well, the trip from essex too abrantes went without a hitch.
at abrantes, it was a mare finding my drop, which turned out too be up a farm lane, but took me nearly 2 hours too realise this, in which time, the lorry conked out 
with some wierd elec probs.
mind you, the peoples whos goods i had on, took me for lunch, and payed, very nice of em 
left abrantes and headed towards the algarve, pass lisbon ok, get on motorway south, and decide my time is nearly up, so, (thanks too advice here) jump off the motorway, and onto the ic4, (i think) assuming there will be an abundance of restaraunts along here, how wrong i was 
, so after going slightly over my 10 hours driving, for safe parking reasons, i have no choice but too stop, at a galp garage for the night, no bar or restaraunt, but a good clean loo, and coffee machine. i have a bottle of brandy in the fridge, and plenty of food, so not too bad i suppose.
set off the next morning, i havnât even done 2 kmâs, when i come too the last town, before i jump back onto the motorway for the algarve, and every bloody where you looked, for as far as the eye could see, both sides of the road, were an abundance of bars, restaraunts, big garages, all with ample parking for plenty of trucks 
sods law, eh. iâll know next time.
so i jump back on the motorway, with not much further too go, when, bang, the fault is back with the truck again, so i limp onto the shoulder, fiddle around, and get going again about 10 kmâs down, iâm approaching a services, and with arms a waving, the police wave me in for a spot check. i pull up, turn the truck off, and after a quick visual look at the cab, the police say, no prob, off you go. yeah, youâve guessed it, truck wonât start, deep joy. so i now have 7 or 8 of portugals finest traffic officers, trying too help and diagnose whats wrong with the truck, eventually it fires into life.
i set off again, and break down another 6 or 7 times before i finally manage too nurse the truck, too near my bossâs place at villamoura. 10 mins later, he turns up, and we tranship the load onto a couples van he deals with there, so that they can deliver the goods, too the customers house,
i tell him the probs iâve had, and fire the lorry up, too show him what happens when all the warnings come up on screen. (truck is a 55 plate, super space cab, with the as tronic box.) and bugger me, do you think it will play up, no, course it bloody wonât 
, i try for 10 minutes, but it just wonât happen, then finally it does it, the screen lit up like a christmas tree, and is telling us there are problems with, the ebs system, transmission, oil pressure, stability control, engine warning, and configuration errorâ â ?
so the boss gets onto dafaid, and we are told they will phone us, when they arrive at the truck. well i was due a 24 hour break anyway, so upto my bossâs place, grab a shower, get changed, and pop too a golf club 
for lunch, even saw steve bruce, (wigan manager) at the golf club, hvin a post round beer, so it wasnât all bad.
2 hours later, dafaid phone, we head back too truck, and then the saga began
12 hours, and 3 fitters later, they tell us the problem, is a box, that sits on top of the gearbox, (i think its the brain of the as tronic system), problem is, its 4500 euros and wonât arrive from lisbon, till the following day and this is portugal time, after all. anyway, we all call it a night, they go home, and i go and crash with the boss and his family for the night.
next day, we await the call from the fitters, too say they are at the truck with part.
2pm the call comes, so we head down, and leave em the keys, too crack on, so my boss and i head off and do some socialising
9pm, call comes, and its roadtest time.
40 kmâs later, truck seems fine, everyone is smiling and all are happy.
my boss says too ,crash at his again, and head off the next morning, sunday, too seville too load the oranges.
sunday lunchtime, i thank my boss and his family for the hospitality, and head off for penaflora, north east of seville too load oranges that evening 
about 30 minutes from the packhouse, i get a call too inform me the oranges, now wonât be loaded till tomorrow
next morning, packhouse opens, iâ fire up, pull through gate, and bang, truck shuts down again, with exact same problem 
you can imagine, my boss, (poor sod) wasnât too chuffed when i informed him of this, as he is pretty peeâd off at paying 4500 euros, for what now appears too be a part, we didnât even need
2 hours later, daf cordoba turn up, now theyâve been tipped off from dafaid in holland, at all the previous problems iâve had, and as soon as the guy started, you could see he was on the ball. 6 hours later, the inside of the truck is in bits, all of a sudden the fitter gets excited, and shows me a set of split wires, behind the steering column.
it pretty much looked like they had shredded over a period of time, on a metal screw, we think this has happened, over a long period, each time the steering column was adjusted, it was slowly shredding the wires
an hour later, truck was back together, and all was good, well apart from the fact, that it was too late for my papers too be authorised for the oranges, so yet another night, at the packhouse, well, at least truck ok.
loaded the next morning, and headed back, fully loaded with oranges, for a juicing plant in wales, 39 tonne gross, so it was abit of a slug, up la carolina, and the somo sierra.
wednesday was fine.
thursday was a push for the st malo boat, sails at 1045 am local time, i got there at 950am, i then had an agonizing 40 minute wait, too see if theyâd let me on, they did
nice crossing on a lovely boat, arrive portsmouth, approx 645pm. now, i know, iâm pretty much gonna get a tug from customs, what with 23 tonne of oranges on, and true too form, âput that in your screen driver, and go too the customs shed.â said the customs lady.
i did, and out they all come, did the usual visual checks, asked all the standard questions, and i pretty much thought that would be it.
oh know thay want too take the lot off, and have a good look.
the customs man then informs me AND YOUâLL LOVE THIS that they canât drive fork lifts, so they have too get in, an outside firm, that supplies the fork lift and driver, too strip the oranges out, BUT, here it comes, MY BOSS HAS TOO PAY ÂŁ150 FOR THE PRIVILEGE
i just laughed, i honestly thought they were joking.
but thet certainly were not, ha, as if they have a sense of humour.
anyway, faxes, phone calls, and payment is made, my boss couldnât believe it either, and 5 hours later, theyâd done all there ckecks, all was well, and i was free too go. unlike the spaniard, whos truck i saw, who apperently turned up the day before, with a full load of peppers, oh yeah, and 1.8 tonne of cannabis
so i leave dock, go and tip in wales, and then home too essex, i was really glad too get back home indoors after this trip, iâm glad they are not all like that.
sorry for long thread.
