latest diary

[mad_monk]

do you remember a few weeks ago a guildford heat basketball player was hurt in a crash , was in the news , well this was the vehicle

now it might just be me but small people dont play basketball , how did that player fit into a micra

day 1
its wet , its windy , its just plain horrible . my first job of the day is to have a safety inspection , that done its back to the yard to get the truck downloaded , finally i can get going , on the way i hear that dover has been closed , this is gonna be a long day . true enough as i get down to the train and join the queue virtually on the m20 , its a long slip road down to the barriers, im in for the long haul

an age later im through the barriers to find the snack wagon shut , its one of them days , got me tax and i go through for the lanes ready to join the next queue

in the words of that british airways advert " where is everybody "
straight on a train , off at calais and see a rainbow if only i can find the end of it and claim the booty wishfull thinking

heading through belgium i get a few texts from a mate ive not seen for ages turns out he is only half hour in front of me , we meet up just past brussels and run down to liege for the night

a few beers with dinner and watching destination doha on dvd we catch up on old times .
day 2
a quick sprint across to the german border and an even quicker stop for tax we head onward

couple of hours later and its past frankfurt airport again


after stopping for lunch its back on the 3 south east , i say goodbye to my mate at nurnberg as he is tipping munich and im staying on the 3 . i park up for the night at passau ,
day 3
first job after a cuppa is to go to the petrol station and get a go box , this costs the grand sum of 5 euros

now youve got a couple of options . you can go pay as you go , a bit like a phone you put credit on it or you can have it billed direct to the company .
once sorted its back to the truck to fit it


i set off down for the austrian border


Once in Austria its the A8 to Wels then onto the A25 for Linz then the A1 for Vienna

then i take the A21 for the south of Vienna

I find a services on the A21 and park up for a break and phone my contact to arrange a meeting, its all very hush hush and cloak and dagger as im told to meet a white Merc car at a certain set of traffic lights in Vienna and to follow it.
We arrive at the recovery agents

Ive got to load a stolen recovered BMW X5 , the story goes this car belonged to a famous footballer before it was nicked, it was found along with seven other high valued cars during a raid by interpol somewhere in Serbia and transported to Austria where it goes on me bound for the U.K

Now i head back to where i came from, back on the A1 i pass this building, anyone got any ideas of what it is

going back to the go box everytime you go under a gantry it reads the box and it beeps

further along the A1 i see this sign, i guess it means narrow hard shoulder in heavy traffic keep over

i get back into Germany and park up near Passau again to a nice sunset.

[malcolmj]

used to pass that building every time i went to slovakia no idea what it is maybe a poish jail
seeing your sunset at passau i was there to see the eclipise of the sun everyone just stopped on the hard shoulder to watch it think it was aug 1998? but stand to be corrected
in those days the tax was tick the box for the day you use think it was 20 shillings a day

[trubrit]

Thanks Mad Monk

[ossie]

As always an enjoyable read…Thanks…

[geoffc]

Thanks for the photos, keep 'em coming
The building in Austria is probably the Abbey at Melk.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melk_Abbey

All the best

Geoff

[jessicas_dad]

thank you mr monk. a good read please keep em coming.

[ben9]

I have often wondered what that building was myself?

You can link GO-BOX to your DKV card and get billed through them.

Great diary look forward to the next one.

[dieseldave]

Great read and top quality pics as usual mad monk.

I agree with GeoffC that the building you asked about is the Abbey at Melk. (Near Sankt Pölten.)
You’re spot-on about the traffic sign too. “Bei Stau” just means “when there’s queuing.”

I also didn’t realise that there’s a services at Suben.

In times of heavy traffic on the motorway at Suben, I used to nip through the little border at Schärding to save time.
I don’t know whether you still can though…
That was back in the days when you were only allowed into Austria with 30ltrs of diesel in your tank, otherwise you paid tax on the excess fuel, or you had a valid Tankschein certifying what you had in your tank on exiting Austria from a previous trip.

[brit_pete]

First mike excellent as all ways also nice photos

you sign that you asked about says MEANS
KEEP a lane free for emergencey vehicles,
when there is a traffic jam( Incedent);

THE building , is it possible the stables of
the spanish rideing school, world famous,
for its horse displays,

[dieseldave]

mad monk:
anyone got any ideas of what it is

There’s another pic of Melk Abbey HERE, but a close-up.