Just found one of my old business cards. Don’t think I’ve posted this before but I have shown the photo of one of our lorries ploughing through the sand in Saudi. As its such a great shot I thought I’d show it again though.
The trees doesn’t ring a bell but a regular stop of for me was the Steps in Bulgaria, parking both sides of the road and beautiful home made bread, my trips were from 76/78.
The local police would bring young ladies up at night time!!!
Birdie4x4:
The trees doesn’t ring a bell but a regular stop of for me was the Steps in Bulgaria, parking both sides of the road and beautiful home made bread, my trips were from 76/78.
The local police would bring young ladies up at night time!!!
Thinking about “The Trees” (later “The Stumps” when they cut the trees down) which was in the North of Yugo somewhere. My feeling is that cutting down the trees may have been in preparation of widening the road to an actual motorway. Initially the entire main road through Yugo (in Jan 1979 en route to Baghdad) was two way traffic and then they started building sections of motorway in (maybe?) the early 1980s sometime. It’s motorway most of the way now I think which was a massive improvement.
I hope of these days to do a road trip and revisit many of the places I travelled to show them to my son but I expect most places are changed beyond recognition. This happens even in my former home town of Tunbridge Wells. I visit the place and each time - after just a matter of months - another local landmark has been replaced by an ugly Stalinist high rise block of some sort. However, I travelled almost everywhere in Europe so it would be hard to know where to begin.
Oh what happy days.
Hello Efes, I always thought that The Trees restaurant, was on the left-hand side of the road when you were heading east, somewhere between Spielfeldt, in Austria and Maribor in Yugoslavia but it was certainly before Zagreb.
I put this post on this thread about four years ago and at the time, I travelled on Google Earth along the new motorway to try and find if I could work out where the Trees restaurant used to be. I must admit that it took me several hours, but I did come across a few old buildings of where it might of been.
When I researched the area on Google, it mentioned that in World War Two, there was a large women’s concentration camp in the nearest village as it was close to the main road. There were also a few interesting articles about the area during the war.
Over the next couple of days, I shall see if I can find the place again and give you the link.
mushroomman:
Hi Sandway, that certainly looks like Graham to me, I think that I mentioned some time ago on another post that I met him once in the Zagreb Motel but soon after I had posted about it, I then remembered that I had also met him on a couple of occasions, one being at The Mocamp.
Before I forget, further to our memories of Radio Tirana “The Voice Of Albania” you might remember that just before the news came on The B.B.C. World Service at 8 p.m. they used to play what I thought at the time was that nursery rhyme “Ride a ■■■■ Horse To Banbury Cross”, It turns out that the piece of music that they used was actually called Lilliburlero and it goes back to the 17th century.youtube.com/watch?v=ExnZ3Nf_FSw
Now I have not listened to the B.B.C. World Service for many years and I wondered if anybody knows if they still play it.
A few years ago, Jazzandy mentioned stopping at The Lemon Trees in Yugoslavia in one of his posts and although it rang a distant bell I couldn’t for the life of me think where it was. I think he said that it was somewhere between Belgrade and Nis going east but the only place that sprang to my mind in that area were The A Frames campsite but that was on the way home. Somebody might remember the place as they had wooden cabins with a big truck parking area at the front alongside the main T.I.R. road. It wasn’t one of my favourite overnight stops as there were usually a few Turkish and Bulgarian trucks parked there, along with a few girls knocking on the cab to ask for a cigarette at 1 a.m. in the morning.
I started thinking about which were the most popular watering holes for British drivers transiting Yugo in the 70’s/80’s and the ones that I can remember were Mama’s at Spielfeld on the Austrian side of the border just before the customs. Then there was a restaurant with a large, cobbled car park somewhere near Maribor on the left-hand side of the road which also had a couple of fuel pumps. Inside the restaurant there was a large tree growing which looked like a very old grape vine and I often wondered if they had built the restaurant around the tree. It was this place that I thought that all the British drivers called The Trees.
The Zagreb Motel and The National Hotel in Belgrade were another two favourites and I wondered if The Lemon Trees which Andy mentioned had been bypassed by a stretch of the Autoput by the start of the 80’s. I can remember that there were three or four sections of Autoput along the T.I.R. route each with its own toll booths and I wonder if ever like me, you parked up there for a brew or maybe a bit of a siesta in the middle of a hot summer’s afternoon.
The restaurant which I mentioned near Maribor always had a bit of a sad memory for me.
On one occasion, Alan Morrey who was another Dow driver and myself were on our way home and pulled onto the car park to make some lunch. We had just taken our camping chairs out and were sitting next to the trailer box when two Dutchmen pulled up who were heading east. They parked about fifty yards away from us on our left facing our direction. I can’t remember what make the first truck was, I think that it might have been a Scania 141 but I do remember that the truck that was parked behind was a brand new white D.A.F. pulling a fridge trailer. The two drivers got out and after having a chat walked off towards the restaurant.
After about half an hour Alan and I heard some shouting so we both got up to have a look at what was happening. The guy in the first truck which I think was a Scania had started up his engine and was heading flat out towards us. He then spun it around doing a 360 degree turn and pulled up about six foot in front of the D.A.F. and it was then that we noticed that the cab of the D.A.F. was on fire. The guy with the D.A.F. was frantically winding the legs down on the fridge trailer while the other driver had grabbed a chain out of his trailer box and was trying desperately to put the chain around the D.A.F.s front towing pin. I could see him shielding his face with his left hand so there must have been a lot of heat coming from the cab.
Alan and I ran over to see if there were anything that we could do but we already knew that it was hopeless.
The D.A.F. driver was then trying to pull the pin on the fifth wheel, he was also trying to shield his face so the heat must have been coming out from underneath the cab. He managed to pull the pin but he was unable to climb onto the catwalk to undue the suzies. The other driver had by this time attached the chain onto the front of his bumper and was starting to reverse back but with the brakes still being on in the D.A.F. his wheels just kept spinning on the cobbles.Alan, the D.A.F. driver and myself all moved out of the way as we could all see the amount of tension that was being put on the chain as the other driver kept creeping forward, then he would put it in reverse, and he would reverse back harder each time he did this manoeuvre. I was certain that the chain was going to snap and all of a sudden there was a loud explosion as the camping gas bottle that was in the D.A.F. cab exploded and blew the front windscreen out onto the road.
Up until then the cab had been filled with a mass of thick black smoke but now there were flames as high as the fridge trailer. The other driver kept going backwards and forwards and I thought that he would just carry on until the chain snapped but then something strange happened.
All of a sudden there seemed to be a lot of water flowing down underneath the cab on the D.A.F. This we found out later was because the driver had a full 25-liter plastic water container in his cab which had now melted and wet the cobbles underneath the D.A.F. The other driver gave it one last hard go in reverse and the D.A.F. came out from underneath the trailer, the airlines stretched out to their full length and then there was a load gush of air as the suzies snapped. The Scania driver managed to drag the flaming D.A.F. cab about thirty feet away from the trailer and then came to a stop while the D.A.F. driver dashed in to unhook the chain from the front of the Scania cab. He then reversed back to where Alan and I were parked.
This had all happened in less than ten minutes and we stood well clear as the flaming diesel flowed along the cobbles and then the tyres started exploding. Somebody must of phoned the fire brigade as a small fire engine arrived about fifteen minutes later and we were all surprised by how quickly they had taken to get there but by now the D.A.F. was down on it’s wheel rims.
I will never forget how those two Dutch lads worked as a team and how they managed to save the fridge trailer that was filled with Belgium chocolate for somewhere in the Middle East.They told us that it was the D.A.F.s first trip and that they had stopped off in Austria that morning to have a C.B. fitted which they thought had been the probable cause of the fire.
There was nothing that Alan and I could do so we left after about two hours but for about a year after, whenever I parked at that restaurant, I could still see the marks where that D.A.F. had burnt out.
Unless you had actually seen a cab fire back then, then you probably would have had no idea just how quickly a lorry fire can get out of control, it certainly surprised me.
Regards Steve.
Never knew which services were called the Trees. The places I stayed at mainly were the Zagreb Hotel and the National however on one occasion, the only time I took my wife with me, I pulled into an Autoput services on the left heading towards Belgrade and stopped for the night. I am sure it was past the Sarajevo turning. There were a lot of trees and grass and a couple of tents had been erected. My wife and I were sitting in the lorry in the evening having a cup of coffee when this pretty young thing came out of a tent, pulled her pants down, squatted and had a pee right in front of us. I was glad it was only a pee!
Have recently posted some old Promotor photos on F/B so thought I would post them on here again.
Just come across this photo courtesy of Tony Mizen on F/B. Taken at the Baghdad Fair in the early 80’s it shows the Coles Cranes we ran down there and one of the old Arab guards employed by the Baghdad Fair Authorities. Although non of them spoke English we often had a good laugh with them and although I hate to admit it I even had a kiss from the one who looked after the British Pavilion when I first arrived one year.
sandway:
Never knew which services were called the Trees. The places I stayed at mainly were the Zagreb Hotel and the National however on one occasion, the only time I took my wife with me, I pulled into an Autoput services on the left heading towards Belgrade and stopped for the night. I am sure it was past the Sarajevo turning. There were a lot of trees and grass and a couple of tents had been erected. My wife and I were sitting in the lorry in the evening having a cup of coffee when this pretty young thing came out of a tent, pulled her pants down, squatted and had a pee right in front of us. I was glad it was only a pee!Have recently posted some old Promotor photos on F/B so thought I would post them on here again.
What happened to that D series run up the ■■■ of something ?
Lucky to get out of that
robthedog:
sandway:
Never knew which services were called the Trees. The places I stayed at mainly were the Zagreb Hotel and the National however on one occasion, the only time I took my wife with me, I pulled into an Autoput services on the left heading towards Belgrade and stopped for the night. I am sure it was past the Sarajevo turning. There were a lot of trees and grass and a couple of tents had been erected. My wife and I were sitting in the lorry in the evening having a cup of coffee when this pretty young thing came out of a tent, pulled her pants down, squatted and had a pee right in front of us. I was glad it was only a pee!Have recently posted some old Promotor photos on F/B so thought I would post them on here again.
What happened to that D series run up the ass of something ?
Lucky to get out of that
I know very little about the accident except that the driver escaped relatively unharmed. A very luck guy. I did see another photo which may have been to do with the accident and in that its looks indeed that he ran into the back of another lorry.
Saw these photos of the tunnels past Nis recently on F/B and had me reminiscing. It was many moons ago when I took a wide load through them. Luckily I had a Yugo ■■■■■■ to stop the oncoming traffic. I was on my way to a big exhibition in Izmir. It was on that trip I took the wide load onto the Canakele ferry. All great fun at the time.
When entering them tunnels I remember leaning to the middle of the cab expecting the worst, mine was a right hand drive.
Hello Brian, I hope that you are well and it’s good to know that Freddie H is still with us. 
I am sure that he went through those tunnels at Nis hundreds of times and didn’t get stopped once, by that Wooden Yugo Policeman in the white uniform. 
I have been trying to find that article that I read a couple of years ago about that women’s concentration camp in World War Two, which I thought was near the area of ‘The Trees’ in Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, I can’t find it now, but I have been very surprised to find just how many concentration camps there were around the Zagreb area.
It was horrific for me to read that there was a children’s concentration camp at a place called Jastrebarsko which was 37 kilometers from Zagreb.
I did several trips to Jastrebarsko in the eighties with chemicals from I.C.I. Heywood near Manchester and I also remember doing a load from I.C.I. Yalding with fertilizer. As Yalding is in your neck of the woods I wonder if ProMotors also used to load from there.
I was looking for the building where Mama’s used to be at Spielfeld on Google Earth and I can only think that this orange building could be it. Hopefully, you or somebody might be able to pinpoint it as I can only remember the rough lorry parking area next to the road.
earth.google.com/web/search/Spi … aGoxbFEQAg
I thought that I would add a couple of photos of the road where the tunnels are south of Nis, and one of The Canakele Ferry. The last two are of the new bridge that opened last year across The Gallipoli Straights.
Another well composed post Steve. Interesting what facts you can turn up once you start looking.
As for the ICI job out of Yalding, Trucknet’s own ‘Jazzandy’ aka And Mclean had the contract for Poland and perhaps Northern Europe. If we were slack we would sub a load off him. I remember on one occasion my late son loaded a single pallet for delivery to somewhere in Poland and still got paid for a full load. Think Andy must have known the guy in charge of shipping very well!
I wasn’t able to open up the link you provided so couldn’t follow that thread unfortunately.
Just to let you know its raining again here and we’ve had enough. Have booked the early morning ferry tomorrow and are heading south in search of fine weather and some warmth for the next three months leaving our family to look after the house here. Looking forward to putting my shorts on again.
Been going down to Spain for the winter since 2006. I may have given up my HGV licence but its still great to get out on the road again albeit driving something smaller.
Well, we are on the south coast of Spain and the dreadful weather in the UK followed us down through France and into northern Spain. The rain then finally stopped to be replaced by high winds. The temperature has been dropping every day and now it’s raining again. The only good thing at the moment is the fact that we know the sun will be out and the temperature will rise. Perhaps not tomorrow but its almost a dead cert that it won’t take many days for normality to return. Been coming here for nigh on 17 years and rarely been disappointed.
Thought you might like to see a couple of photos of an outfit we saw on the beach this morning. Now how long do you think it took this guy to drive a tractor and trailer from Germany to the Almeria region of Spain. I see he’s well kitted out with a solar panel and satellite dish and who knows what else. It does say sauna on the trailer!
Those of you who remember Gaziantepe castle (I think we used to call it Crusader castle) it has been very badly damaged in the earthquakes in the last couple of days.
Took these first two photos yesterday in southern Spain.
They reminded me so much of the photos I took in the backwoods of Yugo when on my way to pick up a load of wooden chairs many years ago. There is of course one subtle difference and its not the fact that there are no goats in the Yugo photos. I was trying to think where the chair factory was but the only thing I remember is that it was near Mostar.
sandway:
Took these first two photos yesterday in southern Spain.3
2They reminded me so much of the photos I took in the backwoods of Yugo when on my way to pick up a load of wooden chairs many rears ago. There is of course one subtle difference and its not the fact that there are no goats in the Yugo photos. I was trying to think where the chair factory was but the only thing I remember is that it was near Mostar.
1
0
Let’s get the flock out of here!
David
Geoff Frost of Astran fame seen here doing a bit of posing. Still living down here in Spain but moved a bit inland a few years back. His brother told me he’s 86 now and still well.
A few photos I recently showed on F/B taken at the Baghdad International Trade Fair. Most of them have been seen before but not all.
Hi Sandway
bit of help from you if you can help.
How do you attach photos to a topic, I have tried every thing but nothing seems to work, please help.
terry15m:
Hi Sandwaybit of help from you if you can help.
How do you attach photos to a topic, I have tried every thing but nothing seems to work, please help.
Evening Terry. Maybe easier if the administrators answered that question. The way I do it is to have the photo either in my photos or on a stick and easily identified.
First I go to ‘Upload attachment’. Then ‘Choose file’ which is where you have saved your photo and click on it then ‘Add the file’.
I have taken a screen shot and attached it so hopefully will give you an idea of what to look for.
You can then add a comment where it says ‘File comment’.
You may have to click on the screenshots below to enlarge them.
If I haven’t explained that very well then perhaps someone else can try.
