MONDAY: Left Dublin on the 21:00 sailing to Holyhead on the “Ulysses”. As usual it was a bit rough across the Irish Sea but after a bit to eat and a couple hours’ kip, I soon forgot about it. Out of all the ferry crossings that I use, Irish Ferriesis definately one of the better ones. They give us decent grub and a clean cabin/shower. I just wished that the powers that be do something about the sailing schedules because both Irish Ferries and the Stena ship both arrive at Holyhead within 15 mins of each other, so it’s usually gridlock trying to get out of Holyhead at 00:30. The x-ray and customs boys are out in full force tonight and, yes, I get pulled in. I’m kind of used to them by now so I havepassport and CMR in hand ready for them while they do their thing. They are a little lost with my load as most goods from Ireland go to within the EU. My load is for outside it so they don’t know what documents to look at. After I point to the Irish Custom’s stamp on T Form they let me off. Instead of leaving Holyhead at 00:45 like usual, I leave at 02:00. The VOSA weighbridge is closed (2 miles away from port), much to my relief as I’m already over an hour behind everyone else. I pull into Cherwell Valley for what was supposed to be 45. Didn’t get off the bunk till 14:00! Must of been mpre tired than I thought.
BOARDING THE IRISH FERRIES SHIP: ULYSSES
TUESDAY
I got a quick shower and bite to eat at Cherwell Valley. The shower was filthy (but free) and lunch was extortionate. It never ceases to amaze me that facilities for truck drivers in the UK and Ireland are nothing short of crap. Others might disagree, but I feel £10 for a plate of dung is too expensive. I get to Dover at 19:00. My boss has booked me on Seafrance (or Seachance, as Vince calls it). Get my weighbridge ticket, 34,500kgs, and hand in with passport to check in lady. Maybe it’s me, but I find that most of the check in people at all the ferry companies a bit rude and up their own backsides. Tonight is no exception. I say to check in lady: “there is a 10inch overhang on both sides” (Should of kept my trap shut) “WHAT■■?” she yells back at me. I repeated and she shouts back"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT■■?". “Just forget it” I reply. “I NEED TO KNOW” she says. With this, she throws me my ticket and slams her window shut. I refrain from complimenting her on good her moustache is looking today and off I go. i get onto boat at 19:30 and arrive at Calais at 21:00. I stop at transmarck for my tax and a couple of slabs of cheap beer (5eur for 24 bottles) and I’m away. I’ve got 5 hours left. I got to Aachener Land services, Germany at 01:30, find parking, have a bit to eat and bed.
AN EXAMPLE OF THE MANY PLACES TO STOP AND REST. THIS ONE IS ITALIAN.
WEDNESDAY. I get out of bed at 08:30 and go for a shower and breakfast. As far as I’m concerned, the German Autohofs (truckstops), services and facilities for truck drivers are fantastic. I’ve raved about them before and although nothing is free, you can be sure that the showers and toilets are spotlessly clean, food is fresh and fairly priced, shops are well stocked with essentials and cashpoints are never out of order. i could go on and on about it, but I’m sure your sick of hearing how well us lads and lasses that do the continent are treated out here, so I won’t except to say that if you want to be respected as a HGV driver, treated fairly without predjudice, see some fantastic sights, enjoy decent food and drink and learn a lot about other cultures, then the Continent is the place to work. Anyway, my breakfast is Rhurhi mit Schinken - scrambled eggs and ham. And a large coffee. Clean and fed, I set off at 10:30.
It’s going to be a 10 hr driving day, so I’m hoping that the German traffic is kind to me and that I can avoid any hold ups by the Polizei or BAG officials (equivilant to VOSA - except much, much more of them here). My wish is granted. Except for the customary roadworks and couple of smash ups, my journey down the A61, A5, A6, A8 via Stuttgart and Munich is relatively trouble free. It starts to get pretty mountainous past Munich and the 580 horses are working well. I only got this truck a couple of months ago and it hasn’t been through Austria yet, so I stop about 100kms before the border for my GO- Box. I’ll be on the pre-pay system (similar to a pay as you go phone) so I credit it with 90 euro. This should get me through to Villach. I haven’t credited it for the return yet as I’m not 100% sure where I’m backloading yet and don’t know which route I’ll be returning. As I get into Austria, I’m starting the climb up the Austrian Alps and the temperature guage is slowing getting lower and lower. I’m silently hoping it doesn’t go into minus figures. It doesn’t. The coldest it gets is +4. To my relief, theres no snow anywhere - probably too early in the year for that. I get to a services just before Villach at 22:00. It’s full, but I squeeze into a coach bay, European stylie and go in for a bite. A lovely hot Rustichella(Italian ham and cheese pannini) and a beer is in order. Hit the sack at 23:00
SMASH UPS ON THE CONTINENT ARE VERY COMMON!!
THE A99 IS THE RING ROAD AROUND MUNICH.
NOT SURE WHAT THIS IS, BUT ASSUME IT’S ONE AF THE STADIA BEING BUILT FOR GERMANY 2006.
THE BREATHTAKING ALPS
MORE ALPS!
LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF TUNNELS
BUILDING MORE TUNNELS THROUGH THE ALPS.
THURSDAY. get out of bed at 06:00 and in for a shower and shave. 2euro well spent for the privalidge. Just a light brekkie comprising of a coffee and warm ■■■■■ hits the spot. My 90 euro on the GO-Box must of been just right because it started to bleep twice as I was leaving Austria. (1 bleep ok,2 bleeps ok-but running low of credit,3 bleeps - watch out for the Austrian cops 'cause they’ll be watching out for you). I decide to go via Udine and Trieste, Italy rather than Ljubljana, Slovenia, mainly because I know the road and it looks less “hilly”. As I approach Trieste, I start seeing signs for Slovenia and Koper/Capodistria which is what I want. All of sudden, without much notice, I’m out of motorway and decending down a 12% drop. (I know a 12% drop to some of you 'ol boys is nothing, but to me, it’s like going down Mount Everest). The retarder on these Mercs doesn’t that well when in Auto, so I flick her over to manual and try to keep the revs high. I’m thinking at this stage that if I’m going to lose this load, it will be on one of these U bends. this road definately ain’t designed for fully freighted artics. There’s only the Adriatic sea to catch me if I go over here as I hurtle down a cliff upside down at 100 mph. No such drama. i arrive at the Slovenian border just beyond Muggia at 10:30. No problems at the border at all. just a quick glance at my passport and I’m waived through with smiling faces on the Slovenian officials. Just wondered if they wern’t in the EU, would they be as cheerful and friendly? It’s only 45 mins from here to the Croatian border so I didn’t get to see much of the country at all. the roads were ok and they looked like they were building a new motorway around Koper (Ah yeah, I knew there were a few bebefits of joining the EU). I got to the Croation border, took a 45 and done my paperwork. This cost 300Kuna (£40/ Eur 27). the Croatian customs were very friendly and I wasn’t delayed here much at all. The Irish beer I gave them probably done the trick. i still had to report to customs in Pula to get cleared later in the day. Pula (where I was tipping) was signposted all the way from the border. It was 130 kms from here and the first 100 were on a terrible road. just wide enough for two artics to pass on either side without knocking each others mirrors off. the last 30 kms were much better. It took 2 hours to get into Pula. It was very picturesque on the way down. Lovely scenery and the odd stall on the side of the road selling fruit, pottery and wine. I hit Pula 14:30 and reported to Customs as instructed at the Carniski Terminal (Customs House). when I got there, they told me (much to my delight) that the office is now closing so it will be tommorow when they could deal with me. one of the fellas in the office jumped in his car and told me to follow him to a parking area. It was no more than a disused car park, but I was very grateful. Truck parked and secure, I ventured into the the town. Before I left Ireland, half of me didn’t know what to expect and the other half thought I was going to some run down, third world, uncivilised, un organised, undemocratic, run down, dirty country (a little like Ireland actually). How wrong was I. just goes to show you how much I know about these countries - zilch. If the rest of Croatia is anything like Pula, well, there doing OK. Everyone drives modern cars, everone has a mobile phone in their hand, it’s well sighnposted, there’s plenty of restarants and bars everywhere. The people were freindly and most spoke very good English. Pula seemed to be a tourist spot, probably because of the “Amfiteatar” here. Apparently there is only 3 in the world. It’s an ancient Roman arena - the sort of thing in Gladiator. It was very interesting walking around it and reading all the stuff about it. I got lost in the town, had a pizza and went back to the truck. Apart from the roads down to Pula, Croatia seemed to be doing very well without the EU thank you very much. A lot of Italian influence was apparent evrywhere - pizzarerias were everywhere, the road signs were very similar and all the trucks were Iveco! I don’t know what state the economy is in or the political situation or the unemployment here and I know I can’t judge the place by one town, but, to me, there seemed to be plenty of money flying around. Anyway, I hit the sack at 21:00.
APPROACHING CROATIAN BORDER.
SELLING FRUIT AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD TO PULA
WELCOME TO CROATIA!
THE AMFITEATAR - ONE OF ONLY 3 IN THE WORLD!
FRIDAY. Up at 06:00 and head back to the Customs House. i had to park in some sort of TIR park and it cost 120 Kuna. I wasn’t allowed to park anywhere else which I thought was odd - just struck me as a way to get a few more quid out of me. A couple of hours later, Customs had prepared my papers, inspected the load and I was away. Not half the grief I was expecting. My load was for a company called Ujanik - pronounced ooanik. The load was two train shunters and was to be craned off. This firm are the biggest employers in the town of Pula and their main business is shipping and ship building. I got to their yard at around 11:00 and after the novelty of seeing a right hand drive truck in their yard had warn off they tipped me. it took half an hour to get unloaded and the lads there were very friendly. They took me to their canteen after for some grub which was great as I was starving. Also had a clean up and I left around 13:30. At this stage, I had already recieved a text saying my back load was tractors out of Reggio nell Emilia, Italy on Monday. I chose to go down to Campogalliano, Italy for the weekend as I wanted to get some booze in (Jack Daniels 16eur a litre(£10), Smirnoff 10eur a litre (£6). I got to “Campo” at 22:00 and was quietly hoping there were no other Irish or English trucks in there because I wanted a quiet relaxing (and cheap!) weekend. No luck!!! I was soon joined by a Scottish and three English trucks! There goes my quiet weekend. I was glad for the company in the end and it turned out to be a great time. i went to bed at 02:00 (I think!)
CROATIAN CUSTOMS INSPECTING A LOAD.
UJANIK’S IMPRESSIVE YARD
UNLOADING ME.
SATURDAY. Got out of bed about 11:00 and strolled down to the bar for a Latte Makiato (warm milky coffee). Got my booze now as the bar closes for the weekend at 14:00. Today is a lovely warm day. Lots of sunshine.Had a shower and went across the road with the lads to the Eurospar for some grub to cook tommorow. The rest of today I copuldn’t really remember much of except there was a lot of alcahol consumed and a good time was had by all. in the evening we all went round the corner for some real Italian Pizza. It’s worth coming to Campo just for the pizza restaurant here. Fantastic. More beer and a very late night. This is what this job is about!!!
SUNDAY. Again, today is a glorious sunny day - perfect for cooking outside later on. that was to be the highlight of today. Everyone chipped in with gas stoves, pans, food and drink. For about 12eur, 5 of us had a good feed with left overs. Pork chops, steak, chips, frankfurters, salad, chicken, fresh bread - all cooked and prepared to perfection. Delia would be proud of us! All washed down with yet more beer and some red JPChenet kindly supplied by Scotland. This is definately what it’s about. A chance to unwind and relax. It’s not all customs, police, checks here and there, hassle everywhere, traffic jams etc etc. I know this is not always possible. It’s quite rare I get weekended. The last time was at La Jonquera, Spain, a few months back. That was another mad weekend but thats another story! the only gripes I have with Campo is that the bars and restarants shut Saturday afternoon, including the showers and toilets. There is a cabin open all the time but it absolutely stinks, plus it’s a spread axle job which I’m not particularly keen on. The rest of sunday comprised of a stroll into the town, a few more drinks and bed. I wanted a early night for the booze to clear and to get on my way. All in all it was a great weekend. Good company, food and drink. Just what I needed. Great.
PARKED AT “CAMPO”
COOKING UP SUNDAY LUNCH![/img]
I don’t think my photos are coming out anymore so I willput them on the post “Croatia continued”.
MONDAY. I loaded tractors at Landini, Reggio. It’s just up the road from here so was no big panic to get there. All went smoothly and i was away by early afternnoon. My return leg was more or less the same route except I went via Brenner. Eventually got back to Dublin Thursday Morning. The whole trip went very well and I thoroughlly enjoyed it.
Apologies for the spelling mistakes and the amateurish presentation!!! Again, more photos and the ones that didn’t come out are on “Croatia continued”
Cheers, Kenny
oh what a ■■■■ up. where did me photos go■■? oh well, I tried. I’m off to sulk now. I’ve got lovely pictures, honestly
MY BACKLOAD OF TRACTORS
Great post, Kenny !!!
shame none of the pictures have come out 
SELLING FRUIT AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD TO PULA
good tales Kenny!
Brings back a few memories although the last time I went it was called Yugoslavia and I got shafted by the Italian Customs 
I tried to be clever and pay by cheque, although when i contacted the bank to stop it, they told me it had already been paid out
Be good to see some pictures too 
get em on here then! i`ve had some cracking weekends at campo mate… in much the same stupor as you by the sounds of it 
THE AMFITEATAR- 1 OF ONLY 3 IN THEWORLD.
UNLOADING ME AT PULA
PARKED AT CAMPO & COOKING SUNDAY LUNCH
SPOTTED THIS IMPRESSIVE POLISH REGISTERED TRUCK IN GERMANY
ONE OF A FEW SMASH UPS I CAME ACROSS. NOTICE THE GB PLATES!!!
ME & ONE OF THE NEW TRUCKS IN THE YARD BACK IN IRELAND
I’m very sorry that I completely mucked up the photo thing 
I will post a few more on here tommorrow. Neil, your gonna have to give me an idiot’s guide on how it’s done.
Kenny it’s a piece of ■■■■. Got to imagecave.com, click on ‘give me a free account’ or whatever - type in some details - username, password, email and then get cracking uploading the pics (4 at a time using the BROWSE button) from your PC. Unclick the tick in the box underneath (something about resizing your photos - you don’t wanna let it do that else they’ll inevitably come out tiny) and then click on the UPLOAD button. Once it’s done that and you want the pics in your post you need to click on the bit which has ‘[ img ]’ (having to put spaces in else Trucknet will be expecting a picture here) at the start and ‘[ /img ]’ at the end, copy it and then paste it in here and your pics will appear. Job done.
If you’re using Yahboo or some crock of [zb] like that, that’s why they’re appearing like they have been doing. Using imagecave and you won’t have any probs.
Cheers.
Great post Kenny.
As far as the pictures go you seem to have done the right thing with the image tags, I repaired a couple you had got the wrong way round. It is a problem with Photobox where you have the pictures stored, the little image that is showing saying “No Image Available” is coming from there, not from TruckNet. I’ve played around with the URLs in a browser but can’t get them to appear.
Try a different storage place, I use www.uploadit.org and Rob has suggested one as well.
Good post!!!, interesting storey! I hope the picture will show up! 
Cheers
Ben (Betz Fan Spotter)
Enjoyed the diary Kenny,sounds as if you had a great trip,look forward to the pics when you get them sorted! 