The last episode saw us at the Torwar in Warsaw, where the bus-driver was busy un-blocking the toilet.
Fortunately, his mission was a success, and he managed to join us for a pint at the sports-bar across the road.
From Warsaw, we had a 175km drive East to Lublin, where we had another show at yet another sports hall. This one was better
insomuch as we were able to back the trucks inside the building, enabling us to escape the bitterly cold weather.
After Lublin, it was a 395km drive to Katowice. This would be the last show with our travelling local Polish crew.
It was the ideal final show for them, as they were all based in Katowice. In fact, the crew-chief’s flat overlooked the venue.
From Katowice, our next drive would take us to the Czech Republic. It’s only a 140km drive from Katowice to the CEZ Arena in Ostrava, but first we
had to pass through the border at Cieszyn. Here, we changed some £’s for Czech Koruna’s, and topped up our Czech (Premid) Toll Boxes, putting
enough credit on to cover our 4 days in CZ.
From the border, it was just a short drive to the Arena, where we able to park up, ready for another day off.
After a lay-in, we ventured into town on the tram (although to be honest, we missed it and ended up at the terminus, where we had to get back
on, this time asking where to get off). We found plenty of places for refreshment, but typically ended up in one of the three Irish bars that
the town possessed. Some of the crew joined us later on in the evening, and a jolly time was had by all!
Following the load-out at Ostrava, it was a 385km drive to the T-Mobile Arena in Prague. The venue’s starting to show it’s age now, and was so
cold, most people only took their coats off when they went outside, where it actually felt warmer.
From Prague, it was back out on the same motorway as far as Brno, where we turned South towards Bratislava.
The journey of 345km was broken by a stop at the CZ/SK border to obtain a Slovakian Toll Box. As none of us had been into Slovakia since they
introduced the system, the exercise involved lots of form-signing and handing over various vehicle details.
After parting with 50Euro’s deposit for the box, then a further 100Euro’s as credit, we were each given a ridiculously large unit to stick in the
windscreen. The box then has to be plugged into the cigarette lighter socket to power it, which all seems overly complicated.
It was then a short drive to the Incheba Hall, part of the Bratislava Expo Centre. The crew here have always been very good, but they bettered all
our expectations, managing to unload all three trucks in 1.30 hours, twice as quick as the Poles previous best. Bets were made as to how quickly
the load-out could be completed. A case of beer was the wager if they could do it in 2hours. 2hrs 5mins still got them case, which they certainly
earnt and deserved.
From Bratislava, our next show was in Kosice in the East of the country. Although further, we decided to go via Hungary, as its virtually motorway
all the way. Budapest now has a good ring-road/bypass that goes right round the South and East of the city, so good time was made before crossing
back into Slovakia for the short journey North to Kosice.
The Arena at Kosice is designed for ice-sports, and the load-in point was not ideal for the quantity of equipment we were carrying, which resulted
in a 5hour load-in time. It was also bitterly cold again, with several snow-showers during the day.
Thats it for this week. Hope it’s interesting. I’d like to be able to show pictures of the routes we take, but as most of our driving tends to be
at night, it’s difficult to take decent photos. I’ll try to take a few when we next have a day drive.
Looking forward to more .
