so as long as Im not going to be driving trucks for much longer and I recently acquired this nice nikon that I really don’t know how to use, I thought I’d bring you a week from the other side of the fence, much of it happening in sweden though. as I recently quit my job in a swedish company, tramping sweden-spain, I was asked to do a nice relaxed trip from estonia to sweden and as I had nothing better to do and didn’t fancy the whole december off, I accepted
saturday evening, went to pick up the truck
it’s in pretty decent condition for a 2006 after a gazillion different drivers, only problems were the nice 1500w inverter, that didn’t work and the mirror heaters didn’t either
some equipment in the yard has seen better days though…
hooked up to the trailer in a mere hour, gritting is not a big priority in some places…
all fueled up, next stop port of paldiski, a major transit hub for all kinds of vehicles heading near and far east
this goes to germany I believe
and this is my ride for tonight, heading for kapellskär at 00.15
the interior is ok I guess, doesn’t stand up to the tallinn - stockholm ferry with your own cabin and a flatscreen tv but it’ll do
arrived in kapellskär at about 11, a nice and crisp -17
the scales are closed, nice…
stockholm is pretty dense as usual on a sunday
thought I’d have some rhubarb cake and coffee after stockholm and pulled into a smallish service station in norsborg. there was nowhere to park so I was going to postpone my early lunch till the next services but unfortunately this finn thought that parking in the only thoroughway was appropriate. luckily with my small 16.5m combination I managed to back it up and get going again.
finally - nybro, some 530kms from kapellskär. the last few hours were really tiring, as the temperature had climbed to only -2 and the roads were terribly slippery. so straight to bed at 7pm
only to be woken by 2 of these at 4am…
as I had already had 9 off, I moved from the yard to the side of the road, letting them do their job. next three hours were trying to get some sleep again, didn’t happen but at 9am I had unloaded my 22 pallets and was ready to face the snowstorm the radio had been going on about the whole day yesterday and most of the morning
yup, I sure wouldn’t want to be driving here with any less than the 8 tons I have on my driveaxle…
steady going, the only trucks going slow are empty timber lorries (no, a twin drive does nothing for you when empty)
met a friend in hästveda to tranship some pallets from his trailer to mine
wait, why is everyone going the other way?
waiting after another finn in helsingborg because of a stupidity called “an appointment”. this was nestle dc, the only one I know to use this atrocity towards the driver is ikea. so I had to wait 1.5h. hopefully never again. I shall get there when I get there is a pretty good plan imo.
yay! almost empty
heading towards malmö, things went pearshaped pretty fast. strong windcurrents and a very slick blacktop - me no gusta with just 100kgs in the trailer.
got the last few boxes off in record time and headed for akzo nobel malmö - 24h guard over there so you don’t have to worry about waking up with no diesel. or batteries.
but as my cargo wasn’t going to be ready before noon, I went to posten malmö first, to pick up a pallet of mail-order crap that was returned
saw a couple of johansens loading, it used to be a good company to work for but as you can hire three romanians for the price of one estonian, those days are gone
back in akzo nobel, cloggy had found out that even a superspace can be too high
loaded my 12ibc and 10 pallets of raw materials for the akzo nobel in rapla and thought this would be a good time to display the orange boards. on the trailer…
and on the scania. wait what 
well ffs, it’s only been 7 years hes had this truck, let’s not sweat the small stuff shall we!
a few plastic strips and were good to go.
taking a leak on top of the hill in landskrona - no matter what the thermometer in kiruna says, this always the coldest place in sweden
still a long way to go…
a neurotic asleep at the checkpoint in markaryd - I guess he saw the snow and decided it was time to wait until it thaws.
and here’s a nice swedish bathroom in a usual layby - you can trust to find them in a pristine condition even in the most remote of locations
thought I might call it a day just before stockholm, but the weather took a turn for the worse and it looked that I just might miss my boat if I took a 9 off and fought the morning traffic in stockholm
so at 00.30 I arrive at kapellskär and drift off to sleep. when walking to the loo I see a pulleyns whos probably just off the boat from finland, but too lazy to go and get my camera.
get off at paldiski at about 11pm, fill up in saue, 584l used in 1660km, 35-something per 100km, just way too much considering I only drove over 80 while going downhill.
brush off the beater and off to my own bed 
off to rapla early in the morning, I just really love a decent winter 
some finnish exotica loading in akzo nobel - SISU. this was the last of their own cabs, after those they use a premium cab and recently they started using mercedes. the running gear is all moose though, including their own design of a twin drive that can be lifted - used as a tag.
unload malmö, load finished products for tallinn. and the snow still keeps on coming…
unload at a big builders merchant in tallinn
and back to rapla for a well-deserved lunch - ovenbaked ribs with potatoes, salad and some nice dessert, all made locally of course. five and a half euros with the milk, the workers there probaly pay about 2.
then one more load to the builders merchant, after unloading it’s almost 4 and the traffic is getting heavy
decided to take a weight-restricted route back to the yard to save almost 20km, no bother from the law fortunately
and most importantely, no hi-viz was worn during the making of this diary 
