the flying foden:
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 was just thinking that could be Sam Costa!
bestbooties:
the flying foden:
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 wrongI was just thinking that could be Sam Costa!
yeh it was sammy 
Thanks for that info and the link to world atlas colonel. I asked the question as you have the landmark statue in russia when you cross over the ural mountains and enter asia. I didnt realise turkmenistan was classed as the middle east part of asia as ive always known it as cenral asia in the time i travelled there but never really looked at its history in that way before 
colin.f.whitetrans:
Thanks for that info and the link to world atlas colonel. I asked the question as you have the landmark statue in russia when you cross over the ural mountains and enter asia. I didnt realise turkmenistan was classed as the middle east part of asia as ive always known it as cenral asia in the time i travelled there but never really looked at its history in that way before
I think it depends where you readâŚCentral Asia - Wikipedia
Being a resident of Turkmenistan (and occassionally Uzbekistan) I can say that the populus class themselves as Central Asian
Carl:
2 fellas from the custom compound scene in turkey
quote]This guys face rings a bell but Iâm buggered if I can put a name to him.
Wikipedia is not known for an accurate portrayal of the facts as anyone can make an entry. The subject matter is not that important to argue over and I could not care less what is where when it comes to areas and the like.
My postcode says that I live in Reading, but I donât.
bestbooties:
Carl:
2 fellas from the custom compound scene in turkey
quote]This guys face rings a bell but Iâm buggered if I can put a name to him.
Quasimodo 
rings a bell 
dessert driver:
Hi allGavin McArdle:
Hi all another pic I found TIR donkey carts I expect every driver knows the road but I bet mushroomman even knows the name of the horses
The first time we went up this hill it was in the middle of the night and we wernât shore if we were on the right road as our maps did not seem to be the same as the roads. Plus as you know they had their own alphabet letters.We had seen this mountain for some time in the distance and it looked like it was on fire. When we finally got to it, it wasnât just one fire it was loads of fires all over the mountain and the bigger the fire the more people were standing around it. This was a little scarry,lost,middle of the night ,Rumania,on a mountain with people around fires
Doâs anyone know what that was all about ? been wondering for years.
Regards Keith.
Hi Keith, as nobody as provided you with any kind of answer to your extraordinary question I feel that I should share an experience with you that I once had while travelling through Rumania in July 1982.
As I think that most people will agree Rumania was a route that was often used on the way down to the Middle East, so with no risk of being put in the stocks and having s- -t thrown at me by some ex M./ E. drivers and not being hit by a ballistic teddy bear called Paws 
, I shall take the chance of sharing it with you.
I had a 40 foot step frame box van and was on my way to collect a full load of hanging garments from Bucharest. I had tipped in Debrecen in eastern Hungary and decided to use the border crossing at Oradea / Bors into Rumania. I arrived at the border at about 2 p.m. and as there were only two of us , the other truck belonging to Jan de Lahly a Dutch company, I thought that being empty I should be through in half an hour 
but I was wrong 
. No sooner had we passed through the barrier which came down behind me when everybody apart from two Hungarian and two Rumania soldiers seemed to disappear inside the office.
After being sat in the cab for over ten minutes waiting for the usual cabin control or for someone to collect my passport I asked the Dutch driver what was happening. He said that he didnât know but he was going to find out, five minutes later he came back and said that there was a world cup football match being shown on the television and everybody was watching it. As the match had only just started it was another forty five minutes when the Hungarian soldiers and the customs men came out but within ten minutes we were both cleared by the Hungarians who gave our paperwork to the Rumanians.
Some fifty or so minutes later the Rumanians came out and started doing the formalities, we were just pleased that the match didnât go into extra time.
Anyway, we set off heading towards Deva and on the way every now and again we would see about half a dozen cars or so parked up in the countryside in what seemed like the middle of nowhere at the bottom of a hill. As I looked up the hills I could see small groups of people sat around a portable television set, I canât remember how many groups we passed but during the afternoon and evening I would say that we passed more than twenty. Of course when it got dark people started to build fires, so maybe this is what you might of seen scattered about the hills.
When the Dutchman asked what was going on he was told that Hungary were playing a World Cup match that evening and by taking a portable television higher up the hill it improved the reception.
So who knows Keith, maybe you passed this way four years before when the World Cup was on or maybe The Rumoâs were watching the latest episode of Coronation Strat. I canât remember the Rumanianâs using the Cyrillic alphabet, could it of been it in Bulgaria that this happened ?.
I know that this story might sound a bit bizarre but in the eighties The Commie Block was a bizarre place.
Best regards Steve.
When I had a black and white TV in the cab and I was in the Commie bloc,I could pick up quite a few programmes,but I was really surprised at the number of English adverts there were dubbed into whatever language they happened to be using.
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.
I think you have it right Colonel Londra camping was the finishing place for a lot of so called Middle Easters.And some never got further than The Park Hotel in Gevgela Greece. good Hunting.
J B do you know the guy in the pic just above in the blue top and Glasses I know him but cant put a name to him
Roger
mushroomman:
O.K. as nobody has guessed it then I shall just have to keep the two round the world tickets on the The Arcadia for myself
I.I.R.C. the second photo was taken as you got to the bottom of the Sipka Pass before you got to Kazanlak in Bulgaria, there was a big lay-by on the right hand side and this church was over on the left. If you were coming down The Sipka Pass it was a good place to stop and let your brakes cool down. You might remember the cobbled parking area at the top of The Sipka Pass as there was a large monument commemorating The Bulgarianâs victory over The Turkâs in some battle or other.
When you arrived at the top it was a great place to let your engine cool down after that long climb and have a brew while you looked at some fantastic sceanery.
Doesnât this church ring any bells for anybody.
Best regards Steve.
Hi Steve
I hope you had a good Holiday
I did not know that you were a Campanologist!
According to the wife the church is just outside of the village of Kran Shipka and was build as a monument to the Bulgarian and Russian soldiers who died fighting the Turks approx 1878 and was paid for by the Russians and that is the reason for the spire and Russian Orthodox dome.
If you use google earth and tick the option roads, and search shipka Kazanluk and then zoom out you get an idea of how bad this road is, also lots of photos of the church
I only used Big Sipka pass (app 2370meters) twice most of the time I used little Sipka which came out at Gurkovo (app 1900meters) but over a longer distance and not so steep so gentler on the Truck and in the 90âs Coldiz was built so good food and safe parking.
So I knew that I had seen the Church but where âI was a space cadet no brain.â
The only Hills which I never was happy on were Death Valley and Diesel Mountain
Regards Ian
Gavin McArdle:
Hi all another pic I found TIR donkey carts I expect every driver knows the road but I bet mushroomman even knows the name of the horses
The first time I went down this hill I was in a convoy followed by a driver (Norman?) from I think AWW we were doing their work -shipping Merlees-Blackstone engines from Stamford to Riyadh. We were all descending the hill quite slowly when I realised Normans 1924 Merc was along side me making a bit of a noise, I wondered what was going on and slammed on only for Norman to wave me on. I stopped at the bottom of the hill to find out what the problem was, Norman said that he was using the exhaust brake when the truck jumped out of gear, killing the engine. Instead of slamming the brakes on and stopping to sort it out he had re-started the engine and the tried to put it back in gear (crash box) he realised that he had gained a lot of speed and had to swerve around me to avoid crashing. A quick change of underwear and he was on his way-but he wouldnât use the exhaust brake again
Hi Mr G
not every driver has total recall but Dave Mackie and I think that this hill is in Romania on the E60 between Oredea and Cluj betwwen the villages of Borod and Ciucea we think the Hill is Kiraly-Hago? please let us know if we are in the right contry, as for the horse and carts we think it is the night trunk but they are running a bit late
Regards Ian
bestbooties:
When I had a black and white TV in the cab and I was in the Commie bloc,I could pick up quite a few programmes,but I was really surprised at the number of English adverts there were dubbed into whatever language they happened to be using.
Hi Ian, your own black and white T.V. how cool 
( you capitalist westerner ) I dont think that I ever saw a coloured T.V. programme in The Commie Block until about 1987. Can you remember that little white card that they put inside your passport and you had to tick the boxes if you had a T.V. set, typewriter, radio, camera or a C.B. set ?.
Best regards Steve.
WOW Jawâs what a great surprise, I have just spent over an hour looking at Google Earth at a place that I thought that I would never see again, please thank Mrs Jawâs for bringing that to my attention. Anyone who ever went this way should have a look at those photoâs as I am sure that like me they will certainly jog your memory .
When I took that photo nearly thirty years ago there seemed to be something magical about that church and every time that I see the film Doctor Zhivago where they are going over the snow covered fields in that horse and sledge this church always springs to mind.
Although I parked in that lay-by almost every trip I always said that the next time I shall walk through the woods and have a good look around but sadly I never did.
Yes Jawâs I do remember the old cobbled road around the bottom and it was a stroke of luck how I found it.
No, I wasnât lost 
just temporary disorientated due to all the signs being written in the Cyrillic alphabet. I saw two Romtrans fridges heading in the same direction and they said that I could follow them to Gobrovo.
Well as anybody can guess, following two F Troop fridges that appeared to be fully loaded on a cobbled road when you were empty seemed like a lifetime, it probably put an extra hour and a half on the journey but I always used this road whenever it was snowing instead of trying to go over the top.
I am sorry but Death Valley ( apart from the one on the M60 ) and
Diesel Mountain doesnât ring any old bells perhaps you can enlighten me.
P.S. Campanologist, that word rings a bell would that be a Geologist who does a lot of field work .
As regards that guy with the glasses, I also have a strong feeling that I have met him before, I canât remember his name but I am sure that we all have forgotten more peopleâs names than the ones who we can remember.
Best regards Steve.
The only Death Valley I can recall is on the run down into Ankara and where J.B.Worth lost a truck fill of telegraph poles. Never heard of Diesel Mountain so would love to know where that was. I can remember a halfshaft corner, a sharp right hander on the cobbles and uphill on the approach to the Zinwald border.
Hi All
For me Death Valley was between Bolu and Ankara the piece of motorway with the large rock in the middle of the road shaped like the top of a minaret between the armco and the pay arch at the bottom I once got sent off on to the old road thankfully never again.
I have great respect for all those how used that road before the pay road was built.
Diesel Mountian between Zackho and Mosel the one with Saddam Picture in the middle of the hair pin and nearly at the bottom in the ravine on the right a German double decker Bus at the bottom and the whole hill covered in deisel from the overloaded Tonkas no grip loaded or empty and it allways took me weeks to get the ridge out of the middle of the seat.
A request I only passed over the following hill in the day light without a camera and ever time with a camera in the dark, has any body got a picture of the place that I will try to discribe, between Osmaniye and Gaziantep a long sweeping desent into a valley when you stopped at the dirt parking at the top you could see most of the road to the town in the valley and the trucks near the town looked like dinky toys. I have been told by a Turkish friend he thinks the town I am talking about might be Nurdagi?
Regards to you All
Ian
Mushrooman wrote
Some fifty or so minutes later the Rumanians came out and started doing the formalities, we were just pleased that the match didnât go into extra time.
Anyway, we set off heading towards Deva and on the way every now and again we would see about half a dozen cars or so parked up in the countryside in what seemed like the middle of nowhere at the bottom of a hill. As I looked up the hills I could see small groups of people sat around a portable television set, I canât remember how many groups we passed but during the afternoon and evening I would say that we passed more than twenty. Of course when it got dark people started to build fires, so maybe this is what you might of seen scattered about the hills.
When the Dutchman asked what was going on he was told that Hungary were playing a World Cup match that evening and by taking a portable television higher up the hill it improved the reception.
So who knows Keith, maybe you passed this way four years before when the World Cup was on or maybe The Rumoâs were watching the latest episode of Coronation Strat. I canât remember the Rumanianâs using the Cyrillic alphabet, could it of been it in Bulgaria that this happened ?.
I know that this story might sound a bit bizarre but in the eighties The Commie Block was a bizarre place.Hi Steve
your expereance seems very similer and could explain a lot. When I saw those fires on the hillside it would have been the last week in March 1976 a Saterday night because the next day I remember it seemed like everyone was trying to thomb a lift. So come on you football ânutsâ who was playing then? It was definetly Rumania.
Also something that sticks in my mind was in one commie country there was loud speakers on poles in the village streets playing music. The music would occationally stop and the ruler would come on to preach. The villagers would come out and stand to attention on the street while he said his peace, then when he had finished they would go about their business and the music would start up again. I think that was Hungary does anyone know ?Regards Keith.
The hill between Zahko and Mosul could hardly be called a mountain, but I do remember that the road used to melt like mad and run down into ripples. Never sawe a picture of Sadaam either, but then that might have come after I had packed it all in 1980.
Hi All
Here are a couple of pics from Zakho mountain,
The second one is on my way home, coming up the âdown sideâ because the "up side " was too oily !!
GS
