geoff luther:
0
From the left dark hair and glasses Chris Trunwit ex GBE Ian Penny,Dave Durrant,Stewart Taylor,and me.
robert1952:
toby1234abc:
Some decent Rouitiers by coming off the forest road South of Bordeaux, a few not seen from the road, and a few that you could see, one I used, was in the forest down country lanes, they had a barrier up to stop the trailer kitchen diners not spending a penny, you could enter if have a meal, or pay for a shower.
I have come back from St Lucia, their meal on offer in the restaurants was pigs tails boullion or a goat curry, imagine the fuss if you ate a goat in the UK, not possible as it is a nanny state, you got to be kidding.
Would the pigs tails give you curly hair ?Or turn you in to a bore ?Going south: Liposthey, Cap-de-Pin, and Castets. They were all excellent when I was on the road.
Robert
Hi Robert I remember Liposthey well if you wern’t in by 2100 the old lady would not serve you, and if you were there was no choice of menu what was cooked is what you had. Cap de Pin was fine but he did not like the English. Castets was ok if you could put up with the noise, the food and the vino was nice enough,but had Lillies still been open would have preferred to stop there.Cheers Geoff
geoff luther:
0
Tubsyboy its a shame you never got to Victors as it was a regular stop for UK drivers in the late 70s when Victor and his wife Mercedes owned it. Back then only a few firms went to Portugal and This was a regular meeting place going up or down you knew you would find someone you knew in there. We used the N1 before the motorway was built and as there were more places to stop we continued to use it even after it was built as it was more direct than the motorway.Cheers Geoff
If you parked up at Victors and walked across the sheep and goat bridge over the road, there was a medieval village, there is a few shops there and old buildings that are crumbling away, the views over the fields is very nice, in winter with the snow or summer with the golden glow of the corn and wheat fields.
I used to eat at the Galician family owned restaurant at the far end of the garage, the food was homemade, with warming stews with veal or rabbit, they made me feel very welcome.
The big hotel had a great drivers menu, with white linen table cloths, staff in uniform, waited on like a king, they had washing machines and bath tubs in the shower rooms, in the winter I would treat myself to a room with their discount driver rates.
Victors home made spud stew was great, with meat and fresh bread.
The hot chocolate was called Cola Cao, great in the winter to warm you up.
Robert quoted mad Porkies on a mission to get back to Matosinhos, he is correct in his statement, they were mad as hatters, rules of the road did not apply to them, it was normal and accepted to over take a long line of traffic on a blind bend or up or down a hill or mountain.
The IP 5 had a high death rate, it was a mountain road from Villar Formosa, the border town at Spain and Portugal to Guarda then to Aveiro on the Atlantic coast .
Brake fade was common, fully freighted nutters going down the mountain with the drivers door open ready to bail out .
About 15 miles from the border in Portugal was a BP garage, the café food was driven in from the villages and home made by old house wives, the meat dishes were huge and enough for four people to eat, let alone one person.
Roast spuds to die for, cabbage and wine to wash it all down with.
geoff luther:
geoff luther:
0Tubsyboy its a shame you never got to Victors as it was a regular stop for UK drivers in the late 70s when Victor and his wife Mercedes owned it. Back then only a few firms went to Portugal and This was a regular meeting place going up or down you knew you would find someone you knew in there. We used the N1 before the motorway was built and as there were more places to stop we continued to use it even after it was built as it was more direct than the motorway.Cheers Geoff
Geoff, I often used to think, right this trip I’ll go the national and stop in victors, to see what all the fuss was about… However when I got to the split to turn off changed me mind every time ! I was doing Spain in the 90’s so for sure a much different crack from the 70’s…
On the subject of Portugal I only did 2 trips there. One to a new virgin megastore right in the centre of Lisbon.That was some fun trying to get too blimey !
Then did another Lisbon and got weekended, rosados agent chap called Rui invited me to his campsite caravan tent thing near azambuja for the weekend. (I used to be a freight forwarder and knew him over the phone) had a smashing weekend, but took a reload from Garlands to get me home… Poor old Rui weren’t a happy porka, as in beknown to me he had also found a load !!
Ps. He’s never invited round his again…odd ? 
Toby
Came back from Malaga area last year through Portugal having one night near Seville ( porker side of border ) and another at Fergures de Foz (sp) and back on what was (in parts )the IP5 , you wouldn’t recognize it ,no steep climbs or descents.
toby1234abc:
If you parked up at Victors and walked across the sheep and goat bridge over the road, there was a medieval village, there is a few shops there and old buildings that are crumbling away, the views over the fields is very nice, in winter with the snow or summer with the golden glow of the corn and wheat fields.
I used to eat at the Galician family owned restaurant at the far end of the garage, the food was homemade, with warming stews with veal or rabbit, they made me feel very welcome.
The big hotel had a great drivers menu, with white linen table cloths, staff in uniform, waited on like a king, they had washing machines and bath tubs in the shower rooms, in the winter I would treat myself to a room with their discount driver rates.
Victors home made spud stew was great, with meat and fresh bread.
The hot chocolate was called Cola Cao, great in the winter to warm you up.
Robert quoted mad Porkies on a mission to get back to Matosinhos, he is correct in his statement, they were mad as hatters, rules of the road did not apply to them, it was normal and accepted to over take a long line of traffic on a blind bend or up or down a hill or mountain.
The IP 5 had a high death rate, it was a mountain road from Villar Formosa, the border town at Spain and Portugal to Guarda then to Aveiro on the Atlantic coast .
Brake fade was common, fully freighted nutters going down the mountain with the drivers door open ready to bail out .
About 15 miles from the border in Portugal was a BP garage, the café food was driven in from the villages and home made by old house wives, the meat dishes were huge and enough for four people to eat, let alone one person.
Roast spuds to die for, cabbage and wine to wash it all down with.
Toby its a shame you didn’t get to drive down the old road before the ip5, then you would realise what it was like to meet a Porker coming the other way on a road that was only wide enough for two vans. The road from Villa Formosa to Quimbra used to take us 8hrs but we enjoyed it all the same. Cheers Geoff
Tubbysboy:
geoff luther:
geoff luther:
0Tubsyboy its a shame you never got to Victors as it was a regular stop for UK drivers in the late 70s when Victor and his wife Mercedes owned it. Back then only a few firms went to Portugal and This was a regular meeting place going up or down you knew you would find someone you knew in there. We used the N1 before the motorway was built and as there were more places to stop we continued to use it even after it was built as it was more direct than the motorway.Cheers Geoff
Geoff, I often used to think, right this trip I’ll go the national and stop in victors, to see what all the fuss was about… However when I got to the split to turn off changed me mind every time ! I was doing Spain in the 90’s so for sure a much different crack from the 70’s…
On the subject of Portugal I only did 2 trips there. One to a new virgin megastore right in the centre of Lisbon.That was some fun trying to get too blimey !
Then did another Lisbon and got weekended, rosados agent chap called Rui invited me to his campsite caravan tent thing near azambuja for the weekend. (I used to be a freight forwarder and knew him over the phone) had a smashing weekend, but took a reload from Garlands to get me home… Poor old Rui weren’t a happy porka, as in beknown to me he had also found a load !!
Ps. He’s never invited round his again…odd ?
Hi Tubbysboy just think all of them thrupence hapennys you spent to miss out the joys of the N1. I am glad you enjoyed the Portugese friendliness at Azambuja from Rui and I am sure you can understand why he never asked you back.Happy days cheers Geoff
geoff luther:
This Resturaunt was possibly one of the farthest from Poole but one of the best. Had some good nights in here with some good mates.0
Here is a picture of the same restaurant, walking down the side road towards it.
Ok early evening but a bit dodgy after several bottles of Vinho Verde later on at night !!
GS OVERLAND:
geoff luther:
This Resturaunt was possibly one of the farthest from Poole but one of the best. Had some good nights in here with some good mates.Here is a picture of the same restaurant, walking down the side road towards it.
Ok early evening but a bit dodgy after several bottles of Vinho Verde later on at night !!
Hi GS OVERLAND" your photo was years before mine but I remember walking down the same street as I used to load just up the street from there. I can still smell the aroma from the sardine factory as I passed it.A lot of us drivers used to park our units as close to the Mocambique as we could and used to pay lookie lookie to guard them while we were in the resturaunt. Me and my wife had a holiday in Portugal few years ago not too far from Porto, and we went on a mission to see if the Mocambique was still there and it was. the son now runs it but the old boy that used to come round and work your bill out on the tablecloth was still there. While we were there a chap at the bar looked like an older Lookie Lookie but I didn’t find out if it was or not.Regards Geoff
Figueria de Foz, that brings back memories , used to load paper there out of Sopocell, a huge factory.
It was on behalf of Garlands who had a depot in Aboboda near Lisbon and that terrible depot in Porto by the disco on cobbled old streets.
The warehouse guy had a whistle to help you blind side reverse in.
He told you to look at him and not look out of the window when. reversing in.
If you did , he would go mental.
SP Pneus or tyres was next door, I did a lot of JCB diggers that went to Motivo depot’s.
New Garland depot is in Maia now, as I hauled for Euro PSL, Freight Transfer and Garnett Euro trans, a good craic with all the drivers.
geoff luther:
GS OVERLAND:
geoff luther:
This Resturaunt was possibly one of the farthest from Poole but one of the best. Had some good nights in here with some good mates.Here is a picture of the same restaurant, walking down the side road towards it.
Ok early evening but a bit dodgy after several bottles of Vinho Verde later on at night !!
Hi GS OVERLAND" your photo was years before mine but I remember walking down the same street as I used to load just up the street from there. I can still smell the aroma from the sardine factory as I passed it.A lot of us drivers used to park our units as close to the Mocambique as we could and used to pay lookie lookie to guard them while we were in the resturaunt. Me and my wife had a holiday in Portugal few years ago not too far from Porto, and we went on a mission to see if the Mocambique was still there and it was. the son now runs it but the old boy that used to come round and work your bill out on the tablecloth was still there. While we were there a chap at the bar looked like an older Lookie Lookie but I didn’t find out if it was or not.Regards Geoff
Ahh yes…the sardine factory. Fabrica la merda !!
Then there was the other Mocambique down on the beach near the roundabout where the shipwreck was, I only ate there a few times, never rated it much. We used to load shoes from a warehouse just the other side of the airport runway, you had to drive through a tunnel under the end of the runway. Firm called ATRI, always late finish on Friday and late export clearance, then the mad dash home to tip British Shoe, Leicester on Monday morning…Sunday lunch on the boat from Boulogne.
GS OVERLAND:
geoff luther:
GS OVERLAND:
geoff luther:
This Resturaunt was possibly one of the farthest from Poole but one of the best. Had some good nights in here with some good mates.Here is a picture of the same restaurant, walking down the side road towards it.
Ok early evening but a bit dodgy after several bottles of Vinho Verde later on at night !!
Hi GS OVERLAND" your photo was years before mine but I remember walking down the same street as I used to load just up the street from there. I can still smell the aroma from the sardine factory as I passed it.A lot of us drivers used to park our units as close to the Mocambique as we could and used to pay lookie lookie to guard them while we were in the resturaunt. Me and my wife had a holiday in Portugal few years ago not too far from Porto, and we went on a mission to see if the Mocambique was still there and it was. the son now runs it but the old boy that used to come round and work your bill out on the tablecloth was still there. While we were there a chap at the bar looked like an older Lookie Lookie but I didn’t find out if it was or not.Regards Geoff
Ahh yes…the sardine factory. Fabrica la merda !!
Then there was the other Mocambique down on the beach near the roundabout where the shipwreck was, I only ate there a few times, never rated it much. We used to load shoes from a warehouse just the other side of the airport runway, you had to drive through a tunnel under the end of the runway. Firm called ATRI, always late finish on Friday and late export clearance, then the mad dash home to tip British Shoe, Leicester on Monday morning…Sunday lunch on the boat from Boulogne.
I only ever had sandwich mixta and gelao in the new mocambiqe, its all gone now as the area has been developed but the old Mocambique is still there. The best was the caninha verdas when I first went to Matosinhos which was more or less straight across from the wreck. Happy days cheers Geoff
Buzzer:
Talking of the RN13 from Cherbourg when I used Truckline in the early 70’s the food on the ships was terrible so it was normal if we were crossing back to Poole for two or three of us to pile in a tractor unit and go about 10ks down the roller coaster RN13 to a restaurant cant remember the name but it was on the nip of a hill on the right hand side and was run by a family, father and mother were cooks and the kids did the serving, does any one else remember this establishment. There were three teenage daughters and a son who was the youngest about 11yo. It was always proper food especially Rungions (kidneys) which was a particular favourite of mine done in a cream source have never forget that taste. The French only always have two things on a plate for main course meat and one veg, not like us where we have two or three veg, the only thing I refused to eat in all my travel’s through that country was tripe and that was in St Jean Du Maurienne on my way to Italy so I had double dose of charcuterie instead, over here we feed that to dogs ad the waitress could not believe I did not want it, cheers Buzzer.
I remember that restaurant John…can’t for the life of me remember the name of it, but as you say was lovely grub.
Your talk of tripe reminded me of my first trip for Frank Allen. To Amiens , a regular tip as you will recall.
It was the first time I’d met a certain Mr Keith Mapson, would have been 1976.
We ended up in a Routier that night. Two innocents abroad…
We looked at the menu and took a chance on ordering a starter and main.
It was sheeps brains for starters and Tripe for the main. Neither of us could eat it and we filled up on bread and red wine…
