day 1
day one on this trip is a thursday , the first part of the day is spent loading cars in west kent and tipping them back at the yard , once all the papers are done its gone half 3 before i head off for the train , getting down at the tunnel i stop to change up money and get a days eurovignette , an egg , bacon and cheese stick and a cuppa and im well sorted , its 8,15 when i get off at calais so the first parking area north of calais is as good as anywhere for the night , with no curtains to ■■■■■ and protector door locks i can pretty much park anywhere and feel pretty safe .
day 2
kicking off at 7 im soon into belgium and once i get to gent its left for antwerp .the first queue of the day is at the kennedy tunnel but nothing major
through there and on the a21 i pull into a layby to knock up a cuppa and see this sign
into holland and on to eindhoven i crack on across the 67 to venlo and stop to get the maut toll .
the route set is the a40 to duisburg then the a3 ,a42 towards dortmund then the 45 onto the a2 , a lot of traffic and queues and its slow going . i finally end up in a parking area on the 2 at hannover .
day 3
i kick off at the ungodly hour of 4am , thats shocking , i normally only see one 4 oclock each day . there is a method to my madness , i want to get a 45 in but i need to crack on a bit too. the 2 to berlin is a start followed by the a10 berlin ring
then the a12 onto frankfurt oder. no problems or queues at the border
there is not really any parking at the border but if you take the first exit off in poland , its sign posted for ZIELONA GORA go down there less than a km and there is a shell services on the left , you can fuel up , go to the KANTOR and get your money changed and also buy the polish road tax WINETY . i allways buy the 7 day one it cost me 75 zlotys . its changed a bit , now you get 2 tickets , one for you and a sticky one you put in the screen .
back up to the n2 i head for poznan and spend the next 90 mins on a top class road
WARNING there is a lot of speed cameras popping up all over the place , mind you speed on these roads is errr different . now i get to the a2 and a decent dual carrageway,
as the sign says this is a toll road but when you get to the peage you just show them your road tax and its free .i get to a services just past poznan for the weekend
day 5
leaving about half 9ish ive had the 45 off , an hour and a bit down the 2 and i come off just after kolo onto a errrr national
about 10 or so km up there i come to a level crossing with the lights flashing red , being a good boy i stop and get abuse from irrate ploes that now have to overtake me .
then the train comes and zb me they are still overtaking me to cross WTF !! im now doubting myself as to who has got priority here but stay where i am as the train shows no sign of giving way and yet still they cross
now i can go , a few km later and i see my turn off
and onto an even smaller road
i find the local errr garage to load the car , its basicly mateys back garden and barn
and i load this rover 25
back to the motorway and its back the way i came
all the way bak to berlin where i split off on the 9 heading south , i park up for the night between berlin and leipzeig
day 6
after leaving the parking area
a fair bit of the day is spent on the 9 heading to munich
once there i get onto the ring still heading south and see this building , seen it loads of times but no idea what it is , im sure someone will tell me
onto the a8 heading for austria i come off at rosenheim
and find the traffic police station
a few phone calls and lots of papers and i load this stolen recovered sprinter
it has to go on the truck till i get out of germany as i cant spec in germany .
back up to and round munich i call it a day at a parking called aster moos
day 7
the 9 to nurnburg is a start then its onto the a3 for the long slog to koln, passing frankfurt and the airport there
once ive done the dogleg round koln via the a3 , a560 , a59 , a559 and onto the 4 for aachen and finally the 44 for aachen sud , a quick stop for a bit more eurovignette and its into belgium and aire verlaine for the night which is just past liege
day 8
its the a15 to mons then the a7 to france for this morning
now its the 2 and 26 that gets me to a village just south of arras called beaurains where i gotta go through a housing estate in my quest for the garage
i load a rather poorly vectra with engine problems
my hunt for the a26 takes me through the centre of arras
but i get there in the end . a blast up there gets me to calais where i find a recovery firm and load a carina where the owners have errr lost the car keys
45 mins later and im at a renault garage in gravelines and loading a renault espace
i hear sea france are on strike again so i call it a night here
day 9
im in calais docks by 6 and allready there is a big queue but i get through eventually , rumour has it that sea france has got a or getting a new boat with a cheap crew on board and that is what the strike is about , i got my p+o ticket so i couldnt care less , once over its back to the yard and an end to another trip
errrrrrrrr i know the pics are bigger 
dont know what happened there , sorry 
ta a lot as always a fantastic read and nice large photos,
how cheap was the fuel and ciggies, in poland
Great Diary Mad Monk 
hi pete , to be honest im errrr trying to give up the ciggies so i didnt look , no temptation then , the fuel i will let you know , just gotta check out my trip papers and see
good read and pics, i enjoyed that.
bit of a worry, on how the locals treat railroad crossings in poland
The building is the Allianz Arena.
Home of Bayern Munich. Nice report brings back a few memories, i bet it was nice and Quiet at the services on the Polish toll road. The polls used to stick to the old roads instead of paying what seem`d to us as pennies.
Cracking stuff as usual mate.
A good read again MM. good photos as usual.
I think this sign means beware of gay Belgians winking at you
PMSL wheelnut 
nice one mate
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Sugar Ray:
The building is the Allianz Arena.Home of Bayern Munich.
And 1860 München. The stadium is lit up either red or blue depending on which of them is playing. When the national team use it they light it with white lights.
Wheel Nut:
A good read again MM. good photos as usual.
I think this sign means beware of gay Belgians winking at you
I think you have a small spelling error in the third from last word Malc.
3rd from last !!!bad man coffeeholic , bad man
when i went past it on the way it was daylight but on the way back it was bright blue , looked really good like that mate . errr the stadium that is
I climbed a mountain in the “Alps” for one of Mad Monk’s competitors last week to collect a camper van and wished I had taken photos.
The other week I was in Slovakia and once again wished I had taken photos.
Mad Monk - Do you use a digital camera or just a camera on the phone for the photos?
P.S. Brilliant read I have been to some of them garages too. Will buy/make you a cuppa if we ever meet up at one of them.
hi ossie , where in the alps did you go ? i just use a bog standard digital camera . i will hold you to that cuppa when are where we do meet up
great diary and pics too
mad monk:
hi ossie , where in the alps did you go ? i just use a bog standard digital camera . i will hold you to that cuppa when are where we do meet up
Ski Resort of Montchavin-les Coches-la Plagne to collect camper and thought this could be interesting for an 18m drawbar as the road looked somewhat curvy on the map!
My contact assured me I could get to campsite as coaches got up and down and he was absolutely right. Not even any snow on the road to the resort.
Did seem funny at the resort though, they all had ski suits on, gloves, hats boots etc. I got out of cab in T-Shirt to load camper in brilliant sunshine with my dashboard outside temp saying 15 degrees!
WOW! Thats a huge eye opener. I’ve never done european work, but i can quite safely say I am looking forward to my first experience.
Si 
i know where you mean mate , was in that area a couple of weeks back , nice warm weather , it wasnt till i got right up to the resort that there was snow , i was the same , t-shirt and jeans , people look at you lke your on another planet they got coats , scarves gloves , the full monty and still they are shivering .
Another great diary and pics mad monk.
Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.