new diary

[mad_monk]

hi all , after 3 months with a broken lap top and a nightmare with a well known high street chain im finally back on line .
firstly here is a few pics from the last few weeks .


a french autoroute van on display in a services

a motorhome biting the dust somewhere on the a1

a bit of a crunch in france

a motorhome i loaded in lagos in portugal

a errr dodgy load of haz gas bottles

ok a diary for you

day 1
monday and after sorting out stuff for the trip its down to the train

its the monday after the fire and there is 2 trains an hour but i was there for only a couple of hours . after hearing in the media about a truck overturning on the train after i stopped laughing i took these pics


getting off at calais there is a bit more of a queue

i finish the day stopping the other side of antwerp
day 2
straight up to the german border i get the toll collect then head in , a few barges on the river

im cracking on through germany with very little traffic but a huge queue the other side 10 km+

running down the a2 i pass the old east german border crossing , the sheds are still there

tonights place is near berlin
day 3
not long down to frankfurt oder , going over the oder

then down to the border to get a winiety

i head towards poznan then pick up the 3 north and come to a level crossing where you gotta stop regardless before you cross

at a town called gorzow i move onto the 22 for the trek north . what a top road

a while later i come round a bend and up against the local wood errrr lorry

a few bends later its the local fire brigade going about as fast as the wood cart

after a few hours i have to say the road did improve

then i came to a grinding halt at this crash


one of the many roadside vendors , this one is the deluxe model on account of the awning , its normally a wooly hat and a bike

tonight its a shell station at elblag
day 4
its north east poland , i head up to about 8km from the russian border and turn off

im now on a regional road

20 or so km later i turn off again onto a local road for the last stretch

then it gets worse , the kast couple of km is down to walking pace

the car is on a farm and the directions i got is in the village centre turn off at the blue postbox


i load a mazda 5 that rolled 3 times

i get back to elblag then onto the 7 towards warsaw , stopping at a shell for fuel there is a search tower there


i split off the 7 and stay 40 km from bialystok
day 5
i head into bialystok in eastern poland , about 50 kn from the belarus border

im going to a private house to collect a stolen nissan pathfinder from lithuania

done the papers and got the car its back towards warsaw . warsaw is a challenge , there is a couple of junctions that are badly signposted and i ended up getting lost


there is one part of warsaw i wont forget

i find the road i want

and head towards krakow

roadworks can be fun when no one knows where they should be cause there aint no cones

i stay north of krakow
day 6
up early and round krakow

and on south towards slovakia . a few km from the border and im on the outskirts of zacopane where i find somewhere to stop and the car is gonna come to me


this one takes a while to load . couple of hours later im back to the a4 a find a services for the weekend]
day 8
heading off accross the a4 for germany


stop at the border for toll

i end up parked here on the a72 i think

day 9
i arrive near frankfurt and load this kawasaki


tonight i park at aachen for the night
day 10
i run down through belgium and into france stopping near st omer hoping to lift and tow this sprinter but no way with the front wheel like that

so its back to calais , ship over and the end of this trip

one last thing to test you a bit … what is this

[buzzardboy]

Cracking stuf as usual MM!!!

One quick question though, where the hell did the Nissan Pathfinder go!!!
You said you were loading it, then in a later picture, there is only the Mazda!!!

[mad_monk]

hi mate , when i got to zacopane i took the pathfinder off to load that freelander in front of it , thats where it went

[brit_pete]

A nice read and great picturesas well
.,as for the little truck a austrian styer cross
country truck ■■?

[carl]

top stuff mm poland looks like a challenge,but interesting

[rog]

Great pics and diary

just one thing - there seems to be a lot of damaged vehicles when you are around

Going out now for a very long walk…

[dieseldave]

Very interesting pics and diary as usual MM, please keep up the good work.

…after you’ve clipped ROG around the ear 'ole of course.

[tachograph]

Great diary as always mm, bet you’re pleased you got the laptop sorted, I imagine you’d miss it a bit with the amount of time you spend on the road.

[chilistrucker]

great diary and pics mate.

consider it rolled three times, the mazda didn’t look too bad. unlike the freelander.

do you know what the crack was with the scooby pic, at the start. was he trying the limits of his 4 wheel drive, until it met a lampost, or similar?

[mad_monk]

hi mate , the owner told me about the mazda , there isnt a straight panel on but i agree it held its shape well , the freelander went onto its side then hit a tree but again everyone was ok . believe it or not the suzuki was the worst one , very nearly a fatal . as for the scuby its a case of car too powerfull for driver , we pick up quite a few cars like that with side impact

[homofaber]

Hanomag-Henschel on the last pic?

[kenno78]

Like the Pic’s and Diary Mate!
If you dont mind me asking , how long have you been doing the Euro work, and how Did you get into it Mate?
Only Passed me C+E Yesterday, But Driving Europe is definately what im after “Eventually”

Cheers Mate,

Wayne.

[mad_monk]

hi mate , congratulations on passing your test . ive been on the international side now getting on 12 years . i did bits and pieces here and in europe before that but my first full time euro job was with cranleigh frieght services , not too far from you ( croydon ) . you could try them , no harm in a phone call . maybe i will meet you over the water some time

[it_says_erf_not_raf]

The Kawasaki is a Suzuki…
Great diary ,very interesting to see the various differences we all encounter from day to day.

[kenno78]

Cheer’s Madmonk,

Thanks For the Advice Mate, Maybe i’ll have a look on there website. I have Drove to Poland a Quite a few times in me Motor, (Me Gf is polish) and I loved it! Apart from potholes all over the place! so have a little experience in driving Across the water, it’s all Experience I suppose,

Thanks Again Matey"

[trucking482002]

Great diary as usual MM you do certainly get around,I,m sur the artic in the ditch will take some getting out,imagine the well Boss call on that one?.
Thanks and regards derek

[chilistrucker]

mad monk:
hi mate , the owner told me about the mazda , there isnt a straight panel on but i agree it held its shape well , the freelander went onto its side then hit a tree but again everyone was ok . believe it or not the suzuki was the worst one , very nearly a fatal . as for the scuby its a case of car too powerfull for driver , we pick up quite a few cars like that with side impact

you must get too see some sights, and here some mad and sad stories.

[euromat]

brilliant stuff as ususal mad monk, i too was thinking theres a lot of accidents when your about!

polands great for a challenge eh, just wondering, the pathfinder you brought back, was that british but stolen in lituania and recovered in poland?

and is the last picture an auto union?

[mad_monk]

quite right mate it was a suzuki just errrr testing you . hi euromat , that pathfinder was stolen in the uk and found in lithuania but due to the nightmare involved with lithuanian officials we use an agent to get them to poland and get them then , i do hear lots of stories from different cars , some good some bad but alldifferent the army truck is

[euromat]

mad monk:
quite right mate it was a suzuki just errrr testing you . hi euromat , that pathfinder was stolen in the uk and found in lithuania but due to the nightmare involved with lithuanian officials we use an agent to get them to poland and get them then , i do hear lots of stories from different cars , some good some bad but alldifferent the army truck is

wow didnt think they would be able to recover anything from out there if it was stolen in the uk!! cheers or the info!