How did I end up with the big Ford? Well it was between trips and I was in my local pub when a couple of lads came in as I was regaling my tales of foreign shores. They seemed interested, but what they wanted was me, they knew I wanted another lorry, one of them had a Transcon that was too heavy for his job, a deal was struck and the next day I returned my old Saviem to the scrapyard from whence it came, for very similar money as it happens.
I took the money from the scrap man and took it straight to Dave’s house, giving him a cheque and a cash payment for the ex Rockware Ford, he threatened me and said if the cheque bounced he would pull my fingers off with pliers or some such like. I took this as a gentleman’s agreement and said if it did, he could have the lorry back and to count the cash as a hire fee!
I must regress a little and remind you of my working partnership with Andy, we were mates who had become disillusioned with UK transport and wanted to go further afield, his wife was an old friend of Sharon who was George Ghinn’s partner and Roberts mother. George had once offered Andy a job but being newly wed, he turned it down. Ten years later we were on our way to Europe, during our “uncivil” partnership in the Saviem Andy had met a German girl in Langweid near Augsburg while we were drinking with her brother in a Greek bar 
The plan was to drive up to the nearest autohof, have a shower and come back that night as there was a beer festival on in Langweid Foret. Andy organised a shower at her flat, while I got the keys from her brother to use his shower. Meanwhile the girl prepared tea and her brother got more ■■■■■■ 
It turned out that Hans was on weekend release from prison, such is the rule in Germany and he had to go back on Sunday night. All that needs to be said is that it was a cracking weekend. I had the keys to Hans flat and we never saw him again that weekend.
So what happens now. I own a new to me Ford Transcontinental, my driver has butterflies in his stomach and talks of nothing but Bavaria 
Another friend of mine had a lorry standing and he did a lot of German work. Exit Andy.
Meanwhile I have a loaded trailer for Athens sat in Oldbury so off I pop, fairly uneventful were many of the trips but I always used the Commie bloc after my first trip. This was in 1987 iirc or early 88 and a lot of water and beer has passed my lips since then, but I do remember the good bits, reminded to me recently by a chat in a pub with a driver from GLP - aka Chris Brearley.
It must have been the first or second trip with the Transcon and I had gone down with coke cans from Wrexham, tipped and ended up in Piraeus, with nothing to do I nipped round to Theos with it and Ron the con convinced me he could make it fly for a large handful of drachma. He serviced it and cleaned it up and messed with it. I don’t really remember any improvement in the power but it did feel better after a good service. I knew my mate Rod was on his way down with a Brearley load and he arrived over the weekend, tagging on behind was another Ford Transcontinental which I recognised, I also recognised the driver, as Andy!!!
They had to tip so I hung around as Rod wanted to see Ron. Rod had brought an old school mate Graham down with him and when we visited Ron he explained that some government elections were on, and it wasn’t really safe to remain in Athens.
The job was sorted then. Ron’s partner was a Greek travel agent who could get us some cheap tickets. Dealing with Ron the Con is like visiting Auntie Wainwright We were going to Agistri via Aegina about 20 miles from the mainland for a couple of days. Why not we were all single, the lorries were safe inside the port and we had some spare drachmas, especially as I was picking up some more money when the offices opened again.
Graham is known to us as The General and has been since school, he is a little eccentric to say the least and had us in stitches on the ferry to Aegina. He had turned up with his dads old demob suitcase with a pair of jeans and 3 t shirts, Rod had bought some food but all General would eat was Tuna from a can. During the trip down in Yugoslavia, a border guard had got on the wrong side of Graham when he wanted to look in his suitcase. Graham thought he was taking the ■■■■ or trying to steal his clothes 
It started rather innocuously as Rod was doing his carnet, the Guard knocked on the “passenger” door where Graham was sat and called, “Mr Transcontinental” in a sort of tune, and then barked Green Card, Green Card. Graham ignored him, not knowing the procedure, when Rod got back all hell had broke loose with Graham wrestling his suitcase off this lowly paid guard. The Guard realised that Graham was not the driver and was probably thinking the documents were in this old battered suitcase. He only wanted to check the insurance and extract a packet of ■■■■ if it wasn’t there. It all got sorted eventually and by telling the story it has stood Graham a good few pints over the last 25 years.
So here we were on a fast ferry to a Greek Island wearing what we stood up in, no overnight bags, towels or food, just two furry wallets with chains on them. Andy was crap with money so Rod was carrying his running money from Brearley too. When we got off the second ferry in Agistri, the first thing we saw was a sign saying motorbikes for hire, so that was the first priority and off we went to explore the small island, we soon discovered there were only two policeman on the island, how did we know, because they were both chasing us and caught us, one in a car and one on a motorbike. The one in the car was the Chief, the head sharang and the other was probably his brother or cousin. we just got a bollocking but didn’t really know what for, apart from this being a fairly tranquil island and it must have sounded like the end of May on the Isle of Man.
The Chief of police asked us for addresses and we told him England, and he said, where are you staying on the island? Nowhere yet, someone replied, we will find a hotel later. He said there were only two hotels on the island and one was fully booked, the other would have two rooms to share if we were quick. We thanked him without a fine and then tried to race the other policeman back to the main port area. He stopped outside this hotel and pointed, we parked the bikes and went in to find the receptionist was Welsh. He did indeed have two rooms spare and we were welcome to put our bikes in the yard. We went to the rooms and had a shower and arranged to meet in the bar, when we walked down, the first shock was the barman, it was the chief of police, the biggest shock was that he also owned both hotels. 
As I mentioned I was reminded of this story only last week so I am trying to write it whilst it is fresh in my mind, by the next day we were fairly emotional after being guests of the local police force who obviously isn’t worried about being raided for after hours serving. I do remember getting another bollocking at breakfast from the Greek copper, he said have you lost anything, well after checking my pockets for lighter and ■■■■, room key and motorbike key I said no!
He then produced a furry wallet with the remains of last night, there was about 800 quid still in it and I had left it lying on the bar 
He let both me and Rod leave our money in the hotel safe that day as we were going down to the nudist beach on our bikes. During the evening a coach load of Norwegian students had turned up and we had a good night without becoming too close. Well apart from Rod that was who mistakenly got in the wrong room and went to bed early, these girls returned and went to bed to find an English driver snoring away in their dormitory room. I think he was more scared because he ran down the corridor with them chasing him, like a Benny Hill sketch.
So the fearless four set off to the cliffs on the bikes and looked down to the beautiful clear sea, there was a small bar and nothing else to be seen, except a well worn path which we followed. as it was open we needed a drink and we were just sat at a table when first one and then another two Chinese ladies came and stood at the bar, completely naked, not an eyelid was batted nor a ■■■■ raised, it could have been two sisters and mother but not young sisters, they were all quite wrinkly and we were more embarrassed than them. We soon left that part of the beach and found our bikes again and spent most of the day exploring calling at the odd beach taverna. Like mad dogs we became a little hot and decided to cool off in the sea and went swimming before returning to the hotel. Rodney had other plans and stood on a Sea Urchin. We helped him back to his bike and we rode back to the hotel where some of the girls from the previous night were around the patio.
The treatment for a sea urchin explosion in you foot is to remove each spine carefully without breaking them or digging them out, there is an old wives tale that says if you wee on it, that can help, it must be an old wives tale in Norway too as these girls lined up to ■■■■ on Holtys foot. I doubt it made him feel much better but as he is still talking about it after 25 years, they must have hit the spot Sadly the next day we had to return to the mainland where the election had been run, the fires were out and a semblance of order had returned to Athens. We found several other British drivers parked near us, most of whom who had been fleeced by George at the TIR Diner or in Glyfada over the last couple of days. What has this got to do with lorries? Well not a lot except it was a lorry that took me there, it was lorries that paid for it and it was lorry driving that made it fun.
Here is a photograph of the old road over the Corinth canal
Where to next? I cant remember but I know we ended up in Germany and bought some fuel from the British Army of the Rhine for the belly tanks.
when was The Queens Jubilee Year was it 1977.
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At least I found Le Mistral, The Pub at Bourg and the Bakehouse on my first trip, I never found Jack and his broken Daf though, not until I eventually found out about Jayat