My First Diary, By Kindle530, Aged 37 3/4 
All Photos Taken On My Cameraphone
Monday 12-09-05
Arrive in the yard at Stowmarket at 05.10am, do all the usual checks, and set off at 05.30am, 1st drop of the week is a chemical works in Newark, booked in for 08.00am, arrive at 07.40 and i am their first delivery of the week
2nd drop is at Boughey Distribution at Wardle in Cheshire, so down the A46 and across the A52, down the A453 to the M1-A50 junction, take an hour break at the Shell services on the A50 at Derby.
Get delivery off at Boughey Distribution within 30mins. Next drop is at Hyde, Manchester, J.3 on M67, another chemical works, 15 mins tip, next drop, yet another chemical works, Castrol at Middleton, then round M60 and drop down to Lymm truckstop for the night.
About to start the week
services on A50 westbound near Derby
Not my cup of tea, although it does stand out. Taken at Lymm
Saints driver didnt want to walk too far at Lymm, obviously wasnt bothered that he"d totally blocked the entrance for everyone else to get to the cafe.
time for bed
13-09-05 Tuesday
07.00am start, and jump up to M62, and delivery number 5 is in Speke, Liverpool, near the John Lennon Airport, ive been here 4 or 5 times so no problem finding my way in.
Delivery number 6 is up the M57 and the A59 into the industrial estate at Burscough, Lancashire, to a transport company to tip the last pallet on trailer. When the boss came out to tip me, he saw my truck was a left hand drive and asked if it was foreign registered, i said no, he said good, if it was he wouldnt tip me 
, something to do with foreigners nicking all our work apparently…
Next door is a cafe, so after 45mins break, i rang Felixstowe for my reload, elevator parts from Wombwell, which i had to look up on my map, ive never heard of that before, after a quick check i headed around the M60, M67 and over Woodhead, over j.36 and into Wombwell for the collection. That loaded(7ton) i headed over to the A1, and down to Stowmarket, where i got to the yard and went home. Weve got a couple of shunters who, when needed take trailers down to Felixstowe and bring the next days trailers back so we can get home for a night, although id rather be out all week.
last pallet about to come off in Speke
panic buying on the A59, there was around another 300yds of cars behind this lot!
going over Woodhead
loaded escalator parts at Wombwell
Wednesday14-09-05
Bright eyed and bushy tailed (NOT!) i left Stowmarket at 04.15am to be in Denby Dale(to the west of Barnsley) for an 08.00 tip. Arrived around 07.45 to tip 20 pallets, double stacked, around10 ton. Its a small Business Park, and the last time i came here, it took 3.5hrs to tip because there wasnt anywhere to park and tip that was out the way of all the traffic that wanted to get in or out, so i had to keep holding up the forklift driver while i moved, very frustrating 
but today as i was early, i got prime spot and was finished in around 30mins 
took a 45min break just before i got on the M1 at j.39. Next drop was at Redhead Freight at Low Moor, Bradford, in and out within 30mins, 15 pallets for Dublin from Holland. Then over to Altham, Lancs, just above M65 J.8 to tip last pallets on trailer
After another hour on the bunk, i rang in for my reload, over to Leyland Trucks in, surprisingly enough, Leyland to load empty pallets for Holland. They werent your average pallets, there was only enough room on the floor of an empty 45 ft trailer to fit 5 on the floor, and around 15 high. Just as i was leaving, the R.D.S announced there was a big delay on the M6 just south of Leyland, so i decided to go M61,M60,M62, A1, and stopped for the night at Colsterworth truckstop, one of the only places in the country where i feel safe parking.
last delivery at Altham, Lancs
Thursday15-09-05
Left Colsterworth at 05.30am, down to Felixstowe, drop my trailer off and pick up an import that had arrived that morning from Holland, and head back up towards the M62. During my break, i checked all my addresses on my maps, the first was Redhead Freight at Low Moor, Bradford (again), the 2nd was 2 pallets to Cleckheaton, so i decided to go to Cleckheaton first, as they would probably close around 5pm, it worked out well, as their 2 pallets were on the back of the trailer, so after 10 mins there, off i went again to Redhead Freight, where i sat for 2 hours until i got tipped.
Once finished there, it was over the M62 to pick up the M61, past the services to junction 8, turn around and back to the services on the southbound side, where i finished for the day, and had a shower, shave, and a terrible meal, i wish id have used my microwave for my tea.
eastbound thru the roadworks on A14 at Rougham, near Bury St Edmunds
fighting for position to get under the canopy at Felixstowe to get onto the quayside where the trailers are
pretty quiet down these 2 lanes
one of Norfolk Lines tubs, sorry, boats
part of the que to get out, there was around another 10 trucks at the back of the que, the problem is, everyone goes in through one canopy, and goes out through another to exit the Norfolk Line terminal, which causes long ques.
Friday 16-09-05.
Last drop on the trailer was an A-frame of fabric weighing 1,900kg, to Adlington, just to the south of Chorley, hence the reason i went up to j.8 and came back down the day before. 15mins saw me arrive at the factory, a dyers and printers, 10 mins later i was parked up outside ringing in for my reload…1st pick up at Hindley Green, to the east of Wigan, arrived there 07.50, told the stuff hasnt been finished being made, 4.5hrs later i was loaded and on my way down M61 and into Manchester on the East-Lancs rd, the A580, for a collection near Strangeways prison, 20 mins later i was on my way to a groupage depot on Old Wellington Road in Eccles, the place was chocka -block when i got there, and after 5.5hrs 
i eventually got loaded and decided the easiest route to take would be M602, M62, M6, so after 14hrs and 55 mins spreadover, and with a grand total of 3.5 hrs driving i called it a night at Corley services.
last delivery at Adlington
waiting and waiting to get in the other side of the fence, 5.5 hrs after arriving, i eventually got loaded
Saturday 17-09-05
After a nice lay in, left Corley at around 07.40 and went down to Felixstowe to drop trailer off and pick another one up and took that back to the yard ready for Monday. There was another trailer to go down as well, so as im having Friday off, i volunteered to take that down to Felixstowe, which i did, and bounced back solo to Stowmarket.
ready to hit the road Saturday morning from Corley services on M6
at the top of the Orwell bridge Eastbound, looking into Westbank
loadsa trailers
going over Orwell bridge Westbound
And that was my week, 3207km, 12 deliveries and 5 collections on 3 trailers,and an average of 9.2mpg for the week, which for a V8, i am pleased with, although my boss is even more pleased than me
gorgeous. The only times i’ve gone over that bridge is when i’ve been daydreaming. And consequently missed my turn off. 
the only other problem i have is finding somewhere to set my tent up while im up there 
