I didn’t really bother taking too many pictures this week as most of the week it was raining!!
The week started with me arriving home on the Monday afternoon from Murcia with a full load of frozen peppers. As I was due to go straight back out, my Boss met me and took the outfit over to deliver the load to Boston on Tuesday morning. He then reloaded me with 18 pallets of frozen for the poor old ex pats in Benidorm who cannot survive without their English food. Why move out there, I wonder? I drove up Tuesday evening and met him at the top of the A3 and I went to sleep before heading for pick up No2 in Lille via Dover the next morning. I arrived at Dover and noticed the waters in the dock were very rough indeed and mentioned this as I boarded the ferry to the little man at the top of the ramp. He asked if I was returning the next day as 60mph winds were forecast! 
I found though that the closer we got to Calais, the calmer the water got ……… luckily I don’t suffer with seasickness 
Taken from the ramp leading to the ferry in Dover
Straight off the boat and I headed for Lille. Here I had just 2 pallets of frozen veg to load and then I was off to the last pick up just outside Lens at a place called Henin-Beaumont. Eight more pallets were loaded bringing my total gross up to just under 28 tonnes 
………………… bring on those Spanish hills, I thought
I joined the A1 heading for Paris and parked at Aire de Ressons-Est for the night by 1630
Thursday: As I had parked up last night, it had started raining and this morning, as I awoke at 0330, it was throwing it down 
. This week, I decided on a change and went round the A86 avoiding Paris altogether and joined the A6 and then the A10 heading for Orleans. I had a great run down through here and was soon parked up having the obligatory snooze. I then ran down to Poitiers where I joined the N10. Since they have upgraded this road, it has become a pleasure to drive. I decided to take another 45 just before getting to Bordeaux just in case I got held up at all. Although the rain had relented earlier in the day, it had now started raining extremely heavily and I left Bordeaux behind in a rainstorm. It wasn’t pleasant driving conditions at all!
Now the other week in my “Just popping out, luv” thread, I posted a picture taken driving thro the Forest. This was the same place but taken at 330pm!! An awful drive
Ninety minutes later saw me parked up in Castets after a 10’05” drive for the day. The rain was bad enough to take me over the 10 hour mark unfortunately 
but I was still parked up by 1700
Friday: It was still raining as I pulled out at 0430. 45 minutes later I crossed the border into Spain and the light and rain was that bad, I missed the slip road into the Services to fuel up. I had plenty of fuel left still (even though I had refuelled the previous Sunday in Pamplona on the way back to the UK) so carried onto the A1 then onto the A15 climbing the 11km climb up towards Pamplona. Just before Pamplona, I stopped for fuel and put 900 litres in. Then onto the new motorway connecting Pamplona and Zaragoza. Because the Spanish want the trucks off the national roads at this point, the cost to run the 90kms down to Tuleda is €2.45!!! I came off at Tuleda and joined the national road again towards Zaragoza. It was all happening on the N232 today. First I encountered this heavy and wide load. I had the time to get the camera ready as a police car preceded it warning me to get over then came an ■■■■■■ vehicle with another ■■■■■■ behind!
This certainly was a wide one …
10kms down the road, there was more police and fire vehicles. A trailer had caught light ………… much to my amazement although the back half of the trailer had ‘gone’, the unit was still attached!! Then another 5kms down the road, as I entered the roadworks, I saw a rig on the other side of the road get a front blowout and swerve off the road. I hope the guy was ok as it was fields he was heading for. I took a break at the BP at Zaragoza having a nice snooze, then breakfast then a lovely hot shower. I have always reckoned this BP has some of the best showers in Europe!! Loads of room and powerful HOT showers! Ninety minutes later saw me back on the road. Now the drive from Zaragoza across to Valencia using the N330 and then the N234 used to be damned hard work and quite beautiful in its own way. You used to drive through all these little towns and villages etc. In the last 2 years though the Spanish have been busy building the A23! Now apart from two stretches totalling about 50 kms, this drive is all dual carriageway. You don’t even see Teruel now!! You still drive through Daroca though where these were taken on the way back.
Taken entering the town of Daroca
Those are all local hams hanging up for sale
Running into Zaragoza Friday morning
I reckon another year and it will be dual carriageway all the way which all though easier on the motor and quicker (they have taken a lot of the climbs out of the drive) will be the death of many of the restaurants and clubs along this route! Shame . BUT on one of the few sections of ‘old road’, a seriously steep climb, I encountered this!
He was parked up just down the road from here the next day still for the weekend!
He was struggling big time up the climb with this load but I managed to pass him without being delayed
I reached Valencia and swung onto the Ring road, the main A7, and bypassed Valencia. I joined the AP7 for the 110 km run down to Benidorm and parked up at the first services for the night.
Now Spain is smothered in these things only now they have discovered they are a menace to migrating birds!!! 47 vultures have been killed by one of these this year when heading for Gibraltar!!
Saturday: The sun was shining (it had been since Zaragoza) and I was on the road by 630. I ran down the AP7 and just over an hour later I was turning off at Junc 65 for Alfaz Del Pi or Benidorm as we all know it. I drove up the ‘High Street’ in Alfaz and it was like being at home!! I got to the drop and then waited for the foreman to arrive to tip me. One unusual feature about this delivery is all the Goods In staff are Brummies…… long story, too long for this diary.
I was eventually tipped after sitting there drinking their coffee while watching them.
Waiting outside the drop in Alfaz Del Pi for the beeps to turn up to tip me
Looking back at Benidorm from the top of the hill
It was then back on the road and heading for Almussafes back up by the end of the AP7 at Valencia. In no time I had a supposed ’24 tonnes’ of onions on and headed back for the N234. It was a very uneventful journey back to Zaragoza apart from the trailer brakes getting very very hot on one of the descents ……… a bit nerve rackingly hot, in fact lolol Was that smoke I spied there■■? Go faster is my attitude in those cases!! A quick break there and then onto Pamplona for the night.
I had phoned the boss in the afternoon and informed him I was on my 6th card on Monday so he discovered he would be doing market work for the first time Monday night ………… lucky devil though only has 3 drops in 2 markets 
.
Sunday: 0315 saw me stumbling out of bed (on a Sunday■■?) and 25 minutes later, I was on the road. Now coming back from Pamplona on the A15, obviously what goes up must come down . I hate this descent with a passion but need to go this way because of fuelling up. It is an 11km descent that is not nice. I went down at 30 mph and the revs at 2400 trying to hold it on the exhauster ……… one of those times you really do want a jake or retarder. Hot brakes again They were still red hot when I stopped 5kms from the border for fuel. 30 minutes later, I went down to the border and was so busy looking to see if the Douanes or Gendarmes were at the peage, I nearly never noticed the little man jump out in front of me waving a red baton at the actual border crossing. The Douanes had stopped me again GRRRR 
There were 3 of them and one was a woman who informed me the speed limit was 10kph. I pointed at a sign not 10 yards away and pointed out the sign said 40kph!! She told me I was driving too fast and I thought “Here we go, I’m gonna be fined here for something”. Fortunately her colleagues were much better humoured but I saw their little eyes light up when I said I had onions on 
. It would seem, so I was told later, that onions mask the smell of drugs rather well!! I showed the CMR and opened the back up. God, it stunk of onions!! Two of them jumped up inside and one stayed out laughing and joking with me. To my surprise, all three spoke very good English. He informed me they were targeting English trucks at the moment as they had had a big seizure of tobacco that week on an English truck (I had asked why they had stopped me and letting everyone else go) ………… so boys, beware if you are thinking of mischief in the coming weeks!! It was enough tobacco to merit not a fine as I thought but a set of nice French bracelets and a visit to the jail house. Serves him right!! By the way, the amount that was seized was not ONE pallet that had been smuggled into the load as in a lot of the drug cases. There was no way this guy could have been ignorant of the load.
Twenty minutes later and the two reappeared from the back of the trailer and I was free to go. Just one thing, I asked with a smile. What is it?, they asked back. “Can I borrow your ladder to replace that dud marker light at the top of the trailer, I can’t reach it” 
To my amazement one of them even held the ladder while I replaced the bulb
Now I wanted to be parked up by 4pm this afternoon or by 6pm at the evry latest so it was hotfoot up to Bordeaux in exactly 4’30” and an hours brekkie break. Then onto Niort services where I discovered I was well ahead of schedule. Another 45 minutes snooze here then up to Treillieres just after Nantes and parked up by 345 . I then settled back and listened to the football (amazing how far radio 5 reaches) only to have my day ruined by those blinking Mancs beating my beloved footie team GRRRRRRRRRRRR
Monday: Up again at 0300 and on the way by 0315 saw me arrive at Caen in time to catch the morning ferry to Portsmouth. For some reason, I had asked for a plugin and found myself on Deck 5 right at the front of the boat
Entering Ouistreham about half a mile from the Port
The only drawback to this and being first off the boat was the unit is covered in salt now . We docked at 1345 and I was parked up and indoors by 1415 . The boss can take over now. The trailer and unit are due for inspection and I have a very welcome 2 days off now Yahoooooooo
TOTAL MILEAGE SO FAR: 4614 kms
Europe driving work keep me interesting 
what ■■■■■■■