Sorry there will be no Pics on this diary but hopefully I will manage to get some on my next trip.
Tuesday, midday, Phone rings and the voice on the other end says " get your gear and be down the yard ASAP".
Now as regular users of this forum know “I don’t do nights out”, but after a number of jobs doing local work and being bored out of my mind, I decided to go back to distance work. If I am going to do nights out I figure that doing European work is what I need. The problem is that I have no European experience and there are very few jobs going in this area for domestic work let alone European. I finally find a local firm that will “ease me in gently”, their work is mainly Germany, so that suits me fine. After a couple of weeks working in the UK the call came.
I am down the yard by 1 o clock and my ride for the trip is a Renault Magnum, but the problem is it as a gearbox problem which they are working on. Whilst they sort out the problem I stow my gear and sort a trailer. The trip is, load Oldham and Ramsgate and ship out to Holland to meet up with one of our drivers and do a trailer swap, probably in Venlo. To say I am chuffed is an understatement. By 1.30pm the gearbox is “sorted” so I am hooked up and on my way 10 minutes later. As I leave the yard I have trouble with getting 4th gear but put it down to my not having driven a Magnum before. However as I get further down the road it appears I cannot get 6th or 8th as well, so its back to the yard. The gearbox is [zb] came the reply so you will have to take the Volvo. The vehicle in question is an L Registered Volvo FH12 Low cab. Not wanting to miss out on the trip, I don’t argue and by 2.40 pm I am on my way again, I am supposed to be at the pickup by 4 pm but that is impossible now and the instructions are “do your best”.
After an uneventful trip across the Pennines I arrive in Littleborough at 5 pm and have difficulty finding the factory, this is due to the factory having had a name change. There are plenty of places to park so I decide to check with the ‘forkie’ to see what time they would load me in the morning. No bother mate pull in and I will load you now. Wow I though things are certainly looking up after a bad start. 1 hour later and I have three quarters of the tailer loaded with empty cable reels which are being returned. I thank the forkie and I am off down the M60, M6 and M1 heading for Ramsgate. I am due a 45 so at 10 pm I pull into Newport Pagnell to find most of the services closed up, but at least I can get a coffee and toasted egg and bacon sarnie. 10.45 and its back on the road again and I figure I can make Ramsgate by 1.30 or 2 am. It’s 11.30 pm when I approach the slip road for the M25 and there is a 2 mile tail back of traffic due to them closing 2 of the 3 lanes. After this slight delay I then have good trip to Ramsgate arriving at the factory at 2 am. I ask the Security where I can park for the night, he tells me there is only one pallet and they will load me now. Again WOW, things really are looking up. 15 mins later and one pallet heavier and I am parked in the corner of the factory, head down with the time at just 2.20 am. Deep in the land of dreams until 4 am when there is a knock on the cab door and I am reluctantly peering out at Mark, one of the firms other drivers. “The pallet you got for Frankfurt is mine he says” so reluctantly I drag myself out of bed and go and find the despatch clerk. After searching his records he finds he has another delivery for Germany which is mine but the paperwork isn’t ready. Thats fine by me, we swap the pallet over and Mark is on is way to catch the ferry, I am back to bed. Following a lousey sleep I awake at 7 am and look for the necessary facilities for my ablusions. After completing the necessary morning ritual I find the day shift forkie and my 6 pallets are loaded and after a hearty breakfast in the works canteen it’s 11.30 am amd I am on my way to Dover.
Its just after 12 midday Wednesday when I arrive at the Freight clearance Facility in Dover, not that I need customs, but this is near to where I will pick up my running money. I have a chat to a couple of English drivers to find out where to pick up my Vignette, I never did find out. I tried ringing the office and the boss to find out where I would be meeting Rob for the changed over but only spoke to Mick from the garage who didn’t know. Carry on with the original plan thinks I, so off to check in at the ferry terminal. I now rely on the info that Niel (Coffeeholic) as posted on this site, as to what I do at the terminal. Having weighed in at 20,640 kg. my next stop is the Norfolk Line check in kiosk. Approaching the kiosk my mobile rings and the boss wants to know where I am. It appears Rob as made good time and he is in Dunkerque. No problems, Rob parks up and I am about to make my first channel cruise as a truck driver. I am booked on the 15.15 sailing on the Midnight Merchant so this leaves a couple of hours to catch up on some sleep. Loading starts at a little after 14.30 and by 15.00 the captain is announcing that we are loaded and about to depart. Its a little misty but the crossing is flat calm and we arrive in Dunkerque at 17.00 bst. I am one of the first off the boat and away from the harbour looking for where Rob may be parked. I can see the lorry park but cannot quite fathom how to get there and eventually upset a dozen lorry drivers, waiting in the queue for the next ferry, by driving past them all and into the lorry park, I guess they thought I was queue jumping!
Having swapped trailers and having a bit chat with Rob I am then off to complete the next part of my mission which is to diesel up. Having found out from Rob that the nearest place was about 15km away on the A16, I take a deep breath and I am off onto the open roads of France. The BP service station is easy to find and after only a few minutes I am on the slip road and under the A16 and into the garage on the opposite carriageway. 343 Euro’s lighter and Its back to the ferry terminal for the boat home. Arriving at the ferry terminal I find a rather large queue waiting to check in for the 21.30 Norfolk Line sailing. It takes about 40 mins to check in, do French passport control and have the trailer checked for illegals, next stop is British Immigration and with little delay its on to row 12 of the loading area. What seems like only a short wait we are given the ok to move on to the Dawn Merchant. This ferry load’s and discharges from the stern only, so its up the ramp on to the upper deck, a quick spin round and I am neatly back up into my ■■■■■■■■■■■■. On this crossing I intend to take advantage of all the facillities, free showers discounted meals and as much hot drinks as you can manage. We are no sooner under way when the captain announces that due to thick fog and zero visability in Dover we will probably not dock until Midnight, which turned out to be fairly accurate.
By 12.30 on the Thursday morning, which is 12 hours since I first arrived in Dover, we are dissembarking. I am feeling quite tired by now so decide to use the A2 and use a layby for a much needed kip. It takes me 40 mins to find a layby with enough room for me and by 1.15 am I’m in bed.
The rest of the trip was quite straight forward, a delivery in Warrington on Thursday afternoon at 4 pm and then a run up to Wigan for an early morning collection. Overnighting in Wigan I began my collections which included Wigan, Macclesfield, Leeds and Grimsby. By 21.00 I am parked up near to my home and run in on Saturday morning.
My First trip across the water may not seem much to some of the older hands on this site but for me its was a trip to remember. How many can remember their first European trip? I am now looking forward to my next trip and hope I will get to travel a little bit further.
Not much of a European trip I guess, but to me It broke my duck
Westie
I think not 
