No Jazzandy it was weekend no one working but we did go into the village got a lift on a farm tractor with trailer ,super restaurant there with a little stream running thru it with ducks swimming up and down. We did our washing back at the depot and like every one else used a rope tied to the trailer and dried it . That was some trip me and my ex missus kipping across the engine in that old Scania, it was on that trip when it sheared the pump drive in Jugo on the way back,not a big problem to drivers of our quality took it off got it welded refitted it timed it up and reloaded a car wash out of Italy. I wonder if that know all CF is aware that BMC had a factory at Pinar Basi. Crow.
volvo303:
as a new member to the web my first trip was in a daf 2600 unit with a fridge trailer with aload of gripe water to bagdad all i can say was thank god for the advice of the real drivers who had done that route pass port to cy elliot for visas now this along time ago so correct me if you think im wrong but the main things i remember of that first trip was of arriving at dover doing the paper work and then being asked which border crossing i no idea what he was on about lucky the driver behind had i had to use the corridor from france to belgium told to fill up in on crossing the boarder started to relax a little .The german boarder welcome i dont think papers ,tank shine whats a tank shine i asked my self soon found out fine for bring to much derv in now heading for a place called philiproute to cross into my next country the boarder crossing was a very small and cover in snow welcome to the commie world next problern low bridge at prauge sat trying to find away at 2am when a old man came to explain how to get a round i must have looked a complete idiot as he went of and cme back with a plastic car that smoked more than my truck he then show me the way thanks would never be enough but thats all he would take i found a big truck stop and on seeing some blue painted mac trucks on british plates parked up next morning found the trucks were being drivern by turks the next thing that sticks out was crossing the kalfat ferry and driving up towards the mountains and then it started snowing do i stop and put chains on on hine sight i should have done as on one of the bends i lost all traction and started slide towards the crash barrier with my foot on brake it would only slide very slowly with the hand brake on it just slide i ran round and put the trailer brake on as it slide towards the barrier very slowly and stopped on it then started to slide very slowly down hill i chain the front to the rails and spent a very lonely night on my own a bang on the door in the morning i was greeted by the army with machine guns wanting to no why had stop here near a miltary base yet again i must have looked like the village idiot 200 malbour cigs and im hooked up to a tank and being towed up the mountain at the top i really did not want to go down it was then i met a truck driver and mate who i later found out was f troop we put chains on the trailer and put the trailer brake a bit and decended .Next the turkish boarder what a shock holes big enough to loose a truck in paper work by young turk and along time later and one fight with a british driver who try rob me i headed into turkey i remember stopping on the left before the londa camp to have some repairs done my first phone call home i was very lucky to meet up with a yorkshire driver driving a black volvo called harry gil who took me under his wing i all so rember the stop down the mountains before adanerwhere we stopped let the brakes call of cup of tea and filed upwith water that water was bloody cold we stopped at a petrol station for the night and a meal, i remember a lot of yanks from some military base there one more stop for the night and we crossed a bridge into irak paper done just down the road was a truck park where we stopped for the night on starting next morning we were held up as they were blasting the road filled up at mousal and then onto bagdad where i handed the paper work in and was told i had to tip in basra i was not happy as there was a war going on down there with iran what war i was told i next lesson dont no anything yes i made it back and went to work for taytran run by a gent called ken taylor one of the best gent s i have ever worked for i do have some photos i will try to put on i drove volvos and dorfs to iran also the ferry trip to egypt then went to greece takeing cheese and beef to yank bases and yes i still have my old passports with the visas and stamps and the back page the numbers off all the trucks entered please remember this was the seventys names might be missed spelt and yes i have a lot more storys some funny some sad to finnish i can remember sitting on the ferry six weeks later yes it take that time lot more story i have not told feeling smug asking a t form driver how long he had been away only aweek yes i did brag to start with and was put in my place but the more trips i did and then years i stopped being concern about what i had done and just thought was i really like that at the start Yes i was as you did not want to look first time rooky
Welcome Volvo303,
Nice read,there is a Harry Gill who regularily contributes on TNUK,wonder if heās the same guy as the one you mentioned in your piece?
David
ON THOSE PICS THAT OUR pAULYou know what Dave when I was subbing for Alan Hindle at Westhoughton there was another subby called Harry Gill aka big H it s not a very common name unless you re a fish I ve no doubt Harry will let us know. Crow.On those pics that our Paul has pt on 169 the one with the road sign Troy to the right I was looking for Helen but did nt spot her, in some parts the main road was bloody awful and mirror smashing narrow really put the wind up my then missus what with that Scania being RHD.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
ON THOSE PICS THAT OUR pAULYou know what Dave when I was subbing for Alan Hindle at Westhoughton there was another subby called Harry Gill aka big H it s not a very common name unless you re a fish I ve no doubt Harry will let us know. Crow.On those pics that our Paul has pt on 169 the one with the road sign Troy to the right I was looking for Helen but did nt spot her, in some parts the main road was bloody awful and mirror smashing narrow really put the wind up my then missus what with that Scania being RHD.
Geoff, that Scania 110 on the previous page is an ex. Sammy Williams unit , Is it the one that got fitted with a ā ā ā ā ā ā ā engine ? the guy that drove it for them lived near Coseley West Mids. I often saw it parked up at weekends and serviced it when it was new !
No Trev it s the ex Sammy Williams Rolls Royce conversion if you blow the pics up you ll see the stickers on the doors and on the front, I knew the bloke who bought the ā ā ā ā ā ā ā one OOG 980G CROW.
Ah, I know they converted a couple of the Bāham motors, IIRC Scania were not very impressed about it at the time !
Correct Trev they were nt and if my memories correct which it is S Williams had a Scania with a brass plate on one or both doors denoting that this is the 1,000th Scania sold in Gt. Britain.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
ON THOSE PICS THAT OUR pAULYou know what Dave when I was subbing for Alan Hindle at Westhoughton there was another subby called Harry Gill aka big H it s not a very common name unless you re a fish I ve no doubt Harry will let us know. Crow.On those pics that our Paul has pt on 169 the one with the road sign Troy to the right I was looking for Helen but did nt spot her, in some parts the main road was bloody awful and mirror smashing narrow really put the wind up my then missus what with that Scania being RHD.
Harry Gill the lord mayor of stoke, thats a blast from the past, I saw Him a few years back He was working for Matthews out of Yarmouth, He must be 70 surely.
Mind He always looked old & battered. Ask Brooksey about Him Geoff Heāll have You on stitchesā¦
For David Miller
If only you knew I love a good wind up and you bit the bullit ,the Eagle in Hungary made for some good stories as the thread was dying a bit ,but I find some Drivers bite when they dont know who I am, I will have to spill the beans soon 
Loose-wire:
For David Miller
I donāt think anybody with half a brain is under any illusions as to your identity 
The thread was going strong too, with new contributions from the blokes that are still out there doing it and a load of old pictures and memories, in fact the only thing missing recently is Sinbin31
rondavies:
On the theme of eagles, monuments etc. Any idea where this is?
Hi Ron, I am sure that I am going to kick myself when you tell us the answer (just like I did when Dave disclosed the Tatabanya Eagle) but was your photo taken in Bulgaria 
I was thinking that the photo was taken near the top of The Shipka Pass but I also seem to think that the forest was much thicker than that near the top.
Regards Steve.
B.T.W. Welcome Volvo 303 and thanks for taking the time to share your first trip with us, please keep your memories coming 
.
I think it may be at the top of that beautiful gorge between Nis and Dimitrovgrad possibly near Bela Palanka?
By the way this is a great thread and Iām so sad to see aspersions being made about peopleās integrity. Itās really unnecessary as we can all see through those who are the dreamers rather than the doers!
Jazzandy you mean Bela Planina, Bela Palanka was way up from Beograd going towards Subotica, near Bela Planina was a restaurant with an old aircraft parked on the roof, Stara Planina memory s gone can t place it Crow.
mushroomman:
rondavies:
On the theme of eagles, monuments etc. Any idea where this is?
Hi Ron, I am sure that I am going to kick myself when you tell us the answer (just like I did when Dave disclosed the Tatabanya Eagle) but was your photo taken in Bulgaria
Regards Steve.
B.T.W. Welcome Volvo 303 and thanks for taking the time to share your first trip with us, please keep your memories coming
Yes Steve, it was taken in Bulgaria but I couldnāt remember where. I seem to recall that it was somewhere between Ruse and the Turkish border. So Iāll take your answer to be spot on!
Cooperman I seem to remember that big H was from Stoke area last time I saw him he had a bag of crap Magnum, as the other Mr. Gill has not had the courtesy to give us a reply lets assume he s a different guy and leave him to wallow with the other trumpet blowers on that lost cause Gardner thread. Hope things are going ok with you and get your winter woollies out .Crow.
mushroomman:
rondavies:
On the theme of eagles, monuments etc. Any idea where this is?
Hi Ron, I am sure that I am going to kick myself when you tell us the answer (just like I did when Dave disclosed the Tatabanya Eagle) but was your photo taken in Bulgaria
Regards Steve.
B.T.W. Welcome Volvo 303 and thanks for taking the time to share your first trip with us, please keep your memories coming
Steve you got it in one just south of the pass try google earth look for the camera Shipka Monument, I believe it is some thing to do with the Bulgarian & Russian war with Turkey 1878 I also think some thing to do with the Church near the bottom of the pass with the Russian domes and the Spire (Photo you have already posted)
Regards Ian
Sorry Jazzandy you re right I ve got my Belas mixed up, I m going to have to Google this.
fly sheet:
Harry Gill the lord mayor of stoke, thats a blast from the past, I saw Him a few years back He was working for Matthews out of Yarmouth, He must be 70 surely.Mind He always looked old & battered. Ask Brooksey about Him Geoff Heāll have You on stitchesā¦
I first met Harry Gill when he worked for Chapman and Ball,I was working for the FIAT agent at the time where C & B bought their new FIATs from.
By the time I worked for C &B,Harry had moved on.
The last time I saw him was in the Mocamp about 1982.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Correct Trev they were nt and if my memories correct which it is S Williams had a Scania with a brass plate on one or both doors denoting that this is the 1,000th Scania sold in Gt. Britain.
Would this be the motor?
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Cooperman I seem to remember that big H was from Stoke area last time I saw him he had a bag of crap Magnum, as the other Mr. Gill has not had the courtesy to give us a reply lets assume he s a different guy and leave him to wallow with the other trumpet blowers on that lost cause Gardner thread. Hope things are going ok with you and get your winter woollies out .Crow.
Yeah thats right a nasty old Magnum Geoff, He got the boot off Turners Maroccan service for supposedly topping the load out with locals heading for Spain.
I know He was on for Ferrymasters after that & the next time I saw Him He was back on R&J doing Rumoā¦
Always could have a laugh with the old nutterā¦