latest diary

monday is spent getting the truck serviced and waiting for a trailer to come back for me , i spotted this fh12 in one of our yards

also there was this car in , a bit of a test for you , whats the make and model of it

day 1 tuesday
im at portsmouth in plenty of time for the morning boat , once on its breakfast and a shower then a few hours of r and r , getting off on time a half a card later im parked at the peage at nantes
day 2
the first 4 and a half gets me down the a10 and south of bordeaux , after a break its down the forest road , i notice the duanes are out in force at bayonne but on the other side

getting into spain i head for vitoria and park an hour north of burgos .
day 3 down to burgos and onto madrid sees me stopping just south for a break only a few km from the first car . an hour later im heading into the town

i eventually find the adress in a housing estate , a bloke runs a little recovery firm from his front garden , i load a renault laguna

back onto the a4 i finish the card and get a half hour from cordobba, its 112 degrees , way too hot for me

day 4
after a hot and sweaty night im back on the a4 passing cordobba , seville and huelva before entering portigal , after a break i head for a village called boliqueime , i stop and ask 3 people and they all look at me , look at the truck and laugh , ive got a bad feeling about this , coming into the village

i come to a tight bend

half way round the camber is leaning me towards the building , a bloke walks up , he has gotta be 80 at least , he wedges himself between the back pillar and the building and starts pushing , what the (zb) , hes either a serious opptomist or is on day release from somewhere secure , i cant moe now or hes gonna kop it , a big woman appears and i mean BIG and starts gobbing off at him , im willing him to make a run for it cause there aint no way she gonna fit through that gap . after she has dragged him off i inch my way round and find a coach has spotted me and he is doing a u turn

the whole village is out to see this , theyve never seen such fun . i find the house and load a merc a170 , a repo job

i find my way back to the motorway and head back to spain , turning right at seville heading south i park at jerez

day 5
an easy day today , 3 hours after starting im parked at estepona services for the weekend .

day 7
one hour after starting im parked in a petrol station in the centre of marbella at an underground car park that a recovery firm is based , im dying for the loo so into the ones at the petrol station straight into trap 2 , knickers at my ankles im half way through sitting when i spot a (zb)ing great spider in the pan im back up and on the move quicker than linford christie , straight into the door , the lock breaks and the door swings outwards … smiling at 2 blokes i say bonjour and waddle back into the trap , some muppet has painted a spider in the pan , looking back it worked quite well . after leaving the loo via the window i load a merc e270 thats come from morocco.

i head down through malaga and onto the 92 for murcia passing the stadium at granada

and this castle somewhere but buggered if i can remember where

i stay the night at elche .

day 8
after meeting a bloke who works with us i follow him to a place called calpe where i load another merc , stolen recovered

then its onto denia port to load a motorbike off a ferry from mallorca . now in my defence i have never ridden a motorbike … security park me up and i walk onto the ferry , my plan is to reverse on the boat , load it , job done ,… yeah right . they wont let the truck on the boat . ok i will push it out , regulations say no one will haelp me . but they say it drives so drive it off , great i mutter as i errr mount it (leave it ) , i finally get it started but i gotta turn around first , half way through this delicate manouver im on the floor , no one helps , they are all too busy laughing . doing my mutley impression i get back on determined to tame the beast , now at the bottom of the ramp you gotta go sharp right , left is water . i hit the top of the ramp i nearly fall off again and grab the handlebars in panic and twist the throttle , i go down that ramp like a bullet . i wanna go right , the bikes got other ideas and wants to go left so we compromise and go straight on … into the fence in front of everyone waiting to get on the boat , thats it im walking away well errrr limping away to be honest , security comes up , you cant leave yhat there , THERE IS NO WAY IM BACK ON THAT (ZB)ING THING i say , a brit walks up feeling sorry for me and offers to ride it onto the truck for me , i offer to pay him to tip it into the sea for me , but we load it

i get back on the motorway and park up battered and bruised .

day 9
a few hours up to castellon area i find a gruas in the centre of a town called oropessa mar where with the help of a hiab we load a bad mazda bongo

back to the a7 later in the day im north of barcelona on the coast in the centre of palamos

im not even gonna attempt this street but the ford mondeo i load drives

after a quick stop in la jonquera i park in the first services in france .
day 10
just a straight drive today going via toulouse , bordeaux and niort i park near nantes .
day 11
an easy drive up to caen where i catch the afternoon boat and end up staying no the a27 for the night
day 12
back into the yard i get unloaded and load a couple to tip in deal on monday on my way out again , italy this time i think . a rather squashed transit is in the yard

That was an interesting read, thanks for posting it.

By the way you may want rename the image so that people like me can’t see the make and model of the vehicle you asked about :wink:

:smiley: Excellent diary once more. Your work gets you off the beaten tracks and corridors :smiley: Certainly a lot more challenging and interesting than most jobs :laughing:

Whats the mystery car in pic 2…you make it far to easy

Its a Nissan Figaro

whats my prize■■? :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Suberb diary and great photos.

Great Diary Mad Monk,you do certainly get off the beaten track and get a few days in the sun, thanks and regards derek

A fantastic read every time, sometimes I recognise the places in the photos, sometimes I don’t but I always love reading MM’s diaries (and any diary, UK or continental).

hi semtex , your quite right .
your prize is in the post mate , its a weekend for 2 at a seaside resort of your choice anywhere on the swiss coast :open_mouth: :laughing: :wink:

mad monk:
hi semtex , your quite right .
your prize is in the post mate , its a weekend for 2 at a seaside resort of your choice anywhere on the swiss coast :open_mouth: :laughing: :wink:

Damit, I don’t have any holiday available :cry: , never mind :wink: :smiley:

Great read MM. I edited it so the pictures and the text weren’t so all over the place, hope you don’t mind. :wink: :smiley:

not at all coffee , thanks for that :smiley:

Very good diary thanks for posting it. The spider bit made me chuckle… I`d have done the same :laughing: :laughing:

Very good diary, as usual!! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

mad monk:
hi semtex , your quite right .
your prize is in the post mate , its a weekend for 2 at a seaside resort of your choice anywhere on the swiss coast :open_mouth: :laughing: :wink:

Forgive the pun, but that’s a smashing diary mad monk, the spider stole the show, PMSL, but I think semtex might be able to claim his prize after all— Hey semtex, ask mad monk whether he’s heard of Arbon, a nice little resort on the Swiss coast :wink: It’s a little known fact, but I’ve seen a patrol boat with a Swiss flag that patrols their side of the water, so would that be the mysterious Swiss navy??

hi dieseldave, i am awarding a special prize for the best pun so far u are now the proud owner of a season ticket for this winter season at the famous dutch mountain ski resort of errrr hurtunflurtunflappenbattunbosch please post a diary of your up and coming holiday hope you enjoy :smiley: :wink:

mad monk:
hi dieseldave, i am awarding a special prize for the best pun so far u are now the proud owner of a season ticket for this winter season at the famous dutch mountain ski resort of errrr hurtunflurtunflappenbattunbosch please post a diary of your up and coming holiday hope you enjoy :smiley: :wink:

That must be near Boschboschenbosch, the place where we used to get our paperwork stamped :laughing: I once heard a rumour of a hill near Venlo, but upon checking, it was a mirage just like most rumours. Oh yea, mad monk, I forgot to compliment you on the pics-- they’re excellent. :wink:

dieseldave:
It’s a little known fact, but I’ve seen a patrol boat with a Swiss flag that patrols their side of the water, so would that be the mysterious Swiss navy■■

from wikipedia

Naval Patrol
“Swiss Navy” redirects here.

Being landlocked, Switzerland does not have a navy, but it does maintain a fleet of military patrol boats, numbering 10 in 2006. They patrol the Swiss lakes: Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne, Lake Lugano, Lake Major and Lake Constance. These boats are sometimes humorously referred to as the “Swiss Navy”.

:smiley:

andy187:
from wikipedia

Naval Patrol
“Swiss Navy” redirects here.

Being landlocked, Switzerland does not have a navy, but it does maintain a fleet of military patrol boats, numbering 10 in 2006. They patrol the Swiss lakes: Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne, Lake Lugano, Lake Major and Lake Constance. These boats are sometimes humorously referred to as the “Swiss Navy”.

:smiley:

That’s a spot-on piece of research andy187, the boats I saw at Arbon were crewed by 4 or 5 “military” persons. I re-read mad monk’s prize, won by Semtex. It seems that mad monk has got away with dishing out the prize on the basis that Lake Constance isn’t the “sea” as it’s a freshwater lake. BTW, that’s verified by me swallowing some of it whilst swimming in it :blush:

Excellent diary. The motor-bike story is priceless :smiley: :smiley:

Wery interesting, got more?