Last Sunday night at about 18.20 coming round the Dartford crossing i was having a nice steady drive towards the channel tunnel, round onto the M20 and the snow started. Well it was soon down to one lane and by the time i had got to the tunnel it was thick on the ground and slow going. I got into the lanes and was soon greeted by the green arrow’s, when i got on the train there was a lot off shrugging off shoulders the bus drivers and the guards… the lorries were stuck wheel spinning in the lanes and couldn’t get going in the end the train set off with only 2 lorries on it much to me and the other drivers amusement.
Got into Calais and straight onto the A26, it was slow going but steady away with a big gap between vehicles. It ended up with 5 off us all different nationalities running together maintaining the same speed and the same gaps and making progress, Although the snow was getting worse and getting quite thick.
We were soon coming to Arras when the fun started, we had come to our first big hill and there was a " vehicle lents " lane and in it was a french highways agency truck behind an English stralis who started beeping at me as i passed, sorry if your on here as i didn’t stop, i was worried if i stopped i wouldn’t be able to get going again, besides having driven stralis in the rain and slush that truck was no way going up the hill anytime soon.
Halfway up the hill chaos began, there was cars every way and lorries stuck so us 5 in our little convoy came to a stop, a couple off the cars were English and i helped shove them up and away BMW’s off all cars for all that money i would want them to drive in any conditions. At the front was an English " katam " Renault premium. I went to see the driver to see what i could do to help. The driver was struggling sliding this way and back again and my only advice was diff lock, try and lift the mid-lift and lower the suspension which he did but to no avail.
There wasnt a lot to do left for him to do apart from put the kettle on and wait for the plough to turn up so i got back in my lorry and trundled past him and away over the hill.
the weather just was getting bad so i got to the next aire which was a picnic one parked up and went to bed about midnight.
Had similar weather the other week in Germany. I had tipped near Koln around 4pm and was heading down to Bamberg to load the next day. My planned overnight stop was the infamous Toni’s Rastrante at Geislelwind and I had over 45 minutes spare to get there. There was signs that it had been snowing the previous days but wasn’t at that time. When I got south of Frankfurt the snow started, gently at first but by the time I got south of Aschaffenburg it was coming down heavy. Same as yourself, the first big hill (and there are plenty on that A3) and vehicles were struggling, cars sliding all over the place, trucks wheel spinning, even using the third lane to try and get going. One trucker had tried to get into one of the parking areas and jacknifed on the entry sliproad. I’ve got a Daf 105 SSC and that thing wheelspins on dry flat roads at times so when ever we came to a dead stop I was panicking if I would get going again, but wether by luck or skill I managed to keep moving and once over the big hill the next 40-50kms were drivable but at very slow speeds sometimes down to 40kms p/hr and black ice was everywhere. I managed to get to the Autohof at Geiselwind at 11pm local time, but had gone over a 10hr drive by 20mins to do so.
Earlier that day I had had my wallet emptied of 100 euros when I stopped for directions, I was hoping to pay for the parking on the company credit card and get some cash back. I had plenty of sterling on me but no euros. They wouldn’t let me pay the parking on the credit card nor would they accept sterling (something they used to do years ago). So I had to phone the girlfriend and get her to go onto the online banking transfer money into the bank account for which I had my card with me then go and draw money out from the cash machine, finally after 45 minutes of messing around I was able to sit down and have a meal.
I noticed a very familiar face sat at a table, although I had never met the guy before I knew it had to be him (plus the fact I had seen one of the companies trucks he drives for parked in the lorry park) so I sat beside him and introduced myself. It was our very own Trucknet Euro driving forum moderator SIMON. We had a chat for 10 minutes or so about a few topics on here before Simon headed off to bed. Apart from meeting fellow truckneters at truckfest this is the first time I have ever met someone whilst on the road and it was a pleasure to meet him. Simon if you are reading this, did you really understand everything the german guy was going on about to us both ? I know we both smiled, laffed and said yes every now and then to his story, but to be honest, mine was out of politeness rather than following his story .
Simon or any others who are down that way next week, Ive got the same back load from Bamberg so hoping to be at Gieselwing truckstop again on Tuesday night, hope to see some of you there.
Paul:
I noticed a very familiar face sat at a table, although I had never met the guy before I knew it had to be him (plus the fact I had seen one of the companies trucks he drives for parked in the lorry park) so I sat beside him and introduced myself. It was our very own Trucknet Euro driving forum moderator SIMON. We had a chat for 10 minutes or so about a few topics on here before Simon headed off to bed. Apart from meeting fellow truckneters at truckfest this is the first time I have ever met someone whilst on the road and it was a pleasure to meet him. Simon if you are reading this, did you really understand everything the german guy was going on about to us both ? I know we both smiled, laffed and said yes every now and then to his story, but to be honest, mine was out of politeness rather than following his story .
I didn’t understand every word he said, but it was just the usual drivers bull in a strange accent. If I’d given him the cue, we’d have been regaled with his ‘Missed the Herald by Minutes’ story or his ‘Wally Stop’ story
I was heading North from Munchen but despite the best efforts of the German snow, or more to the point German traffic management, I made it to Geiselwind with seconds to spare. No traction problems, even with my middle axle down, although I had a reasonably heavy load biased towards the front. Wednesday was a straightforward day, no problems at all.
in the end the train set off with only 2 lorries on it much to me and the other drivers amusement.
