i was running a road marking truck out to mirabella about 70k’s east of napoli (italy), it was a fair old trip for my first ever run in europe clocked up just shy of 2000k from calais alone on the way there. i was running 1 of our bright yellow 56plate daf cf 6x2 road marking truck’s out there & bringing the broken down 06 plate back. the trip was eventive atleast, after getting done by the old 5, O for running through the labour day embargo not realising my truck came into italian law as in uk its excempt and classed as a road construction vehicle but tares in empty at 17t & anything over 7.5t unless its perishables or fuel is restricted by the embargo. then to my joys i snapped my debit card between the toll booths on the A1 E35/E45 after climbing through the cab . i then managed to re shape my card to get it to work after parking up early in a strop between the A1 & the A24 E80 (rome), i then missed my turn off for the A4 - 5 split at santhia twice i managed to get my self back on track up to when i took the wrong turn & detoured around dijon city center i was on track & had no more miss haps, however i dont think i did to bad for it being my first time & alough bein a (youngen of 24) i used no sat navs at all just a new philips euro map that i bought on the pride of canterbury on the way out.
i am now itching to get back out as in my opinion it is so much better driving & craic out there, the scenary is amazing especialy through the alps & up to the montblanc tunnel.
the trip went somthing like this,
set off for dover at half 4 monday morning straight down the a1 from durham. caught the half 1 ferry ( i think) to calais
hit the A26 from calais all the way to troyes
picked up the A5 at troyes to dijon
the A39 at dijon to just outside bourg-en bresse
the A40 up to the mont blanc tunnel were i had my pants pulled down & got charged 285 euros 1 way
the A5 to the A4/5 split around ivrea & santhia
the A4 from santhia to milan
then picked up the A1 from milan to napoli
finaly from napoli i got on the E842 to mirabelle
the only downside to driving out there is the price of the toll roads which some are reasonable but some are rediculas.
You should’ve turned right at Milan and taken the A1 all the way to Naples, going all the way to Verona put a nearly a full day’s work onto that trip Or an even quicker way would be to have avoided Milan and carried on going when you hit the A4 and gone down through Allesandria to Piacenza and picked up the A1 there
i realy cant wait to do it again, it so much less hastle than the uk & most of the drivers are game for abit craic even the french & italians. & the drivers lounge on the ferrys were no were near as depressing as i expected & was pleasently suprised that they had showers in there to. the italian trucks are like christmas trees when it comes in dark like.
you went a long long way round there,you should have gone straight on at santhia to alessandria, then to genoa, then to lucca,then turn left at lucca then, right at firenza
vastly exp:
you went a long long way round there,you should have gone straight on at santhia to alessandria, then to genoa, then to lucca,then turn left at lucca then, right at firenza
think you have just got the guy the sack… Id want a refund if I was his boss!
vastly exp:
you went a long long way round there,you should have gone straight on at santhia to alessandria, then to genoa, then to lucca,then turn left at lucca then, right at firenza
Or Alessandria to Piacenza and straight down the A1
Already told him all that on the thread in the UK drivers forum anyway
I must say I admire people who can remember the road names and towns they went to etc. Off the top of my head I can think of La Francilliene, (I liked the name) the IP5 (because people talked so much rubbish about it) and… No it’s gone! After a while, roads were just roads to me. People never believed me when I couldn’t give them directions after having just been there.
For me each trip became an experience and road numbers weren’t part of that I suppose.
bigvern1:
Sat nav takes the personal pleasure out of the trip. I had no idea what road I was on half the time.
I’d say it does, only bought on about a month ago and the best it’s done so far is taught me how to say left turn in Magyar… To be fair, it’s useful but imagine that harping on at you through 2 or 3 countries a day…? No way!
Be lost literally without mine,try finding a finca in the mountains in Spain without it, I recon on days like that it saves me on average 2 hours but it’s turned to silent at all times as I only need it when I’m local to the drop.
vastly exp:
you went a long long way round there,you should have gone straight on at santhia to alessandria, then to genoa, then to lucca,then turn left at lucca then, right at firenza
think you have just got the guy the sack… Id want a refund if I was his boss!
Bet he used Sat Nav!
you bet who used sat nav, me? if so i guarantee you 100% that i did not & tbf for it bein my first ever experience on foreign roads in any form of vehicle i think i managed quiet well. i just missed out on going to kosavo this week too.
Don’t take it to heart driver, a bit of ■■■■ taking is par for the course and you can bet your life that not one of the ■■■■ takers has never made a mistake in their driving careers, I know I made a few, they make good stories once a few years have passed
newmercman:
Don’t take it to heart driver, a bit of ■■■■ taking is par for the course and you can bet your life that not one of the ■■■■ takers has never made a mistake in their driving careers, I know I made a few, they make good stories once a few years have passed
Absolutely!
I’ve told the tale of my first commercial European trip far to often, but it still frequently gets a good laugh. It was a steep learning curve shall we say ?
bigvern1:
Thing with Europe is, the roads are massive. So you don’t hear it for hours sometimes.
This, its great, turn off in…265 miles. No bother ill listen to you tomorrow lol.
Are you on a go slow ?
Even in Germany you can do more than that in a day.
In a run down France, over 500 miles isn’t that difficult in a 10 hr straightforward driving day.
. i then managed to re shape my card to get it to work after parking up early in a strop between the A1 & the A24 E80 (rome), i then missed my turn off for the A4 - 5 split at santhia twice 
i managed to get my self back on track up to when i took the wrong turn & detoured around dijon city center i was on track & had no more miss haps, however i dont think i did to bad for it being my first time & alough bein a (youngen of 24) i used no sat navs at all just a new philips euro map that i bought on the pride of canterbury on the way out.
Or an even quicker way would be to have avoided Milan and carried on going when you hit the A4 and gone down through Allesandria to Piacenza and picked up the A1 there 
