Yup spent many a night/weekend there. in the run up to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics by the time the end of February had come around I had spent 7 weeks week ended there, you know how it was, once you were out of sync with your trips it was difficult to get back on track, no matter how many cards you used! Much to the dis-pleasure of my wife. Always the same people there, met some smashing people!!
ye m8 was fortunate to be there on last night of 92 olympics me about ten others up ramblas gd friend of east west emmet think he passed on now wild night . was on gbe at time we took all the rebar for the plympic towers down there tipping on the beach when orourkes the irish mob could get the crane for you gr8 times 
Yeah, tipped at the same site at the beach many times with some sort of adhesive… Hazardous?? No officer 
It was a long way round if you didn’t go through the tunnel to the beach!!
yes 1961 we probably crossed paths m8 enjoyed it when cleared get to beach and irish guy says sorry m8 crane busy till about 4oclock they had there own little bar on beach oh what days lol
Steve
I must have met you ( I know the the other Steve Jones well ) I was on GBE at the same time and loaded the crane jibs from the stadium on Mt Juic (sp), with reference to the restaurant in Zona Franca we always used to go out of the gate near the building you put your papers in and eat in the Gypsy bar there or Meson David up the Ramblas.
sounds defo m8 i knew other steve jones met him in channel ports office poole they called out papers steve jones we both stepped fwd
Tubbysboy:
GS OVERLAND:
Peter 1961:
Forgive me if someone has already mentioned it but the Restaurant in the TIR park Zona Franca was very good as well…Yes it was. I enjoyed many a Bocadillo and Coka Cola…
But which one ? The early open one or the late one up the other end ?
I can remember going there as a 16 year old with one of dad’s drivers and couldn’t believe the state of the floors… ■■■ buts, sugar envelopes and various other [zb] thrown on the sawdusty floor…I also remember one of my very first hangovers from hell inspired by the bar…I swore I’d never drink again… hahahahaha
And they did a very nice knuckle of lamb if I recall correctly…
All gone now unfortunately…just container parking.
.
Ahh, Faded memories, I’m talking 1986-7ish, The one by the gate, open early.
I remember being there when Barcelona was awarded the Olympics, not been back since !!
Weekended, pull the pin and head up to Calella, park the unit up a small side road opposite the beach and enjoy…atleast until October when the coaches stopped coming, then weekends got boring.
Dangerous Gypsies with knives !! I remember when the German driver got stabbed and killed in the shower inside Alverca, got his wallet stolen.
GS
I’m up late tonight !! 
A typical trip for me would have me stopping at the following truckstops:
Off the boat and park at Total Zeebrugge, ready to fill up with red.
Next stop overnight at Geiselwind if heading to Furth im Wald or on the DDR side of the border at Eisenach.
Next night Log Cabin if transiting DDR or the Airstrip if transiting via Furth.
Next stop Sekhesferherevar or Kiskunhallas, depending on how long it took or what time I got through Raijka.
Next stop National Belgrade.
Of course there were overnight in layby’s etc stops in between. Cant spell layby.
Next stop Londra Camp, or later on OKTAY TIR Parking, Istanbul for oil change, grease up and truck wash, Efes Kontrol and good shower.
And that was it… Next stop lunch at the Telex Motel, Ankara and overnight at Aksaray, Taspinar Tank Farm ready to drop belly tank early next day. If I was heading to transit Iraq I would sometimes drop my belly tank at Osmaniye, great food and great service. Hyundai Camp at Baiji and Mivan Camp, Baghdad were both great stops, The boys there couldnt do enough for Brit drivers.
There was a good Thai restaurant at Ar Ar and you could get a nice curry at Hafar al Batin (used to be known as the Mirrors) on the TAP Line in Saudi and that was it. There was a nice little shop that did fresh fruit juice at Salwa border, entry to Qatar.
Next stop Central Customs, Doha.
And then there was, and still is …The Caravan. Those that have been will know. 
PS. The New Capital Hotel is no longer there but Desman Restaurant is still there, just about.
Sorry guys, I got a bit carried away !! It was about routiers…
GS
GS OVERLAND:
Tubbysboy:
GS OVERLAND:
Peter 1961:
Forgive me if someone has already mentioned it but the Restaurant in the TIR park Zona Franca was very good as well…Yes it was. I enjoyed many a Bocadillo and Coka Cola…
But which one ? The early open one or the late one up the other end ?
I can remember going there as a 16 year old with one of dad’s drivers and couldn’t believe the state of the floors… ■■■ buts, sugar envelopes and various other [zb] thrown on the sawdusty floor…I also remember one of my very first hangovers from hell inspired by the bar…I swore I’d never drink again… hahahahaha
And they did a very nice knuckle of lamb if I recall correctly…
All gone now unfortunately…just container parking.
.
Ahh, Faded memories, I’m talking 1986-7ish, The one by the gate, open early.
I remember being there when Barcelona was awarded the Olympics, not been back since !!
Weekended, pull the pin and head up to Calella, park the unit up a small side road opposite the beach and enjoy…atleast until October when the coaches stopped coming, then weekends got boring.
Dangerous Gypsies with knives !! I remember when the German driver got stabbed and killed in the shower inside Alverca, got his wallet stolen.
GS
GS, was it Alverca as I seem to remember a German guy was stabbed in the showers in the Zona Franca TIR park one weekend. Also a Frampton driver when leaving the compound, the Gypsy kids that used to live round the perimeter threw a fire extinguisher on the road which he ran over and it exploded, when he got out to investigate he got Stanley knifed and robbed. All this is of course in the far distance past so I might have dreamt it all. 
Always something interesting going on and as many people say, mostly great times!! When I come back in the afterlife I want to do it all again but remember to take more pictures!!
Of course it wasn’t Alverca, ! It was Zona Franca, slip of the old fingers on the keyboard ! Alverca was Lisbon.
I remember one Friday, after clearing customs in Zona Franca to come home and as I pulled out of the main gate on to the road, my 111 started to lose power and ground to a halt on the incline. Not a good place to breakdown, I jacked the cab up and changed the filters in very quick time, bled it and got the engine started, jacked the cab down, got in and drove off, giving a group of Gypsy lads the middle finger… .They had seen me stop and were heading towards me, That was quite worrying. I’ve never changed filters that quick in my life.
The last time I was in the Zona Franca was in 1990, and also the last time I saw Tanker Bill who was there with two mates who worked on the Thames, ever the hard man, he and the other two got into a situation with several Moroccans who took the unwise decision to try and mug them. No need to say who came off worse.
Time for a brief update. One in , one out 
A new one quite close to me is in Chalus on the N 21 between Limoges and Perigueux. At the top of the hill south of the double traffic lights and opposite the big parking area on the right, is the new routier really going for it with big banners close by and on the edges of the town. Haven’t tried it myself, a bit close to home for a meal. Neither can I say if it is open in the evenings too, but it looks as if it might be. If I find out I will report back.
A bit further away, again on the N 21 at Lauriere, east of Perigueux, the routier of the same name appears to be closed down. It has been shut for a while as I have passed but thought it might just be conge (holiday) time. But no, still closed and the large parking area is ribboned off and also has strategically placed kerbing slabs to prevent entry.
I have eaten there several times, all good, and the last time was unusual for me, being only 50 kms from home. I had delivered to near Sarlat quite late in the afternoon and made it to there for 9.30 pm. I asked if I could still eat and, when told of course, parked up for the night. There was an elderly couple running it then (a few years ago it was a younger bloke, the one who organised all the directional parking), so maybe they simply retired with no takers. Or perhaps, as in the case of other small businesses I know, retired but still live there. A pity.
Nothing is lost for certain though. The one at Negrondes, a bit further north on the N 21 closed for many weeks, a lot longer than conge would suggest, but is now open again, and, of course, the really handily placed La Loge, on the old N20 (D 2020) is open now, though it had been closed for more than a year. 
Just had a look on Google Streets and in May 2013 La Loge was definitely shut, much longer than I thought then, so there’s hope for the others yet. Chez Jo, perhaps? Anyone fancy a change of lifestyle and the same bed every night?
I’ll be stopping at La Fleuve, Abbeville in a couple of weeks, but will check it out as usual as I pass.
After several years of double manning in the world of F1 where we had to use hotels as unless you work for Eddie Stobart as the teams have always decreed that drivers should have a decent sleep and shower especially when you were a lot more than just a truck driver, eg tyre or fuel technician, I now drive mostly on my own (apart from the fact there are usually several of us running together) except for the occasional back to back race where we have to D/M. So it is nice to be able to find a good Routiers en route and enjoy a good meal and a drop of vino in company without having to move on and find a hotel. We cab it for which we get a bonus as it saves the team a hotel bill and it’s nice to find that some of the old haunts are still open and thanks to apps like Truckfly find some new ones. By the way Stobarts drivers get about the same money as the UK and have to spend every night in the cab even when at a race.
chazzer:
After several years of double manning in the world of F1 where we had to use hotels as unless you work for Eddie Stobart as the teams have always decreed that drivers should have a decent sleep and shower especially when you were a lot more than just a truck driver, eg tyre or fuel technician, I now drive mostly on my own (apart from the fact there are usually several of us running together) except for the occasional back to back race where we have to D/M. So it is nice to be able to find a good Routiers en route and enjoy a good meal and a drop of vino in company without having to move on and find a hotel. We cab it for which we get a bonus as it saves the team a hotel bill and it’s nice to find that some of the old haunts are still open and thanks to apps like Truckfly find some new ones. By the way Stobarts drivers get about the same money as the UK and have to spend every night in the cab even when at a race.
Truckfly is brilliant, though I have one criticism of it. Often the so-called routiers are not really that at all, but workers’ restos which are not always open (for meals at least) in the evenings. I always preferred ‘cabbing it’ even when the choice was given because for me the meal at the end of the day is just that, the end of the day, and I don’t want to get back behind the wheel to find the hotel. Drink was always in the back of my mind, but I take water with my meals now but still keep to the same principle. This coming weekend is a (very) rare occurrence, and normally would be refused but I have to do a collection south of Toulouse at 4.30pm Friday and then a 2nd at 1.30am Saturday at Cestas (Bordeaux). I have only agreed because it is a rdv with a Spanish transporter who will turn straight round and head south again. So, a couple of hours sleep after the meal and then on to Cestas where, once loaded, back to bed again for about 5 hours before doing the 2 and a half hours to delivery, and back home nearby. But, as I said, very rare and I would normally have stipulated 8am or nothing.
When planning my route I have 3 ways to find my stopovers, Truckfly, the Routier red book and an old Michelin of mine where I mark every routier new to me that I see. Then, if it is July or August, or any Friday, I always ring ahead to make sure they are open.
While you are I think primarily driving in France, we obviously go to or through a lot of the countries in europe and there are a lot of different apps to help you find decent truckstops with or without hotels some of them good hotels some bad but one which we always use on the Hungary/Austrian border at Hegyshalom is the Autohof Motel about €45 for a 3/4 bed room with excellent shower, air con and good restaurants nearby. Many German Autohofs of which there seems to be one springing up at every exit have motels with them for a reasonable price as unless the truck is fitted with a roof mounted night air con it is difficult to sleep in hot weather and I know years ago it was the norm to put up with it but times change and as we get older we tend to prefer our creature comforts so an air conditioned room is always nice.
chazzer:
While you are I think primarily driving in France, we obviously go to or through a lot of the countries in europe and there are a lot of different apps to help you find decent truckstops with or without hotels some of them good hotels some bad but one which we always use on the Hungary/Austrian border at Hegyshalom is the Autohof Motel about €45 for a 3/4 bed room with excellent shower, air con and good restaurants nearby. Many German Autohofs of which there seems to be one springing up at every exit have motels with them for a reasonable price as unless the truck is fitted with a roof mounted night air con it is difficult to sleep in hot weather and I know years ago it was the norm to put up with it but times change and as we get older we tend to prefer our creature comforts so an air conditioned room is always nice.
Yes, mainly France, but Spain a lot too but down there the ordinary motorway restos are good and cheap, especially if you see plenty of wagons parked, although I did make a mistake near Ourense once when it turned out all the parked drivers were locals and the resto was closed. Had to make do with a giant sandwich at the bar. I do mark all the good truckstops I see on those and the other roads on my trusty 2000 Michelin though, in UK too, but those are much further between.
Chazzer,
what do you drivers do when not driving at the race tracks, I have no idea, a insight in to your work would be appreciated, also are you all fulltime and work all year, if so what do you do when in the depots, and no racing this is not a ■■■■ take I am interested as it is something new to me , your the first driver I have read on Trucknet that is in your type of haulage ,I would not have blended in I know that.
Iam well retired74, but how would a general european haulage driver get a sort of prestige job like you do ,you must know thousands would droll over the motors you drive. men did when i was on PULLEYNS and to me it was just a truck lol so are you fitters or just lucky.PDB.
Dropped into this one last week, it’s been going forever, on the edge of a town, anyone recognise it ?
Rings no bells with me Fergie, though I was in one a bit like that some years ago, frontage right on the street, but can’t even remember the town now. 
Gis a clue.
Spardo:
Rings no bells with me Fergie, though I was in one a bit like that some years ago, frontage right on the street, but can’t even remember the town now.Gis a clue.
David…bit of a tough one …it’s in Redon…where the river la Vilaine crosses the Nantes /Brest Canal
See French restaurant “la Dig Bar”…plenty of parking opposite…
