hi all , firstly being inundated with the last what car here is the latest one … i loaded this in uk and took it to spain , but what is the make and model
ok here we go …
day 1
im all ready and leaving the yard at 7am, i have got to load a car in dartford i get as far as junction 6 on the 25 and everything comes to a stand still nearly an hour later im coming uo to junction 5 and see the accident, i mean the fast lane in each direction is coned off because the crash barrier is bent .
i get to the place and load this mystery car
it took ages to load cause and sheet which was compulsory to do, i leave late morning back onto the 25 for the a3 for pompey , get to jcn 4 and queue up again , an age later im going past the same two motorway trucks blocking the same 2 lanes with the same bent crash barrier there .
i get down to the docks later than a dartford and down should ever take .getting on the afternoon boat im off around 9 ish and draw the curtains
day 2
leaving at 7 on a wet morning i do the normal route via rennes , nantes and ultimatley bordeaux , i park in a lay by on the forest road , do my tea and im reading my book when the friendly gendarmes appear to tell all of us (30 or so trucks) that the lay by is now closed for roadworks and we all gotta go , its like the wacky racers as we all try to put our disks in and gead off for a new place for the night .
day 3
another wet day as i head off down to irun , soon into spain im heading for vitoria and burgos , the afternoon is just as bad with heavy rain now as i pass palencia , valladolid and salamanca , i finish the day at a shell services called sancti spiriti . i have never been afraid of asking for help or advice and i jump at the chance when a portuguese driver pulled up beside me and spoke really good english so i said any chance of phoning this garage for me and getting directions , sure he says but first come with me , i need to pee , i dont mind paying for the call i say but i draw the line at personal favours , no no he says we can talk . i gotta be honest mate id rather not talk while your holding your whizzer , tell you what i will get the coffee in while you go and pull your pud hows that . of course . a good call in the end . the motorbike aint there its moved to another garage near lisbon . thats saved me a lot of wasted time
day 4
half hour after i start im crossing the border into portugal
turning onto the 23 at guarda and then the ip1 for lisbon , heres the aftermath of a summer fire
i get down near lisbon and head over the big bridge
coming off the motorway just the other side
i eventually come to a village called alhos vedros where i find he garage and load a triumph motorbike
i work my way back out onto the a2 heading south for faro where i stay in the services for the night
day 5
leaving at the usual time i head east and i am soon in spain it doesnt take long to pass huelva and im soon on the seville ring road going over the bridge
evrytime i go over this bridge i am always in traffic
i get on the a4 for cadiz then turn off at jerez on my way for the costa del sol passing close to gibraltar
i find an office block in a town called pueblo neuvo de guadia where i off load the car and load a porsche cayenne
then im off to malaga going on the ap7 to get there
i head to a village called allhaurin del torre (i think)
where i load a bmw convertable thats a stolen recovered
by the time i get the papers its late so i drive through malaga and get on the 92 for granada and call it a day
day 6
today is just a straight drive up to alicante , i dont fancy elche services for the weekend so after a little exploring i park just south of alicante on a beach . then watch a camper van drive on the beach and get stuck , it took us till 10pm to get it out
day 8
i head to elche services after completing a 45 break . and i sit and wait for a call to load 3 stolen ones .
at about 3pm my boss calls and says its a bank holiday tomorrow , can you rush up to benidorm and load a car before the garage closes , i get to the garage in a place called finestrat a load a big chrysler onto the trailer thats flood damaged
then its back to elche to wait
day 9
a call at half 9ish tells me im not getting any cars , so its a full drive north passing the big ones valencia , castellon , barcelona . after a quick stop at la jonquera im into france and end up in the first parking area on the a61
day 10
its peeing down as i head to toulouse , going round the ring then finding a renault garage in aucamville where i load an audi a6 that wont drive or roll
its back to toulouse then back down the 61 onto the a9 for lyon , im heading for marsaille . it was on the a9 when everything came to a crashing and nearly deadly stop …
im quite happy doing 56 on the c/control minding my own when there is an allmighty bang and the whole truck judders , what the !!! i start to brake f , franticly looking in the mirrors to see whats happened , its then that i see my trailer in the os mirroe , oh ■■■■■ , this aint good , my trailer has come off !!!
with a car on it and the emergency wire has not deployed the handbrake , PLEASE PLEASE dont go left i say as i try to brake and get onto the shoulder and keep the trailer behind me … i still have no idea whats happened .
i stop and so does a car , who turns out to be a witness ,i walk back to inspect whats happebed
the trailer is well under the truck . then i see this a couple hundred yards back
all the emergency vehicles turned up , to cut a long story short she admitted to being asleep and not seeing me . hitting the trailer hard enough to knock it clean off , 100+ is the consensous to her speed
the trailer got recovered and i spent the night outside the garage
day 11
i get the car off the trailer and start heading for home with some damage to the rear of the truck .
i head up to clermont going over the milau bridge
i finish off the day on the a28
day 12
a four hour drive gets me to caen docks and an afternoon boat home and a night on the a27
day 13
back to the yard to unload and get the truck ready to go away and get inspected
Hi there Monk, reckon that is an Aston Martin DB9 
Looks like you had a good trip, except for the dozing kermit!!!
XJS?
Excellent as usual, guessing Aston Martin DBS?? 
Excellent read that, sounds like it was rather a brown trouser moment when the trailor came off!!!
Im taking a wild guess that the mystery car is a Buggatti Veyron!!
Look forward to the next diary.
Yep an Aston by the looks of it
reckon its the new Jag!!!
How handy the car hit you, you could have put the wreck on the back of ya traila along with the rest of ya scrap!!!
Do you pick up UK cars that have been smashed up abroad then ?
I am more interested in the new spec Tiger 1050 and what happended to it - do Aston DB9r will do as my guess
mazerati (spelling [zb] i know)
yes it was an aston martin db9 , though not a new one , it was on a 51 plate .
am not sure what happened to the bike , normally the garage will tell you what happened but the bike had moved a couple of times before i got to collect it . there were bad scratches on it and the front brake lever had been knocked off ,
Its not been a good month for Norman Marshall then. I saw another truck being recovered on the M25 a fortnight ago
Im jealous of the fun you have
As all ways a well written trip dairy thanks alot, and excellent photos
as well
Brilliant diary again. Thanks.
Why do some vehicles have to have covers on ? Is it the spec of the insur. Co, the make or to prevent weather damage?
hi mate , the db9 was a private job , take that down and load the cayenne back . it was sheeted at the, owners request . it had to be covered while on the truck .
mad monk:
hi mate , the db9 was a private job , take that down and load the cayenne back . it was sheeted at the, owners request . it had to be covered while on the truck .
Some of the prototype work we did at Ontime was always covered but when you had to drive them onto the transporter peering through a zipped slit in the screen was fun. There was normally a zip near the door to get in or out and a TIR cable going through the cover with padlocks on them