well here goes then,
this is my first attempt at a diary and I’m not exactly a good story teller as you’ll discover
sorry there’s no photographs but i bought some new batteries for my camera in one of those pound shops and do you think I can find them in the truck
left Malaga tuesday 4th Jan about lunchtime went empty down to Algeciras to load melons off a boat from Brazil, quick forklift driver so away bit pronto. its a long way from anywhere this far down in europe so in 9 hours got as far as manzanares, decent restaurant and free shower.
wednesday 5th left manzanares about 8ish (nobody gets up early in Spain ) run across the new motorway to just north of valencia easy to find the drop so tip the melons before they disappear for their 3 hour siesta run around to the AS24 to fuel up, truckwash and restaurant, easy day today.
thursday 6th was the 3 kings day so no work today, best option go back in the restaurant and sample the various beers and wines on offer
friday 7th run up to betxi which is on the side of the CV10 inbetween valencia and castellon for a load of clementines, then make my way up the big climb from valencia to teruel get as far as tudela and call it a day only done 7 hours drive but as its friday no hurry on yet.
saturday 8th left tudela about 8ish (see its about the norm) up the AP15 and into beriain for fuel, right to the top in both tanks and the fridge, 1200lts when full does me 3000km. easy run then via sunbilla to vivonne, can’t seem to go past here for some reason
sunday 9th after the obligatory coffee I leave vivonne and make my way up to caen, hardly a stressful day and 4 and a half hours see’s me into the lanes waiting onto for the afternoon sailing
monday 10th we get into portsmouth at 9.30pm sunday night so its straight off the boat and up to spalding to tip which is easy at that time of night. as soon as I’m tipped its off to bed for a deserved 8 hours kip followed by breakfast in morrisons. as soon as my break is up in the afternoon I’m to run empty to dover and get to boulogne
tuesday 11th collect a load of fish in boulogne and get as far as barbezieux in a 9hour shift, they’re building a new motel so the parking is a bit smaller but at least now you have to pay there are less self catering flipflop and sock wearers here.
wednesday 12th get away nice and early need to tip bayonne before midday but just 1km before my exit on the autoroute a minibus has ploughed into the back of a truck which was parked on the hard shoulder, 4 dead in the minibus and held up for 3 hours while they cut them out but the company where i was tipping were ok because all their trucks were stuck too. they washed the trailer out so thats a bit of time saved looking for a wash, run over the border get some fuel at the first oppotunity then load a massive 3 tons of office folders near san sebastian and get down as far as lerma on the A1
thursday 13th just a short drive to my tip and need to park up 8am as I’ve done my 6 x 24 hour shifts
friday 14th after 24 hours break over to guadalajara to load beer (mahou only the best will do) and run down to tip carrefour valencia then quick as possible get to reload in picassent with more clementines,
thankfully these fruit places work strange hours, got a little bit of time left so make my way up the big hill again
saturday 15th a bit more driving needed today but fuel up again in beriain and via sunbilla to wherelse but vivonne
sunday 16th another obligatory coffee then an easy day upto caen
monday 17th another sunday night arrival in portsmouth so no traffic all the way up to spalding tip in the wee small hours and go to bed no load this afternoon so its 24hours off in spalding, morrisons is across the road so thats me sorted
tuesday 18th over to partner logistics in wisbech load frozen peas for lidl’s in bridgend so across the A14, M6 and down the M42, M5 and M50 not used that route in years. quick call to “thetaff” and find out you can park in the asda in merthyr so park there which is near my parents house who i’ve not seen for a couple of years. ring my dad who picks me up without telling my mum, you should have seen her face
wednesday 19th early start to get to lidl’s for 6am only to find everybody gets the same booking time and when empty make my way to milford haven. I’m due to load fresh fish off a belgian trawler but he won’t be in til 7pm so into the bunk I go for some ZZZ’s. they do all the loading so I keep nice and clean
thursday 20th leave at a decent time rather than the belgian truck who loaded and ran through the night make my way to dover off at calais and run up to zeebrugge and park on the bay of the fish market next to the belgian who’s eyes were near the floor we’ve both got a 1.30am tip
friday 21st guess who got tipped first belgian driver wasn’t happy but after tipping at silly o’clock go across the road to steam the trailer out and load frozen pork for chalon sur soane. get some fuel before leaving belgium and get to chalon about 2pm, nice quick tip and down the N6 about 15 mins sees my card done for the day
saturday 22nd and sunday 23rd in a routier just south of chalon on the N6, getting rare to find them open on sundays now
monday 24th over to st. etienne to load tiles for montpellier what a nightmare of a place to find, who puts factories up in the mountains
tuesday 25th parked about 25 minutes before montpellier so tip nice and early then have to run empty down to girona to load pharmaceuticals. 23 pallets and only 2300kgs run across the N2 and get to a truckstop just after zaragoza
wednesday 26th a good day ahead so a 10 hour drive with such little weight sees me do just after zaragoza to an hour short of lisbon, nothing of any interest to report just driving
thursday 27th I’ve got 2 drops of pharma around lisbon both are open early so I’m empty by 9am local time then up one of the numerous new motorways in portugal to figuera da foz for a load of tuna get a couple of hours back towards spain which is a bonus
friday 28th start nice and early (well early for spain ) need to get to malaga by 4pm so I’ll be first to tip after their 3 hour siesta as soon as I tip the tuna its around to the truckwash then park up in mercamalaga and 5.30pm get picked up by SWMBO
start back on friday 4th feb loading clementines for spalding deja vu or what!
hope you like it, next one will have pics as soon as I find those damned batteries