Monday 24th July
So as I had returned from Portugal late Friday night and enjoyed a rare weekend at home, I had to tip the load today. I was loaded with 1300 empty beer kegs from Vilamoura and was booked in at Westons Cider for 0800 and Coors in Burton for 1200. This is an unusual load for us, as it seems we charge too much but the guy was desperate to get them returned. The whole lot only weighed just over 10 tons 
Now when these had been loaded the guys down in Portugal had asked me to drop the trailer as they were coming in at 6am to load it next day because it was too hot during the day inside the box.
A 5am start saw me arrive at Westons in Much Marcle dead on 8am. I enjoyed an hourâs snooze while 600 kegs were off loaded here and I left at 945 for Burton stopping along the way at the Salt Box cafĂŠ for some sustenance.
I arrived in Burton and after much sodding about, they decided where they wanted the kegs. They had just fewer than 700 to pull out and after a few minutes, they were sweating heavily. The trailer had been unopened for a week except for Much Marcle and it was like a sweatbox in there. So I turned the fridge on and saw the box temperature was 32 degrees!!! It had been set for â25 so I left it and let it run like that. The team doing the unloading were very appreciative for the cold air blowing and as a result, they emptied the trailer in 30 minutes AND swept it out for me!
I left there and ran across to Stoke to start my collections for another Algarve run. After losing an hour on the A500 (I didnât know about those lousy roadworkâs), I arrived just in time at my first pickup and collected 2 pallets. I then went and collected another 4 pallets at Nisaâs and ran down to Standeford Farm for the night as I had some collections in Wolverhampton next morning.
MILEAGE: 484 Kms.
Tuesday 25th July
Now just occasionally, you need a plan and I had one. The guy we were loading for had visions of me catching a boat today âŚâŚâŚ. tsk, silly man!! I know this run like the back of my hand and I knew if I caught a ferry this afternoon or tonight, I would arrive on the Algarve Friday and be empty by mid afternoon. This would then leave me to reload Saturday morning in Seville, run the card out and then take a 24 sat in a Services somewhere. Not fun when the temperature is hitting 100. So I spent the morning wandering around after picking up some pallets in Bilston and met up with OhTerry at Hams Hall where I not only conned a cuppa out of him but me burger roll too!!! I then went into Coleshill and sat there a couple of hours before heading over to Brixworth for the final pick up of the day. I now had 14 pallets on and had to top the load out in Fareham before catching the ferry. But oh dear, they shut at 5 at Fareham so I wasnât going to make that. So I met up with Terry again at Jacks Hill and bought him a tea. We ran part way down together before he went off down the M40 and I went down the A34 homeward bound . There was another perfectly good reason why I wanted to arrive on the Algarve later than Friday, which will be revealed 
MILEAGE: 361 Kms
Wednesday 26th July
This morning I drove down to Fareham and backed onto the bay. The lads there are sound and they loaded me with another 13 pallets and I was ready to nip back home for a couple of hours before going down to catch the 1500 sailing from Portsmouth to Caen. At this the agent arrived and informed me I was going from Poole to Cherbourg on the 1230 sailing 
I had never sailed FROM Poole before so at that, I set off for Poole as the time was now 0945. All I can say about Poole is what an absolute â â â â â â â â to get into!! I would never want to be late for a sailing here and be in a hurry.
Weighbridge at Poole
I was called forward to board the Barfleur when a German glass carrier sneaked in front of me. This resulted in him being in pole position on the doors for disembarkation and me behind him. But when we arrived at Cherbourg, he was off and away and I then had to sit there while all the poxy caravaneers on my left hand side were sent off first .
Sneaky Herman boards before me
By the time they had sorted themselves out, Herman was away and gone. I went into the IDS at Valognes and stuck 350 litres in which would get me to Spain and took the scenic route down through Coutances and Granville before coming out onto the A84 at Avranches. From there, I carried on and parked for the night at the Routiers at Derval.
It could be England ⌠driving towards Coutances
MILEAGE: 403 Kms
Thursday 27th July
I took 11 hours off and left Derval at 815am. It was a nice easy run down and I decided to take my first break at Aire De St. Leger. I pulled into there and ending up having 90 minutes cos you have to have a snooze, donât you? In lovely sunshine, I left there and the next stop was down past Bordeaux, whose ring road was remarkably clear today, at Castets. I had another break here and then started the last leg down thro the border and headed for Alsasua. Not 10 minutes from the border, the skies came over extremely black and as I approached the border, a monsoon started.
The wipers are going full speed!!!
Trying to see at the border
It absolutely lashed it down all the way up Miguels Mountain and only eased as I pulled into the IDS at Alsasua just after 8pm. Fortunately the accidents I saw were all on the other side of the road. The Spaniards have no idea in the rain lol.
Going up Miguels
MILEAGE: 727 Kms
Friday 28th July
Now today I needed to get some klicks under my belt so I left at 730am and exactly four and a half hours later see me just short of Salamanca having passed Vittoria, Burgos and Valladolid.
From the motorway between Vittoria and Burgos âŚâŚâŚ. Note the National road just below me
This is a regular stop for me so after helping the barman improve his English, it was time for a snooze âŚâŚâŚ oooooooooops!!! I set the alarm for 1pm and finally woke at 130 lolol
I set off again and at Salamanca,
A quick view of Salamanca
I turned off onto the A803/N630 and began the long run down it. As you join this road, the marker post says 344km. This indicates the distance from the start of the road for the benefit of our UK drivers and quite often a delivery address will be CTR (Carretera) 630 km 450. This means you want the N630 and it is by the 450 marker post. In my opinion, the best kind of address to have in a foreign country âŚâŚâŚâŚyou can hardly get lost once you are on the right road. Anyway, the post says 344 and the bellyache is I know I do not turn off till marker 809 at Seville!!! 465 klicks later.
The marker post I hate telling me it is 465 klicks to Seville
I enjoy driving this road though as the scenery is wonderful. Up through the mountains and as always down the other side of them lol. Except it always seems to be exceptionally hot in this region. Last trip my temperature gauge on the dash recorded 107 degreesF!
Beautiful scenery
Going up
Coming down
Temperatures like this make you want to jump in this âŚâŚ.
I took another 45 after three and a half hours at a small bar and then ran the rest of the way to a town called Monesterio just 80 klicks short of Seville. I arrived there at 8pm, had a quick coffee and was off to bed, as I wanted an early start Saturday morning. I had rang my first two drops for Monday this afternoon and it turned out my first drop was so desperate for the goods, he told me to ring him when I was at Faro and he would open the cold store up and tip his seven pallets Saturday morning. Result!!!
The main truck park In Monesterio
MILEAGE: 804 Kms.
Saturday 29th July
I was on the road by 520am today and any other time, I would have had some good photos of things like the sun rising over Seville and because the roads were quiet and I could have pulled over, and taken a pic of one of them huge bloody bulls with what looked like a six foot span of horn âŚâŚâŚ except a certain prat had forgotten to get some more batteries for his camera and the ones in it were kaput!!! So sorry, folks.
I ran round the Seville ring and hit the A49 towards Huelva and Portugal. I always stop at the services at Chuchena for a shower and today was no exception. Shaven and showered, I left there at 815 and ran the last couple of hours crossing the border at Ayamonte. I phoned the guy who wanted his stuff urgently and cos he was pleased he took me to his bar and stood me a full English brekkie.
I left there and arrived in Vilamoura at 1230 only to find they were having a bloody exhibition on the car park where I always park!!! Bloody outrageous, I call it. I had lost my spot by the sea. So I parked across the road on some waste ground and thatâs as far as this motor was going till Monday morning but I had plans off my own for the weekend. I went round to one of my favourite bars and got my usual friendly greeting from the girls (I donât know why, I donât drink) and later on went and made my plans for Sunday
The road into Vilamoura
MILEAGE: 314 Kms
Sunday 30th July
Now today was dedicated to âLets upset OhTerryâ day lolol 0945 saw me standing on the quayside with my bag and packed lunch in my hands. I then boarded the âMartheâ and set off for a days shark fishing!! There were a max of 10 people on the trip âŚâŚ. Another guy on his own and two families (hubby wife and 2 brats)
Now I havenât ever fished in my life and have no interest in it but it seemed like a good way to spend the day seeing as the resort was so busy. It cost ââÂŹ60 but I would have spent nigh on that if I have stayed ashore for the day. 45 minutes later see us âdropping anchorâ and the 2 guys running the show set all the rods up for us. All we had to do was sit there and wait for Jaws to take the bait. Now this was as much fun as watching paint dry as far as I was concerned so I sat up on the sun deck with one of the Mummys discussing various countries we had visited around the world. After all, if Jaws struck, I would hear the reel screaming and I would have time to get below and strike. I did have a go at fishing for bait but my attention span at this was roughly 10 minutes lolol âŚâŚ so back to the sundeck.
After 3 hours, one of the reels finally started screaming and, of bloody course, it wasnât my reel. I stood and watched Jaws be gradually worked in and after the obligatory pictures, it was returned to the sea after being tagged. It was only a youngster and the tagging has something to do with the Yanks. The boat owner sends a card off with the tag number on it to the US and they track it. My claim to fame here was, that as everyone was watching Jaws, I had turned round and then asked if anyone âwas interested in thoseâ cos about 150 yards from the boat was 8 dolphins playing around. I was just so fascinated by these that I clean forgot to take any photos and by the time, I got my act together, they had moved off 
(((( It was fantastic to see them leaping high out of the water etc.
No more sharks were caught and about 330 we started heading back to the Marina. A day I enjoyed but for crying out loud, how can you guys get excited about fishingâ â ?
The rods all prepared
The floats bobbing about in the water ⌠yawn, pass me some more suntan lotion
Good Lord, they caught something
Looks like a killer to meâŚâŚâŚ seems it was only a baby
At last, heading back
Coming into harbour
â â â â â â off, Terryâ â ? Teeheehee
MILEAGE: BUGGER ALL
Monday 31st July
I had 4 drops to do today and the day didnât get off to a good start when the woman whose stuff was at the back wasnât answering her phone. I started ringing her at 8 and she finally answered at 850. I didnât want to waste card time by driving there and then sitting there waiting for her to show up. Twenty minutes later I had reversed all the way down the side road where her warehouse was and in 5 minutes I had dropped her 2 pallets of frozen off. A quick chat and flirt with the daughter and I was off to the next drop. Now the next drop was 9 pallets and I knew the guy couldnât take all these at his warehouse and at least half would go to his cold store. So I rang him and went straight to the cold store when one of his âboysâ met me and told what had to be dropped here and what was going back with us. Except the tossers in the cold store went missing and couldnât be found. Luckily, I hadnât opened the back doors as we sat there nearly an hour before anyone was found. During this time, I did a 5-day printout (the max possible though the goods had been on for 7 days) of the fridge temperatures for my last drop. For non-fridge guys, there is a box something like an aeroplanes âblack boxâ that records the running temps in the box. It prints out the running temperatures at hourly intervals for the period requested. A lot of Portuguese firms are getting a bit hot about these printouts, because of the high temperatures this year, and demanding them upon delivery and their policy is âNo printout, load rejectedâ. Any firm receiving frozen or chilled goods is entitled to ask for a printout and this is one of the main reasons you SHOULD NEVER TURN SOMEONES FRIDGE OFF even if it is annoying you. Luckily my recorder is running 4 hours fast (I donât know how to reset the time) and I did my printout now as I didnât want to do it after I had been opening and closing the doors at previous deliveries.
Anyway, after an hour the idle â â â â â â â â in the cold store decided they would tip me, so I opened the back doors. 30 minutes later I am still stood there and not a pallet has come off!!! At this point, I went into the cold store and blew my top telling the guy he was going to be responsible for the load, as the temperature in the box had risen to +4!!! Seconds later, a forkie appeared and the 4 pallets that needed to come off were off 
I then went back to the warehouse and the other 5 pallets were swiftly off and it was round the corner (literally) to the next drop. I arrived here at 1210 knowing they go to lunch from 1 till 2, as did my last drop. The forkie here is an idle â â â â â â â and always thinks they should be delivered to first which is why he NEVER gets done first lolol Today he left it till 1245 and then said he would tip me after lunch which was ok with me cos I knew I would have sat down at the last drop anyway. They took me to lunch with them and we were back just after 2. I sat in the cab with the engine running cos it was much cooler and dozed off waiting for the forkie. He finally woke me at 330!!! I was â â â â â â off with him and told him so. I still had another drop to do and if I never got it off, I wasnât going to be happy. I only had 4 pallets for him and he took another 20 minutes to take them off. I was so â â â â â â with him, I went and saw his boss who I get on well with and complained. Three and a half hours to get 4 pallets off was a joke!! I also complained to the agent who said everyone delivering there at the moment seems to be having trouble with the forkie so we shall and see what develops.
Onto the last drop and I handed the little man, who I am beginning to get on with a lot better than previously, his printout which I had neatly rolled up as it was about 6 feet long pmsl. 15 minutes and my 6 pallets were off and I phoned the agent to see where in Seville I was reloading âŚ. only to be told that load had been cancelled!! He rang me back about 30 minutes later and told me to park where I was and he would ring me in the morning! So it was straight back down to the Marina for me and another night in Vilamoura. Oh dear, what a hard life this work thing is!!
MILEAGE: 59 Kms
Tuesday 1st August
I woke up about 9 this morning and wandered round to the marina, went in OâNeillâs for breakfast and then had a wander round the marina before heading back to the truck to watch a couple of DVDs as it was far too hot for wandering around and I had got burnt to â â â â on Sunday on my back. I left it till 515pm and then texted the agent to see if I had been abandoned?? He rang me 5 minutes later and told me I was loading empty beer kegs in Vilamoura again for Burton and Preston first thing Wednesday morning. So I ran the 3 Kms to the place and dropped the trailer so they could make an early start on it and guess where I returned to?? Yep, the marina!! Everyone started to think I had moved down here when I went back into OâNeillâs but at least they let me use their staff facilities so I had another shower before going for food and returning to there to enjoy the nights entertainment. I left just after 11 and went back to the truck to get some sleep as it looked like I was finally leaving the next day for the long haul home.
Wednesday 2nd August
I went round this morning, hooked up and collected my paperwork and started the long haul home. In 50 minutes, I was crossing the border into Spain.
Leaving Portugal
I went past Huelva and onto Seville where I always fuel up at the IDS garage. I pulled in, put my card in and the reader told me âIncorrect cardâ. I did this twice more but couldnât work out what was wrong. I was at the IDS site; it was an IDS card and an IDS reader. I looked at the card and it suddenly dawned on me!! The cards expiry date was 07/06!!! I phoned the Office and let them know and they Okayed me using the company credit cards. I explained it was going to hammer the card, as I would be fuelling twice more yet. No problem said they. It is my own fault, I suppose, as I never go the Office to collect anything. Anything I need is always sent over to me. Luckily for me, I have a company Visa and M/Card with good limits. So after taking 42 minutes to solve this problem, I decided to turn it into a 45 and strolled off for 5 minutes. I then set off onto the N630 and passed my old mate the â809 marker postâ.
The buddy of the post at the other end
Only 465 klicks to Salamanca plus another 21 from there, to where I would be parking for the night. As I approached Merida, I really was in two minds which way to go from there. My usual way up to Salamanca or to turn right towards Talivera and Madrid and then up over the Somosierra to Burgos. There was 40 klicks in it so Salamanca won out in the end.
Running up through Santa Olalla Del Calla
Now the new motorway has just opened from Merida to Placensia and it has avoided all the little towns that I usually enjoy driving through. But I needed to take another break before Salamanca and did so at Caceres.
Goodnight Mr Sun âŚâŚâŚ and thank God
Note not only the temperature but the time too!!! And thatâs UK time!
Then on up through Placensia over the mountain at Bejar to Salamanca, turn right towards Valladolid and after nine and a half hours driving, parked up at Aldeanuvea. A quick coffee and bed as I was only taking 9 hours off tonight âŚâŚ I had a ferry to catch Friday afternoon lol
MILEAGE: 754 Kms
Thursday 3rd August
Not a lot to report today as it was purely a âmiles under the beltâ day. Past Valladolid and Burgos where the heavens opened. This was welcome after 7 days of continuous 100-degree plus heat AND it cleaned my screen for me lol
Approaching Burgos
The famous Victors just past Burgos, you can get everything here!! Fuel, food, a shower, a bed, a womanâŚâŚâŚâŚ.oooops, did I say that??
Then past the airfield at Vittoria before a 45, which became a 65 lolol, at Alsasua. Three klicks after leaving the services at Alsasua, you hit the top of Miguels Mountain. Drop it into seventh high, retarder full on letting the revs build up to 2000 rpm and down the mountain at 80 kph!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee lolol an occasional dab on the brakes kept the rig under control and pretty soon I was at the bottom.
The top of the mountain
A few scenic shots coming down Miguels. Note the tipper in the top shot holding the outside lane up?? Same all over Europe, ainât they?
Then a lovely scenic run along the last of the N1 and I arrived at the border where there was a slight queue, which was down to some stupid car drivers not knowing where they were going.
There is a HUGE sign before this pointing cars one way and trucks another!!
Through the border where thankfully the Douanes had gone home,
All gone home
up past Castets and after eight hours forty-nine minutes driving I pulled onto the Cabbage Patch at Bordeaux. A big sign there announced the coming of paid parking!! ââÂŹ5 a day from sometime in September. That will keep the Eastern Europeans out that park there for days at a time. A nice shower and a good meal and I am now sat here typing this before hitting the sack. Last leg tomorrow and home tomorrow night.
MILEAGE: 719 Kms
Friday 4th August
The alarm rang at 415am and 430 see me pulling off the Cabbage Patch and heading up the road. First stop today would be the services just after Niort for some coffee and a couple of âpain a chocolatesâ. 15 minutes later and I off again, heading along the A83 towards Nantes. I reached the Peage at Nantes and just for a change, the bloody Douanes were there. They nearly fell over themselves in their haste to pull me over which I had been dreading. Unusually, none of them spoke English, and it was a real pain trying to explain to them what the load was and why I had the door down. (I have two drops on and the barrels are worth ÂŁ100 each so you donât want anyone from the first drop nicking any from the second drops load). European drivers will tell you they love to shine their torches through the load and clamber over it. Well, they werenât going to clamber over this one lolol. I ended up being there 20 minutes while they examined my fridge fuel tank as well, which is in my pallet carrier and a huge thing (holds 600 litres) Strange little men. A quick whizz round the Nantes ring road and I was at Aire De Treilliaires and as soon as the engine was off, the seat was reclined for 30 minutes shut eye.
The alarm went off, a quick drink of water and I was off again heading for the Routier at Derval where I had the beastie washed and made to look presentable again after the dust and then rain of the last week. They do a good job in here and it always looks good afterwards.
All nice and clean
I left there and then the next stop was the services at Mont St. Michel. After topping the fuel tanks up, I looked and a bloody caravan and solo cars occupied every parking space in the truck park. I was sorely tempted to â â â â a few of them off by parking tight across the front of them so they would have to wait for me to leave but met a mate here and we ran together for the ferry. The great thing in France is that if caravans are parked in the lorry parks at services and the Gendarmes are called cos of a row or whatever, they will ALWAYS insist the caravan is the one that has to move. Another example of the regard in which truckers are held in Europe.
Anyway, I was on the last leg of my little journey and it is only 95 minutes to Caen from here. I arrived in plenty of time to catch the Mont St. Michel, which was arriving just as I came into the port.
Coming into the port. You can see the ship docking as we come in.
I always love this bitâŚâŚ.straight up thro all the parked cars etc and into the port. You can feel their eyes burning into you as they are made to wait outside the gates.
On we go and homeward bound!
Off the ferry and straight out the port at Portsmouth see me walking indoors after 12 days away at 1030pm. The truck is parked up and I can forget all about delivering those kegs till Monday morning
MILEAGE: 688 Kms
For those unawares, OhTerry has always wanted to go shark fishing
) and Pegasus Bridge and Cafe Gondree,which are only a few kmâs away.