This week has been one of the most enjoyable for a while,mainly because I haven’t been to the UK.
Sunday.
Left home Sunday evening around 7pm,picked up my empty trailer from where I leave it and drove over to our depot in Genk to swap trailers.
After I’d picked up the other trailer I do a check around it to make sure everything is in order,good job too,the self-steering axle won’t lock!
This is a recurring problem with our trailer’s,the air operated ram that locks the axle is prone to seizing,which is what the problem is here,and it’s virtually impossible to reverse as the trailer steers the opposite way to which you want!
Only thing to do is get it fixed en-route,so I depart from Genk and head for the German border at Aachen.
I arrive at the border at 9pm and promptly get the coffee machine doing what it does best,and make a thermos of coffee for the next few hours.
I leave Aachen at 9.45pm and head along the A4,turning onto the A61 and heading for Koblenz.The traffic is light but the signs banning overtaking for trucks are still lit up most of the way,though some disregard the signs.
I call it a night just before Heilbronn on the A6 at 2am.
Monday.
I send the office a message about the problem with the trailer,and am told to go to Willi-Betz in Reutlingen to have it repaired.So,after a wash and making some coffee I start at 11am and head for Reutlingen.
I arrive just as they are going to lunch at 12.15,but am told they start again at 1pm so I sit and do some paperwork and have a walk around looking at all the new trucks that are there (sorry Ben,forgot to take some pics),it’s a full time job for some of the lads there simply removing and fitting satellite equipment and Maut boxes!
.Sure enough,at 1pm they are back and I am directed straight into the workshop where the offending part is removed whilst they send out for a replacement,which doesn’t take long and I am back on the road at 2.15pm.
A good run around Munich see’s me pulling into the Lomo Autohof at Reischenhart just before the Austrian border at 6.15pm.
This place is a trip down memory lane for me,when I drove for Van Maanen we would always stop here for fuel and food on our way up from Italy,and nothing much has changed,the showers are still clean and the water hot.
After my 45min break I head off,crossing into Austria a few km’s down the road,but it seems my Go-Box has no credit.This is the first time I’ve been to Austria with this truck,and it seems that the previous driver hadn’t registered the maut box.So I pull in at the first services and get it registered with my EuroShell card,which only takes five minutes.
Then it’s off again,but only as far as Kundl,where I pull into the Betz depot there and fill up with diesel.
It’s a quick and easy run the rest of the way up to the Brenner,I only have 8 tons of empty stillages on,and where allowed,pass most of the other trucks that are heading south.
I finally call it a night at the S.Giacomo services between Bolzano and Trento at 10.15pm.
Tuesday.
A quick wash in the services,make some coffee,and it’s back on the road at 8am.I follow the Autostrada del Brennero south and turn off at Affi,taking the SS450 through to Peschiera del Garda to join the Milano-Venezia motorway.
Peschiera is another old stamping ground,I spent many fun weekends here with the other Van Maanen drivers!Well I think I did,it was all done in a drunken stupour.
I turn off at Brescia and head south on the SPIX (9) and the unloading address at Dello.
The satnav directs me through the town centre,where there is a total ban on trucks except for deliveries,but the street I want seems to be in the town,and eventually I arrive at my destination,though it’s actually 1km outside of the town.Oh well,never mind.
Within an hour I’m empty,and make a sandwich while I await instructions from the office.
I took extra clothes and supplies with me on this trip,a lot of our backloads are from Orchineco or Trichiana in the North East of Italy,for Valencia,Spain,and I had a strange feeling I was going to be weekended!
But,the message comes through to load raw tobbacco at Spazziole,just south from Verona for Le Mans,France.
So off I go again and rejoin the A4,heading back the way I came,and at 1.25pm I pull into the warehouse at Spazziole to load 108 ctns of tobbacco weighing just under 24 tons.
At 2.45 I’m back on the road again,joining the A4,heading back from where I’ve just come from.Again.
I turn off the A4 and join the A21 to Cremona,taking a 45 min break along the way and just as I’m thinking that everything’s going well,the traffic comes to a stop on the other side of Torino on the Tangenziale.Roadworks,and they’ve shut the road!
I’m getting short on time by now,and after crawling along for nearly an hour I’m getting desperate.
Eventually the traffic is moving again,and I pull into the Autoporto at Susa at 9.30 with 10hrs and 5min driving,so I write on the back of the disc and hope for the best.
Wednesday.
After a shower it’s time to let the coffee machine do it’s stuff and get back on the road at 8.45.
I get as far as the peage where all the trucks have to wait.The Frejus Tunnel is operating a one-way system for trucks at the moment and there is a waiting time of 1.5hrs.
Warning sign informing of one way traffic for trucks & buses.
Waiting for the off,which was 1.5 hrs later.
Eventually we are moving again,though not very far,there is a lot of roadworks going on along the final 3-4km to the tunnel and alternate traffic flows.
Climbing towards the Frejus.
At last at 11am I am at the toll booth,after passing through the fire detector,and I hand over my Frejus card and enter the tunnel.
Emerging on the French side into yet more glorious sunshine I make the descent and head for Lyon.
North toward St Jean de Maurienne.
I pull in between Chamberey and Lyon for some lunch and an hour’s rest.
Passing Lyon I decide to go via St.Etienne and Clermont Ferrand,even though the satnav wants to send me via Dijon and Paris,which seems an awfully long way round,and so it’s up hill and down dale for the next few hours.Though it seemed more up than down!
I stop for a cold shower 
between Clermont Ferrand and Bourges and another statuatory 45min break.
I turn off the A71 and take the A85 at Vierzon where I pull in for the night and make something to eat and enjoy a well earned cold beer.I have to open the front grille to let some of the heat out,or it’ll be too hot for sleeping.
Cooling off!
Thursday.
After a 9hr break (the last for this week) and yet more coffee brewing it’s back on the road at 6.20 and heading for Tours.
After skirting Tours it’s north on the N138 toward Le Mans,stopping for a quick sandwich along the way.
I find the unloading address fairly easily,and pull onto the weighbridge at 9.30,and am then directed around the back of the factory for unloading.
I hand in my papers,and after waiting half an hour,I’m told I have to unload at an outside warehouse 2km away,so it’s back round to the weighbridge and down the road to Mr Calberson’s warehouse where they promptly unload me.
I send a message to the office to say I’m empty,and 2.5hrs later I am told to start driving towards 45 St Cyr en Val,just south of Orleans.
I head across the N157 and head across to Blois to join the A10 motorway to Orleans.
Just before Orleans I get the loading address,load at Proctor & Gamble for D34-Melsungen,which is just south of Kassel.
I arrive in St Cyr at 4.50pm and am directed straight to the loading door,where they (almost) immediately load me with 33 pallets of kitchen paper,a mere 4tons.
It’s then the usual long wait for paperwork,but I’m pulling out at 6.15.
With just under 3hrs driving time left,I’m wondering whether I’ll make the other side of Paris tonight,depending on how bad the traffic is.
Just before Paris I am listening intently to the radio traffic reports,and it doesn’t sound good,from what I can understand anyway.
If they didn’t speak so quickly I’d understand a lot more!!
I decide to go for gold and get as far as I can,which as it turns out was a wise move,I had just about the best run around the A86 that I’ve ever had,never dropping below 85kph all the way until I reached the A1,still with nearly an hour’s driving left!
I decide to call it a night at J9 where I park next to the peage.I often park here,mainly because by the time I’m usually parking up for the night,all the motorway services are full and I feel more secure as the peages are manned all night.And it’s nice and shady too,with lots of tree’s to keep off the early morning sun!
So,at 9pm I’ve finised for the day and settle down for something to eat,a glass of wine or two and watch a DVD.
Friday.
After I’d loaded yesterday,I was told to bring the trailer to Genk as the delivery is not until Tuesday,so,after a nice lie-in I hit the road at 10.15 (Yes!10.15!! lazy sod!) and start making my way steadily north,pulling in at Valenciennes for a shower.
Apart from a thunderous downpour,the Brussels ring was remarkably quiet and so I made it to Genk just before 2.30.
Only just as I was pulling into the depot the phone rang,“Keith,you can take the trailer home and deliver on Tuesday”!
So I went in to the office and handed in my paperwork and went to Maasmechelen to get the truck washed.
Ahh! Clean again.
And so,I dropped the trailer in my usual place and parked the unit on the drive at 5pm.
That was a good week,and most enjoyable.
Anyway, good diary, keep them coming 
.