so, first off apologies if this is very similar to kindles diary from the other week, but i thought it had been a while since i have done a diary!
we had been busy for a few days proir to the weekend, culminating in a triple drive from antwerp to stockholm, in which i also met goaty from on here, and
as usual i had my brother (dieselcowboy) driving my truck. we drove from antwerp to hamburg, and parked up, and then 2 other drivers completed the journey up to
stockholm. we were there over the weekend. we loaded sunday evening, but me and 2 others opted to stay there the night and head back in the morning, personally
i like the drive down from stockholm and would rather do it in the day, although i would have rather driven through germany at night when its not as busy
day 1: stockholm- koge (denmark)
i know KW will like this, the morning started with no alarm clock at all, there is no real rush for us to get back for a certain time, so i decided to let my body wake me up
which it did about 9am, after a cup of tea, one other colleague was up, then other trucks started rolling in to the gig, so we woke the 3rd one up, did our checks and headed out.
one great thing about sweden is that its pretty empty of traffic, and our journey down to jonkopping for our break was non stop and easy going, although the weather was a bit tempremental!
one minute it was sunny, then the mist came in, then back to sunny! i saw 2 of PTM’s of reading heading north as well as a couple of irish trucks. once we had our break
we carried on in the sunshine, it really is nice when the sun is out! more good progress, and over the malmo bridge, at just over 100 quid it certainly aint cheap!!! after clearing copenhagen and the
rain, we got to koge and parked in the truckstop there for the night. one other transam was in there but curtains drawn so we didnt disturb him. a nice healthy burger king for tea and it was time for
bed!
the fountain outside the hotel
scanias scrap metal factory 
weather got a bit bad for a time, but soon cleared
several planes like this i believe due to the saab factory being by the motorway
thats more like it, bright sunshine!
day 2: koge- venlo
once again, no alarm call was a nice way to start the day, although i had been parked between 2 fridges, with my earplugs in i had slept pretty well! once again a cup of tea and a brush of the teeth,
and with a wander round camera in hand, and the other 2 finally awake, we headed off for the ferry to germany. its an hour and a half drive to the boat, saw a couple of ralph davis northbound
we got to the boat, booked on, this one is about 200 quid! we got in line, and the boat turned up! on we got, and headed to the restaurant for a cracking schnitzel, its a proper platefull!
after a nice and sunny crossing,we set off through germany, sadly the sun gave way to rain, which didnt really ease off at all. we managed to get though a fair bit of the roadworks on the a1 before
we came to a grinding halt. we called in at vechta autohof for a break and a light bite for tea (after the meal on the boat we didnt need much food!), and one of us ot some diesel, we pressed on so we
would get back the next day. the only problem with late starts is getting parked up at the end of the day, by the time we left vechta, it was getting on for 6pm local, so we kept an eye out, every services, they
were already onto the hard shoulder, we decided to try the border for what it was worth, no chance!! we were hoping to make asten, but thought we may not be lucky, so we came off at venlo as there is a
large parking area, sadly that was full but we pulled into where customs is where we could park. now the signs say 30 minutes stay, but there were other trucks with their curtains round, and as we were short on time
and anywhere to go, we decided to stop there and see what happens, what other choice do we have?
coming up to the malmo bridge just before parking up
on the ferry to puttgarden, lovely schnitzel dinner
lots of parcels…
in germany heading home…
day 3: venlo- stradbroke
we actually got up to the alarm this morning, and headed to asten truckstop for some breakfast and to catch up with some of the others who were parked there. we set off, and headed for dunkirk. i got cut up by a learner en route, as she came down the sliproad and sat alongside me (no overtaking zone), she was told (i guess), to hammer it, pull in front of me (by this time she was on the hard shoulder) and then stand on the brakes, i could not believe it, not impressed to say the least!! back to the boat and then home, not much excitement to report!
where we parked for the night, there was several other trucks curtains round in there, so im guessing the customs are a bit leanient with it?..
getting the truck washed at asten
and some other random pictures…
when in ashford truckstop on a 45 hour break, we helped a guy unloading some accident damaged british cars he had brought back. this one was on behind a mitsubushi with a rather large hole in the engine block, think it needs a bit of a clean now!!!
one of the other cars was a lincoln 4x4 which was owned by someone in monaco, but it was physically too big for the roads there, so had been brought back for sale!
the view for the punters, antwerp
the vasa, an amazing ship and museum, if you go to stockholm, go check it and its history out!!
and finally for now, while sat on regents street while some tinpot band played off a roof these horses were run past me, it was rather surreal having that in the middle of london!!
then back onto metallica, we are mega busy this year by the looks of it, but im not going to divulge too much in the public domain for the time being…
to stockholm