kr79:
I know its totaly off topic but Norman Wisdom is a national hero in Albania as his films were about the only western ones that the Albanian government deemed sutiable not to corupt the natives.
Anyway back to john williams i read that story on another thread here was it you posted that wheelnut.
I think there was only me and John knew about it and as I am the only one left I am trying to put things right for him 
sinbin31:
WheelnutWhats your point since when was Albania a direct route to the ME ,I dont think anyone is disputing your points of view on Albania I certainly was not if you are regarding me as the Astran Devotee.a point was put over and I on returning from Saudi via the ferry from Latakia to volos attempted to gain entry into Albaina and was declined after loading 15 klm from the border what would you have done,I am quite happy to talk about a country that was living in the dark ages ,a country with split religions ,governed by the Rich who left its people to starve and then allowed them to be slaughtered in the Balkans war a country where its people were so frightened to speak out I personally assisted several Albians to escape their plight I saw no more
Roger Haywood
I didnât say Albania was on a direct route, it is part of the Balkans and if you take advice from Wikipedia it lists the following countries made up the Balkans. I merely suggested that there are a lot of people interested in the Moyen Orient but a driver who went to Turkmenistan can join in too as that is in the Balkan Province on the edge of the Balkan Mountains.
Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Greece
Macedonia
Montenegro
SerbiaOther countries sometimes included are:
Moldova
Romania
Slovenia
Hungary
Turkey
It is strange but I only knew the countries in Red as Yugoslavia. I also knew what problems mixing a c with a k and mentioning to a Greek that you had just come through Macedonia 
So, to get to my point, there are many people on TruckNet who just want to read about the pioneers of the 70âs and 80â without one upmanship, bickering or ballistic teddy bears. Or even me ottering on about History and Geography
Pray Continue. Great Thread by the wayâŚ
Nice to see yer back posting Sinbin. 
Like most of the posters on here, you have been there, and done it. Those of us who did not do ME work like to read about your exploits.
Big Leggy:
AlbaniaI did notice in my foray through that country that they have the market cornered in âconcrete pill boxesâ of the military kind !!
No need to go to Albania now [for wannabe M/E drivers] go to East London as half the population appears to be Albanians !!
I did an Aid Trip to Albania ( sorry Sinbin it ,s not a long one âoff threadâ) in 1998, I was told that those pillboxes, which as Leggy knows were dotted about in clusters like mushrooms, all over the place, were there for the Army to keep tabs on the populace.It seems that the main industry during Hoxhas regime was concrete production for making the pillboxes.Leggy will also have seen Hoxha,s name plastered over every bloody hillside,In letters 100ft high, so as they all knew who was in charge.It was a hairy trip. But that,s another story. 
That,s it. Now back to the Middle East.
Wheelnut
Your as bad as me when you get a bee in your Bonnet c mon buddy the way it reads to a none ME or Eastern driver Albania is a route that can be taken to drive to the ME this as you well know is not correct and I do know what countries make up the Balkans and as for wikipedia I dont need a geo lesson ,and pls dont insult my Teddy its bad enough he only has one eye,one arm and no hair . 
Roger Haywood
sinbin31:
WheelnutYour as bad as me when you get a bee in your Bonnet c mon buddy the way it reads to a none ME or Eastern driver Albania is a route that can be taken to drive to the ME this as you well know is not correct and I do know what countries make up the Balkans and as for wikipedia I dont need a geo lesson ,and pls dont insult my Teddy its bad enough he only has one eye,one arm and no hair .
Roger Haywood
Your Teddy with no hair â has he a name or is he just âfredbearâ â â
No his name is Paws and he is very old and gets grumpy like his owner
Roger Haywood
colin.f.whitetrans:
To all on here who have done the middle east and have many good and bad memories i would like to ask if you think the job will return for young drivers going into the industry or do you think the political situation wont change for many a year?? It obviously will be more comfortable for the driver now with all the mod cons and less borders to go through. Your thoughts pleaseReg colin
In short colin,NO.The m/e will never return to what it was for many different reasons.
When I first started the job in the mid '70âs,in a lot of countries you were treated better than some others if it was known you were English,Iraq especially.
I canât think of any country that charged a transit tax,(apart from Portugal),I used to be able to do a return trip to Baghdad at a running cost of about ÂŁ600 and that was with no belly tank!
Can anyone see any likely change in world politics that will make it any easier to travel through the countries we used to travel as easy as it was way back then?
Admittedly there were bad roads and queues at borders,but that was caused by an infrastructure that wasnât geared for the sheer volume of traffic that was spawned by the explosion in overland road transport.
There was a shortage of permits for many European countries,but where thereâs a will thereâs a way,and that was half of the excitement of the job,running on your wits.
The tachograph was unknown outside Europe and you could drive the hours that you felt like.The rot set in when the German police spent some time in Turkey teaching the Turkish police all about them.To the Turkish police,that was yet another source of âBacksheeshâ.for whenever you were stopped for âControlâ, there was ALWAYS,âTachograph problem misterâ.
The m/e overland to the Arabian peninsular started initially because of the shortage of deep sea ports in Arabia and so many ships had to pay off the crews and park up ofshore and wait for months to offload,I donât think thatâs so much of a problem now.
I only wish weâd had the sort of trucks available now back then,but trucks,like the politics and geography will never be the same again.
To All
There seem to be a general sence of good will about at the moment. or has somebody nicked Animalâs box of happy pills? which one of you went south last week?
That should get some toys thrown out of prams and some very good replys!
Best Regards to you All Ian
Hi Bestbooties
I think you are right all over with your comments expecially about the tacho and the transit taxes. I have been asked on a few occasions in recent years to start up and start running to far flung places again but the rate just doesnt justify it. The price of even driving through germany is enough to put you off never mind what they want to charge in some middle countries!! 
I will just need to sit here and daydream 
.
The m/e overland to the Arabian peninsular started initially because of the shortage of deep sea ports in Arabia and so many ships had to pay off the crews and park up ofshore and wait for months to offload,I donât think thatâs so much of a problem now.
I only wish weâd had the sort of trucks available now back then,but trucks,like the politics and geography will never be the same again.
[/quote]
To put into context how bad the backlog of freight-ships waiting to offload was â it was necessary to employ ex Liverpool dockers at a number of ports for their âexpertiseâ in dock/ship management !!
My experiences of the Liverpool Dockers are not very favouarable, so I doubt they were much use to the Middle East.
Most of the labour force in Saudi were Philipinos,Pakistanis and Indians,and they could do a sight more work than the Scouse dockers.
The delay was initiated by the sheer volume of goods trying to get into the country through one port.
Kuwait had the same problem.
I took part in a trial where containers from all over the world were delivered to Limmassol in Cyprus which is a deep sea container port,destination the Saudi peninsular.
An Armenian company started up a Ro Ro ferry service between Limmassol and Latakia in Syria,(Just a few miles North of Tartous).
The original trucks to use the service were Arabs in their rebuilt Bussings with home made trailers who didnât mind piling on three 20 foot containers and grossing 60 tonnes as they were paid on tonnage.
I did a couple of trips rom Limmassol to Kuwait and Riyhad,but with only 4 axles and a stripped down tilt,I could only carry a single 40 foot box.My boss at the time was an old boy who would not take advantage of the freedom we had out there,we never even had belly tanks!
I suggested buiding two rigs with a 6 or 8 wheeled truck to carry one 20 foot box,pulling a drag with two 20 foot boxes on.This option was not taken up,hence we pulled out.
One of the numerous imports was sugar,which was loaded with 20 tonnes in a 20 foot box.This sort of capacity could really have been an earner,the Arabs did it but their trucks were unreliable at that weight.
Mickey White had the right idea running out of Jeddah docks with his double trailer rigs.
Me crossing H4 with a 40 foot box on.
Swapping boxes in Limmassol docks.
Typical Arab truck,rebuilt Bussing,(usually with a Mercedes engine),and home made drag,running at 50 or 60 tonnes gross.
Come on Roger dont let the minority get you down, you know as well as I do the ones that shout the loudest and know nothing, are the ones that know the least, the amount of times we have shown 1st trippers the ropes, and learned at a later date that they are telling stories of thier own. Its a small world once you have passed Germany. See you soon Roger I will give you another ring later bye, JB
Not only the one trippers, Bruceboy, what about the half trippers who could not hack it. Getting drunk in the Londra as they were too scared to cross into Asia.
I can understand Rogers reticence to post when we are witnessing a fair amount of misinformation.
Colonel:
Not only the one trippers, Bruceboy, what about the half trippers who could not hack it. Getting drunk in the Londra as they were too scared to cross into Asia.I can understand Rogers reticence to post when we are witnessing a fair amount of misinformation.
Hi colonel thats interesting to me about the asia comments as without having done the middle east then where does the border of asia and the middle east appear on your travels? Is there some sign on route or do you just take it you are in the middle east when you leave turkey? Just asking as i know obviously kazakstan and turmenistan the other side of turkey and they are part of asia again. Just wondered if there is some sort of road markings to tell you.
reg colin
Interesting question, Colin, We used to cross the Bosphorus by ferry to Hydapasha in the early days of the Middle East run and when the first bridge opened we used that to cross into the Asian part of Turkey. Istanbul was in Europe and the Bosphorus separates the two continents.
The Middle East is in itself classed as West Asia.
This link will show that Asia is split up into regions and is pretty clear that once across the Bosphorus one was in Asia.
Kazakhstan is in Asia but Turkmenisatan is in the Middle East part of Asia.
worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/as.htm
Another interesting point is that when I served in the forces and was involved in the Suez Emergency in 1956 that the GSM awarded for this bore a clasp with âNear Eastâ engraved on it. So at that time Egypt was not considered a part of the Middle East.
anyone recognise these fellas there in destination doha
2 guys at the slaizby in bulgaria
2 fellas from the custom compound scene in turkey
and the fella they ask about the tapline
Carl:
anyone recognise these fellas there in destination doha
2 guys at the slaizby in bulgaria
quote]Guy on the right is Gilbert Harding,used to drive for Brit European same time as me.
He had a terrible accident in England when his steering lock came on as he was turning into a contraflow on the motorway,Iâm not sure how many were killed,but it at least one.Heâs not with us now RIP.
i may be wrong but i think the lad they ask on the tapline is gilbert harding and sammy costa used to work fo bet , bestbooties will know him and hopefully let you know if im rite or wrong
i though ian would know,and beat me to it ,