A diary of my last trip to Switzerland and back, first stop up to Belfast to load with food packaging for Oesingen, about 60km from the border at St Louis
Yes we do get sunny days in Belfast not to often though, once loaded it is up to Woodside Haulage in Ballynure to collect the customs paperwork about a 30 minute drive away and if all goes smoothly about a 30 minute wait. From here the option is either Dublin Holyhead and down to Dover or to Rosslare for the direct boat to Dunkirk, as I need a 24 hour break it is down to Rosslare where I will get over 24 hours on the boat as long as I get loaded early enough.
DFDS have the direct route to Dunkirk the Stena ship is heading to Cherbourg and the Irish Ferries behind it is for Pembroke the Stena Fishguard has already left so busy evening in the port compared with a year ago
My cabin for the sailing each driver gets his own cabin the DFDS Regina can take 120 runners plus drop trailers, the other ship the Visby has TV’s in the cabins no such luxury on this one but there is a decent bar which providing all behave is quite flexible with it’s hours but no alcohol served 8 hours prior to docking
A well packed deck with not a lot of room for error when getting on or off you have too put your trust in the deck hands especially when they fold your mirrors in as you’re reversing because it is so tight. In nearly a year of using this crossing I’ve yet to have a rough one although I’m sure there will be one at some point.
Into Dunkirk at 10 o’clock Saturday night and next stop the Swiss border at Basel and the customs post at St Louis
4 hours and 20 and time for an hour in the bed at Capellen in Luxembourg another 4hours 15 and I’ll be at St Louis. Pull into Aire Haute Koenigsberg for a coffee form here it is 70km to Switzerland on a Monday morning it can take anything up to 3 hours to do due to the queues for the custom post.
This is the last services southbound before Switzerland and as you can see is pretty packed
On the way out get flagged down by a French driver needing a jump start takes about 15 minutes and we’re away and with another coffee for helping him out
Finally arrive in St Louis at 09.30 not the best ■■■■■■■■■■■■ on the bridge over the motorway but at least no queuing in the morning just walk to the agent then all being well be away usually all done in under 30 minutes longest so far has been 4hours 30
A few hours in bed and then head off into St Louis for some dinner a 10 minute walk puts you in the town centre with plenty of places to eat or if feeling a bit more adventurous a bus ride will take you to the centre of Basle.
Monday morning walk across to the customs agents office hand in all paperwork then take the T forms to get stamped by the French. In Switzerland all mileage is tolled regardless of the road on your first time you have to register your vehicle and are given a card specific for your vehicle. A fairly straight forward process of entering your card into a machine and inputting your mileage and getting a ticket back with all your details takes a couple of minutes then it is back to your agent for your paperwork if all is ok it will take 15/20 minutes. The next obstacle is crossing the border I’m parked 500m from the border and it takes me over 20 minutes to get to the barrier due to only lane being open at the busiest time of the week
In the central area is a weighbridge if it’s open top tip is to wait until someone has been pulled then make a quick dash for it any problems in there can be eyewateringly expensive.
Once through it is just under an hour to Oesingen there are no booking times for tipping after a 30 minute wait while another lorry is tipped it’s on the bay and 45 minutes empty. The main differences here from the UK is that whilst getting tipped I take advantage of their showers and cheap coffee and at no point does anyone want my keys tell me where to wait or insist on hi-vis etc and oddly enough there are not dead Swiss people all over the yard 
. Once tipped it is into Germany for a backload to Dublin which will be Part Zwei
