keys . after a tricky mixture of dragging and winching i get it loaded its taken longer than i wanted
40 km ater im sat in dieppe docks booked on the night boat , customs checked me and were sceptical of the astra being locked , a big problem but loading it so close was a godsend as one officer knew the garage and vouched for them .boat left at 2330
day 6
off at newhaven at 0530 , its only hour and a half back to the yard to get tipped and reloaded for newcastle for monday .
