That A14 M11 is actually longer and all options are virtually the same distance or time for whichever route either chooses.
I’ve checked on the DVLA website and that Land Rover with the head gasket problem has no valid MOT, VED and it’s not insured according to the MIB, unless the Vatican area is under private land, they could have at least SORN’ed it?
My uncle bought an ex blood transfusion bus that had been converted to carry some kind of racing car - he was wanting to convert it into a mobile NDT test lab (not that this is important to the story). The bus was a 1968 Commer with a two stroke engine and was located in Aberdeen so we dutifully trooped up to there from Glasgow. I would be driving it back and he would follow in the car.
We got it back to Glasgow and on arrival my uncle said “Christ, you were pushing it there”. “Nonsense” I said “I never went above 60”. “Well the speedo in my car said you were doing 90” came his reply. Turned out that whoever had converted it had fitted a high speed axle. Boy could that baby shift.
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That’s the high speed axle, definitely faster.
Not sure if its true but weren’t the 2 stroke Commers fast anyway.?
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I find Feltham to Dewsbury in under 3 hours very hard to believe and Feltham to Killington Lake and back even harder to digest
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!990’s I had a diff go kaput near Guadalajara. I was towed to a DAF garage nearer Madrid.
It seems that DAF had rear diff in Madrid but because I had a UK reg truck they would not fit it. The Spanish rucks had a higher diff fitted because at that time they were all running100kph (ish!) and we were running 90kph. To keep the engine in the most economical spot the gearing was a little different.
I told them I was quite happy to have a higher gearing but…well, no surprises…
I guess that with a higher axle, the next MoT would have re-calibrated the limiter so no gain anyway, but a fuel penalty for the company.
Whatever the reason, I was parked there for a few days until the part arrived.
That was some pedal car around the council house garden CF ! 
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I remember that steep hill where you broke down, the other mountain roads that many trucks died or broke down on are Somosierra,I used to see loads of blown radiators, and break downs in the summer heat.
The road from Madrid to Bailen, Los Carolina’s, the scenery was stunning but sadly many suffered brake fade and went over the cliffs.
Anterquera to Malaga, a few steep spots on that route.
The nick name of the ski slope near Pamplona.
If fully freighted and missed a gear or got the speed wrong it would be curtains for the driver as all over Spain they put crucifixes and little shrines to honour their loved ones killed, and candles burning.
The old road before they built the viaducts and tunnels around the Sunbilla area.
Yep, it was twelve hours back then, but easy enough to scotch the book.
These days in some circumstances a 17 hr day is legal.
When I was carting fuel in WA we could work 168 hrs a week.
I’m not sure sure how you extrapolated that from my words, but that must be how it reads in your alternative world.
If you can show me how to load those pigs with a forklift, I’m willing to be educated.
I know there are many hardworking UK and European drivers, but you’ve never been one of them
They could have been but I don’t know if 90mph was normal. That was the only 2stroke I ever drove so I’ve nothing to compare it with.
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90 mph with a direct gearbox would be about 3.7~3.9 diff ratio.
The discrepancy in the speedo reading can come about when the diff ratio is changed and the speedo drive gear is not changed to suit.
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And the long climb out of Malaga was another one that sorted the sheep from the goats. And that savage little climb out of Loja.
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That long climb out of Malaga seemed endless.
You may remember if tipping in Gibraltar there were no reloads home in that area so we were always sent to Alicante,Murcia,Valencia or even further to Barcelona, I loved those long drives.
The reload could be anything from shoes,textiles, old tractors, ceramic tiles out of Onda and the Valencia area.
Get to a cafe the planner said with a facsimile transmitter to get the 12 or more collection addresses that could take 2 to 3 days to with multiple tile factories and don’t forget they close for 2 to 3 hours for the lunch time siesta.
You had to watch it going down too, lest you ran out of brakes!
You may remember if tipping in Gibraltar there were no reloads home in that area so we were always sent to Alicante,Murcia,Valencia or even further to Barcelona, I loved those long drives. [[Quote]
I tipped in Gib many times, but always on the way to Morocco, so I’d run empty to Algeciras and ship across to North Africa for my reload, which might be in Tangiers or it might be well south in Casablanca or Fez. On more than one occasion I ended up with clandestines in the empty trailer thinking they were going to Spain and being pissed off to find themselves back where they came from Trouble is, that always cost me another day getting the hole in the trailer roof repaired. 
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That’s a good story, I used to take the delivery addresses off the pallets when parked overnight in Calais, the clandestine thought I was getting the morning ferry to England but instead they got a free ride a few hours in to France, Belgium or Luxembourg.
You may remember the legend of Tony Bradfield and his trusty blue two tone coloured Volvo F12?
He loved his rum and coke( The beverage!).
Thinks he had a Moroccan lass on the go once in Morocca.
I would always see him later on running together with his nephew, I think they both upgraded to Daf’s?
That would be a retrograde step, surely.
Very well! I had a good few bevvies with that old rogue in North Africa.
They had DAF 95XF Super-Space cab 430s IIRC. I drove similar DAFs on that work from time to time and they were good tools for that particular work.