It’s ABTA time again, after me little diary to barca last year i thought it only right to cover this one!!
Back to the 8th of October & it’s loading at the same suppliers
Room to spare this year anyway a early Saturday train & it’s off torwards Macon for the Sunday ban
Who knows wot way i went then!!!
Afternoon tea break. Left the camera in the cab at Macon, no one to entertain me except Norman off S & K so
an early start on the monday got me to Genoa San Giorgio docks for lunchtime to jump on this
the Eurocargo Genova, only 4 months old & bloody massive!!!
A 20 00hrs departure on Monday evening to arrive Valetta Thursday morning & me the only git on it!
So me plasma, some dvd’s & a 12 pack of Worthingtons best bitter joined me upstairs!
As expected she was nice & clean inside
The drivers eating & social area,the crew were Phillipenoes(is that how you spell it) 3 meals a day which was always
something dead with lettuce but nothing to snack on at all luckily i had provisions
The cabins were nice & large with 2 beds & a decent shower
Wednesday morning we arrive for the scheduled stop at Catania
It don’t look it in the pictures i know but it was kinda warm stood outside if very damp. The boat spent 12 hours in dock before leaving at 10pm with 6 very noisy Maltese truck drivers now on board. Good boys though!!
Finally we arrive in Valetta at around 5am, have breakfast first then get off at 7am
I have to wait for an agent to sort out customs formalities.WOT CUSTOMS FORMALITIES ITS A BLOODY JOKE THEY DONT
ASK FOR PAPERS,DONT LOOK IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK BUT STILL WANT 1000 POUNDS TO LET THE TRUCK OUT OF THE DOCK 
THESE BOYS ARE IN THE EU SOMEONE SHOULD TELL EM
Anyway it ain’t my money the client will pay so i sit and watch the old english wagons fly round the dock
I was then escorted to the Hilton Hotel Portomaso & parked in their loading bay to await unloading on saturday
Saturday morning load in completed the truck stays where it is until Thursday
The main auditorium on the first fit up day, i got the job of head rigger!
The back of the Hilton aint much i know but the view out of the rooms aint bad
Now at this point i should explain i was going to go out & take some pictures of this great island & pictures of
some of the old trucks & the brilliant buses but ended up with a few of the crew in trying to rid Malta of Guiness!!
This was Tuesday lunchtimes offering! Tuesday night ended up with a bill for 43 pints & a cheeseburger & no i didn’t
have the burger! eatings for poofs!!(they were not for half pints either,why it’s on the bill i don’t know)
So me camera stayed in the dark until the Thursday morning when i was back at Valetta port.Same ferry company
different vessel, the Eurocargo Malta was to be my ride back to Genoa
This time i am joined by a furniture driver from Bristol & a very nice Austrian bloke who to be honest spoke the Queens
English better than the Brizzle boy & the Essex lad!
Leaving the harbour of Valetta
and a final view of the Hilton Hotel (the tall tower) i took this because the crew had just rang me asking if i was on the big blue boat they could see from their seafront restuarant where they were sipping glasses of Pinot G before they got their flights back home! (tossers). Fast stop in Catania Thursday evening the it’s home james.
Friday morning & we are entering the bay of Naples
The pilot boat along side suggest we are going into port so we ask a crew member & he sais we are picking up 1 truck from Naples it wont take long!!
Entering the port
Seafrance fleet!!!
Someone on here must have sailed on this old ferry, any clues??
Anyway the crew member lied, it wasn’t one truck but 2
With a 120 ton transformer, best you drive it on mate!!
Must say the service on the Eurocargo Malta was miles better than on the Eurocargo Genova a much nicer crew!
6am Saturday morning we arrive Genoa & disembark as fast as possible before the Heavyhaul boys arrive to back their truck off!!
Saturday noon down the Blanc, see they have repainted the Wall of Death only for some git to scratch it!
The ski slope
Saturday night make it as far as Chaumont services for another Sunday doin nowt!
Joined by a Scottish fella driving the Mathew’s & a Pole in the Paddy Betz motor. Roared outa there Sunday night at 10
to get home indoors for Monday morning, tip Tuesday back out Friday! Love it!!
Jammy Git !! 
Great read and excellent pics. keep the diaries coming ! 
Sounds like a really cool job 
Nice diary and pics , that ferry crossing would have me pulling my hair out , no wonder you took some supplies 
A clearer picture of the Eurocargo Malta in Valetta Harbour found on the net
keep em coming, great post much appreciated.
a great read and excellent pictures the Austrian works for that
firm which does a lot of Traffic to Ireland ,whose bloody name escapes me, 
Good report & the right attitude to the job rgarding the black stuff. Billy Moore would have loved your job- " The pay ain’t much but the beer is free !"
Drag about no-running-home-on-Sundays.
cracking diary that mate, good read and pics.
few memories there, the blanc and ski slope. whats macon like these days, last time i was there, a couple of years back, it was inneed of a spruce up imho.
brit pete:
a great read and excellent pictures the Austrian works for that
firm which does a lot of Traffic to Ireland ,whose bloody name escapes me,
Adolf Ebner, Pete
jacko22:
Who knows wot way i went then!!!
That would be the Chaumont viaduct
Excellent diary - thanks for that! Used to work with Fagioli, you should see their main depot next to the autostrada near Ravenna, awesome place with every bit of kit you can imagine and lots of it 
Very good diary!
Mont Blanc Wall of Death - seem very scary driving espc heavy truck!
Great diary great photos of them old truck as well.I also no what it like when you are getting phone calls from the crew i have had it done to me a few times. 
awesome diary mate!! nice pics too!
brilliant diary and pics as usual mate. somewhere i never went, thou my dad went there earlier in the year with MDF from Gt Yarmouth. I saw you today on M25, nr the M1 split, i was clockwise you were going the other way. I presume it was you, as i noticed a rear mudflap on the trailer. keep the diaries coming mate!
kindle530:
brilliant diary and pics as usual mate. somewhere i never went, thou my dad went there earlier in the year with MDF from Gt Yarmouth. I saw you today on M25, nr the M1 split, i was clockwise you were going the other way. I presume it was you, as i noticed a rear mudflap on the trailer. keep the diaries coming mate!
Wouldn’t have noticed ya now your not drivin a black peril!! Yep the only one with rear mudflaps on.
Loading for Paris on Friday will take the old camera just in case anything interesting turns up!
brit pete:
a great read and excellent pictures the Austrian works for that
firm which does a lot of Traffic to Ireland ,whose bloody name escapes me,
Most of their work is for Lufthansa he was telling us! Swapping trailers in Holyhead & Malta are regular runs for them!
Another top class diary mate, cheers for posting. Good to see someone who loves their job and enjoys what they do.
cracking stuff mate, i am definatly going to head to malta for a holiday if i cant get the truck over there!
top read as always andy!