Sometimes I do wonder who o plans these things! We had 4 days to do the drive from Antwerp to Amsterdam, a mere couple of hour’s tops, and now we get given the same amount of time to drive from Amsterdam down to Istanbul!! So double drivers were duly flown out and awaited the departure. Fortunately for us we were doing an early show on the Sunday so we would be off to a good start. Normally I am ready to roll around 12-1am after a show, so to be finished and rolling by 8pm was a novelty! Our route was head through towards Koln then Frankfurt, and across into Austria and to park in Vienna where there was a hotel booked for the double drivers. We made it into the services in Vienna around 10am after having a good run. After a shower food and our 9-hour break we were off again heading for Hungary. The roads to Budapest and then onto sziget were good motorway until you hit the last section to the border with Romania, where we it goes to pot! After a stop at the Romanian border for vignette we pressed on to Arad, where a new section of motorway was a pleasant surprise, and made a change to all the bumps! Sadly all good things come to an end, and we were soon back onto the normal rutted Romanian roads! Then we hit some really heavy fog, which slowed us down for a good hour, but after changing over I was lucky and it soon cleared! I also had a mountain section to drive on, which would have been great if I was on my bike! Still it was good fun, lots of switch backs, sadly for my daf too many hills as it doesn’t like going up them! As I dropped back down and follow the river you can see Serbia, one country I still haven’t been to, and still not this time either! We arrived at the queue for the calafat ferry around 9am roughly, and not to great news. The first trucks to arrive had been told the wait might be anything from 2 hours to a day, not good! Thankfully all in all we were around 4 hours in getting across, although the ones behind us were not as lucky. Once into Bulgaria, we had to buy compulsory medical insurance (I believe its only at this border where you have to buy this, bloody rip off!) and also more vignette. We needed 2 days as we were heading for Sofia and our next stopping point. The drive down was great, if rather bumpy (which was to be expected!) the sun shone and the temperature hit around 16 degrees, the cold of Russia seemed so long ago on this day! We arrived in Sofia and found our parking area, which was at the expo centre, and right next to the double drivers hotel. On arrival it was in for some food and a beer, then we heard how a lot of the last trucks were not going to make it so a new plan was being hatched as we would all need to be in the right groups for the border the following day, and also to try and plan it with our hours. We soon found out that we would be staying for 24 hours so we could then (in theory) do the border and drive to Istanbul in our 21 hours. After a leisurely day the next day generally relaxing and not doing much, we were to set off at 6pm and off we duly toddled south. We were going to go via Greece and the ipsala border as the Bulgarian/Turkish border we had been informed way really quite bad queue wise. We arrived at ipsala during the night, and were brought around the small queue into the bus lane to do our paperwork by customs, the temperature was lovely and warm, and the Greeks had us processed and through their side fairly quickly. We crossed the bridge spanning the river which is the natural border and into Turkish customs. 5 euros for the weighbridge and then we took our paperwork in. we were cleared in a couple of hours, and as we had escorts we grouped up and set off. There was some confusion though and after a while we were stopping literally on the side of the road, which was then explained due to the ban on the motorway for trucks from 7-10am we were waiting for that to pass, they could of parked us somewhere better and maybe told us before we set off that was their plan (and im also sure with our paperwork we had a permit to run during this ban, ah well its noted for the future!). Our next problem was getting a new toll sticker. We had a KGS card from last year, but these are now defunct so we had to exchange them for a sticker for the window which you put credit on. The annoying thing is our cards had credit, which your then given a credit receipt which is put onto the card but you still must pay 35 euros for credit for the sticker, apparently the Turks who were with us were not impressed by this new system, they just take from the people they were saying (welcome to our world!!!) well once this was sorted out we were staring to get close on our time so rather than wait for everyone to get sorted me and one other cracked on for Istanbul. The traffic was the usual chaos, and very busy. We battled loonies all the way across the new Bosporus bridge and then it eased off a little as we approached our turn off, and with that we arrived at the venue, approximately 13kms into the Asian side of Istanbul, im becoming a middle east veteran now with 2 crossings ha ha!
parked in austria
hmm i think my sat nav may be a little old…!!
the drive down romania
serbian border
heading for the calafat ferry
the start of the queue for the ferry…
romaian begger…
at the ‘port’
not sure what they are looking at here…
here it comes!! and it was still better than seafrance ever was 
oh and the new bridge that isnt open yet, dammit!!
this isnt looking great for us with megas…
someone should tell him hes got his sticker on backwards…
and this bloke!!
its not looking great…
were on!
one for betz!
see ya suckers!!
has this been torched?..
bulgaria
thats more like it!!
beautiful, but bumpy!
some of the artwork at the expo where we parked in sofia
the view while we waited to set off again
a few of the trucks in turkey
approaching istanbul
approaching the bosporus bridge
and 3 videos, the first is a time lapse of the calafat ferry, i was going to film it in real time until i found out how long we could be waiting!! the others are the bosporus bridge, one by day one at night
youtube.com/watch?v=E030WACL … ZQ&index=7
youtube.com/watch?v=cIAAFwzQ … ZQ&index=5
youtube.com/watch?v=NeCZ4jxc … ZQ&index=6
The great thing was we had 2 clear days before Sunday when we would be leaving, and as I had a guest my friend tipped my truck as I had a hotel in town. Unfortunately the weather really didn’t play ball, and it was cold and rainy for most of our time in the city.
beer time!!
and with my guest!
i made a friend…
the grand bazaar
the parking at the gig
ive only just got it washed!
The journey back seemed to be another marvel of planning! Remember I started this trip in Istanbul? Well the next city was Birmingham!! So from almost being able to spit to Birmingham from Amsterdam we went via Istanbul!! Still, I enjoy drives like this, it’s just a shame it couldn’t have been in a more sensible order! The return leg we were doing on our own as we had 8 days to get there. Once loaded in Istanbul we once again set off for ipsala and to start customs. All went well until we arrived. The Turks had us stamped and sorted quickly and efficiently, but no one had told us it was a Greek bank holiday (as if they needed an excuse not to do any work!) so we just sat, and sat and sat! I took a decision after 2 movements in the compound and realizing I would just go over my time to sit where I was for 9 hours and to start again with a fresh card. 9 hours later, and not too much had moved in front of me, but as and when I could I duly shuffled my way into the queue, and after a workmate letting me round him (as my paperwork only had 2 trucks on, and his 9!) after 2 hours I was out of the Turkish side, and back across the bridge and queuing on the Greek side to get into the compound. To be fair to the Greeks once I was in their compound they were fairly quick at stamping my carnet, but this border has proved so incompetent in the past they have lost their authority to import, and are merely a transit border, so our paperwork was on a transit back to dover, which meant another stop, but hey at least we were rolling!!
I got the hammer down so to speak as I wanted to get back as soon as I could, and I headed for the Bulgarian border with my mate ken in tow. We were making good progress, when we all of a sudden there was a car in the distance, then it became apparent they were really dawdling along, perhaps drunk? Ken didn’t have a cb, so I kept going but more cautiously, as I got close, I indicated to get round this bloke who was probably doing no where near 30mph on a perfectly straight bit of road, and as I pulled out to go round I realized it was a policeman! Ah well committed now, see what happens…nothing!! (when I spoke to ken, he had slowed down and sat behind just in case, when after about 10 seconds the copper flicked his indicator to signal to ken to crack on!!)
this old thing was in the confiscated compound, and i believe its been there years (the first time i went through it was there)
the view in daylight…
and by night!
old iranian a the border
We got to the Bulgarian border and onto the weighbridge. 10 euros ( I think, its been a week or so now as I write this) for vignette and were on our way again. There’s the new motorway we used on the way down, so it was into the shell garage for fuel and adblue. There was only 1 set of pumps working, and I had heard there was a shower here so once I was done I went and got cleaned up. Off we set again, and then we went wrong a little bit. Going by our maps we found the road number we wanted (I cant remember it now, ill look it up) and when we came off the signs ran out, but nothing really pointed in a direction we wanted (ken doesn’t have sat nav, and I don’t trust mine and its very old) so we asked a local who pointed us back to the main road and this north part of the road was a little further up, as we crossed over the top to get back on a couple of other lads went past, so we ran with them for a time. Over the next stretch of driving, I lost everyone else (later turned out they missed a turning and went wrong for a little while) so I was exactly how I wanted to be, running on my own. Within about 30 minutes mind I was pulled by the Bulgarian VOSA (again!) but as soon as the man realized I was English I was on my merry way. The road from here towards the Romanian border is a beauty to drive, just not at night! Quite mountainous and a bit of a challenge, so there are no photos sadly. I pressed on and got across the bridge at ruse, which is the BG/RO border and called it a day, with another driver who had caught me up from somewhere!!
this old girl was in the pound at the gr/bg border
approaching ruse
The following afternoon after getting up I decided I was going to have an 11-hour break to save my 9s should I need them. Ted had a 9 and toddled off. I really didn’t quite get my timings right though as when my 11 was up the border were having a cup of tea so it was shut for about 30 minutes (so much for freedom of traffic in one Europe!!) but nothing too disastrous! I cracked on through the night, another beautiful drive by day when you have time, but I was here to make progress! After a 10-hour drive I was pulling into a services in Arad, not too far from the Hungarian border, and a good nights driving. I was sound out when my phone started ringing, and when I woke up our office had been tying to call me. When I phoned them back they informed me that ted who I had been parked with had written his truck off but he was alright and just had a few minor injuries!!! Turns out he had a blowout, only doing about 60kms, but he physically couldn’t keep the truck on the road and went down a bank! Ill never know to this day if I went past him and didn’t know of maybe he had stopped for a kip so I was ahead of him (I don’t want to ask) but after seeing the photos, he’s one lucky driver (and already back on this tour!) lesson is, wear your seat belt!
parked at the border
from georgia!
almost time to go!
I left Arad and headed for the border, and then we started queuing (again!) while in this queue some Romanians on bikes came up and blathered something to me, which I duly ignored, and then one started to try and wash my truck with his filthy brush and water! I managed to get him to stop his mate then said they didn’t understand much English, I can tell you they laughed when I told the pair of them to ■■■■ off!! Then his mate started trying to insist I pay him for his one awful brush stroke, I laughed and again my choice of words didn’t have too much effect, then the smokes and vino lines started so I just did the window up and ignored them and eventually they left. We creeped up and through the border, and it was funny thinking that now back Hungary were in ‘civilization’. I pressed on up the new motorway, which was something to really enjoy after the spine shattering roads of the last week or 2! I managed to clear Hungary and just get into an autohof at Wels in Austria and get into the 1 and only space there, lucky for me another one of our drivers was awake and able to help me squeeze in!
couple of videos of arad and its TIR route, and also another time lapse of the queue back into hungary
youtube.com/watch?v=Yef_LHmD … ZQ&index=3
youtube.com/watch?v=yH30E4qn … ZQ&index=2
youtube.com/watch?v=gySUi67l … ZQ&index=1
Once awake I ventured in for a coffee and got quite a shock, the garage stank of smoke! Now I had given up the cigs in Amsterdam so I hadn’t been off them long, but this place was horrible!! (even the smokers with me were not too impressed!) and you had to go through the smoking area to get to the non-smoking bit to eat, call me old fashioned but that’s the wrong way round! Still once fed and watered and the break was up I was rolling again. I had aimed for here so I could do gieselwind in 1 hit to stop for my tea, and thankfully I did! Once full of grub I cracked on, and aimed for an autohof where there was a 24 hour truck wash, although I wasn’t too optimistic on the parking front (Germanys a nightmare come late at night to try and park). Sure enough after getting the truck washed the place was rammed, but I managed to get on the end of a line where people could still get past, result!!
When I woke up it really did look like I had abandoned it last night as everyone was gone! But hey I hadn’t and who cares! It was now Friday and the sun was out! Once the clock said so I headed north and then for Aachen, a quick stop for vignette and then to liege shell garage and the slowest diesel pump in the western hemisphere! The adblue pumps were broken but I was still carting a can about from Russia in January so I soon got shot of that into the tank and I plodded on in the sunshine foe Calais. A quick stop for my break around mons and then next stop the booths for the boat! My mate had phoned me and said it was quiet down there and he was on the 18:00 sailing, I arrived at about 17:40 yet still made it onto the 18:00 (I was amazed how quiet it was for a Friday!) and off we sailed for England, our first time back on British shores since October!
Once back in it was round to western docks to clear ourselves which was a nice and painless progress, and then off we go…into the rain!!! Doh!
My last stint of this diary was back to our yard to swap trucks as mine was in for MOT so I was getting something else for a week while it was sorted out
theres a couple more pictures to add from my camera i have just realised so ill add them a little later!
That pretty much wraps it up, I hope you enjoyed the read!!
