In the last diary I was headed for the ferry for the return to Holyhead, I catch the swift crossing and am soon in north wales, its thursday afternoon and I’m not due to go out on my next run till friday. As I have an issue with the van I decided to head to warrington to the hire co depot and arrive there around 7pm, as they are closed till the morning I am having a night out outside there yard.
Friday morning soon comes around and I am in Petit Forestiers depot getting them to look at my van, the brakes were very spongy and I have a fault with the rear lights, turns out that I had a seized caliper and the lights had a loose connection. With the work done I head back to Leeds for a few hour as I don’t need to head out straight away.
When I am home I get a call from the gaffer to give me details of my next run, its back to Italy this time its 3 collections all in northern Italy. He also lets me know about the other new drivers, One of them was on his way to Portugal for his second run the other had broken down in Romania in the worst van we have. It turns out that his van had developed a fault with the power steering while in Austria but the numbnuts driver had decided to drive on to then refuse to carry on until the breakdown people had been called. In the end he was off the road for 3 and a half days. Being put up in a hotel for 2 nights. By the time I was starting my second run he was only half way through his first.
As I only have to go to northern Italy I leave home at around 8pm and head for the train to calais, tonight of all nights there are delays as there are engineering works in the tunnel. By 4am I am parked up at the first services on the A25 for a few hours. I get up around 9am and get back on the road, today is going to be a nice easy drive I am only heading for Switzerland today, I head for Lille then on to Mons where I follow the E42 until I get to Namur where I follow the E411 to Luxembourg for some cheap diesel. Now the week before I came this way I went via Nancy on the non toll route to get to Colmar but today I decide to take a slightly different nontoll route. Today I take the A13 out of Lux and head for Saarlouis where I take the A8, When I get to Zweibrucken I take the D962 towards Bitche and then Hagenau, I like this route as it is pretty quiet and being Saturday afternoon there are trucks to try and pass. I’m soon pass Starsbourg and heading down the A35 heading for Weil am Rhein for a diesel top up. Once fuel up I cross the border into Switerzerland and head for my overnight stop near the Gotthard Tunnel.
Sunday morning sees me refreshed and ready for a nice easy drive to my first collection at Castenuovo Garfagnana, I’m soon through the Gotthard and cross the border into Italy at Chaisso after the usual check in the back of the van by the customs guys on duty. I’m soon past Milan and onto the A1 towards Parma where I join the A15 in the direction of Le Spezia, I leave the autostrada at Aulla and start the long climb up to my destination. About half way there I enter a small village and am stopped by the Carabinieri, this is the first time I have ever been stopped by any sort of police in Italy, but seeing as I wasn’t speeding and all my docs are in order I have nothing to worry about. They ask for my license have a look in the back of my empty van and I am soon on my way. Half an hour later I am enter Castenuovo Garfagnana and follow the sat nav to the address I have been given. As what I am collection is phamaceuticals a collection address for a pharmacy is not uncommon. As I enter the village I see that the pharmacy is open, result I think, If I can get loaded today I can head north to my next collection and have a nice easy monday. No such luck the address is wrong I need the warehouse which opens in the morning. I head to the address they give me and park up outside for the night.
The next morning I go to the loading bay of the warehouse only to find out that my load is not here but in another warehouse back in town. As its an awkward place to find I follow a pharmacy delivery van to the correct address.
Once loaded I input the address for the next collection which is in Copiano near Pavia. The satnav decides to take me a different way out of the mountains that I am in and takes me along a road that follows a mountain all the way down, with steep gradients, blind bends, and sheer drops on one side. Now this area of Italy is well known for its marble so I encounter scores of 8 wheelers and Artics going up and down the road. I stop to let people pass on many an occasion as they seem to driver like mad men around here. About an hour later I am back on the autostrada via the A12, A15 and A1, once I get to Copiano I quickly find the collection and head off to Pontirolo Nouvo near Bergamo for my last collection.
With my last collection on board its pretty much the same as last weeks run, as because I am loaded Switzerland is out of the question and due to my location going throuh the Blanc makes no sense. So the Brenner pass it is. Last week I took the Fernpass but it was a pain in the arse in the dark so I opt for the A12/A93 towards Munich filling up just over the border at Keifersfelden. I then carry on as far as Augsburg services where I decided to stop for a few hours break. I was planning on going as far as Pforzheim but decided to stop early and start a little earlier. I would regret this a few hours later.
After a 5 hour break I get back on the road stopping at Zell am Aichelberg for fuel then back onto the A8 towards in short order I am approaching Stuggart Airport where the autobahn grinds to a halt, due to an accident I loose 2 hours here. Had I carried on driving the night before for an extra 2 hours I would have missed the accident and been well in front. Once passed the traffic I crack on with Karlsruhe, Landau and Pirmasens then onto Saarlouis and Luxembourg. As I pass Mons I get a text from numbnust to ask me how I am and tell me hes on his way to Calais. Jez I am nearly at Calais on my second trip and he ain’t even got to Calais on his first. Numbnuts also tells me that the gaffer has asked him to pop in to barnsley on the way to Holyhead to collect some paperwork. Though I think this is a little unusual I think nothing of it and crack on to Holyhead which due to my delays on route sees me arriving at 0030 plenty of time to spare.
Once loaded on the boat I find that I have to share a cabin again so I opt to pay 25 euros for my own cabin. So I grab a quick bite to eat have a shower and am in my bed as the boat pulls out of Holyhead for the crossing to Dublin. Its a pretty much the same as last week once in Dublin. Get to Naas unload and return to Dublin for the 1430 Swift sailing. I also have some good news I have been told to head for Warrington to Petit as they have a replacement van for me. So its another night out in Warrington and hopefully a quick changeover and home as I have been given 2 days off, No Such luck.
Come thursday morning I am told the van is here but is not ready as they are waiting for the tax disc to arrive and the postman wont arrive till around lunchtime. By the time Pat arrives and the van is finished its gone 3pm, so much for a day off. Before I leave warrington I arrange for Petit to contact Mercedes in Leeds to disengage the speed limiter from its mindnumbing 60mph. Friday comes and I take the van into Merc leave it and head home for my day off, best laid plans and all that, I get a call from the gaffer, can I pick him up and take him to warrington as we need to pick up the van I dropped off. He tells me he had to let numbnuts go. And that he has got another driver but he will need to go out as well to get everything done.
Now If anyones read my description about the job they will have seen me say that the job was 14 days on which it generally is but due to numbnuts it has ballsed everything up and we will have to go out for a 3rd week to finish all the collections. Thanks Numbnuts.
I am told to go to the gaffers house on Saturday afternoon as I will have the new guy in tow, As we are a fuel card short I will fuel him up on my card once we are in calais, luxembourg and Weil am Rhein.
This weeks run is a complete pita I have 6 collections in northern italy and 4 in poland. Arriving at the train around 2345 we find out that we have a bit of a wait as its engineering works again and the next train is at 0140 by the time we load the train is heaving. Once over the water we head for the first services on tha A25 for a break. After a few hours break we follow the same route as last week as far as Lux we then follow the toll road after Metz to Strasbourg then the A35 towards Colmar am in to Weil am Rhein for some diesel. This new guy also has a bad run, Starting in Firezne, then off to Napoli for 5 collections, upto Genoa and the over to Toulon. We carry on through Switzerland and finally part company just after Como.
My first collection for Monday is Borgo Ticino which is north of Milan. I arrive in the pouring rain just after midnight park in at the collections addresses car park. Up bright and early in the morning I am soon loaded and on my way to my next collection in the centre of Milan, I arrive at the collection point to find its an office building and the office I need is on the 11th floor an I have to double park as there is no where else to go. I hope I don’t get a ticket. It turns out its a dodgy address again and I have to load in a warehouse a short distance away. I soon find the pick up point and am on the way to my next collection point in Morfasso which is a small town in the hills south of picacenza. After following the most stupid route offered by the sat nav and not the sign posted route I eventually arrive at the collection point to find that they arent expecting me and they will be a few hours yet. My next collection is in Bologna and by the time I get away from morfasso my arrival time in Bologna is 17.30 but I’m in luck as when I arrive they are still open so I manage to get loaded and am on my way to San Dona Di Piave which is just past Venice. I arrive at 20.00 and get my head down for the night.
Tuesday morning and I’m quickly loaded and on my way to my last Italian collection at Muggia just south of Trieste. Again its a quickly load up here and the start of a long journey to my next collection in Warsaw, Poland. Now from here I could Slovenia but as our fuel card at the time didn’t cover slovenia I had to go via Udine to get to Arnoldstein to fill up. When I get to Arnoldstein I can’t find the diesel station so I head for klagenfurt to fill up there. I then head for Vienna and the Czech republic, I fill up just short of the border and pay 17 euros for my czech vignette. I pass Brno and head for the polish border near Ostrava. Now I have never been to the Czech Republic and found the road network to be very good right until I got to the border. Then all sense of logic vanishes. My sat nav is telling me to take routes that don’t exist so I use my noggin and follow the road to Katowice where I pick up the 1 as far as the 8 which I follow all the way to Warsaw about 2 hours short of Warsaw I stop for a few hours break.
By the time I wake up I see the real state of Polish roads in the cold light of day and though there is plenty of road works going on especially on the 8 the road conditions are very poor. As I approach Warsaw I hit the first real bit of traffic that I have seen for the last few days, but I still manage to get to my collection before they open. I am quickly loaded and on my way to my next collection which is only about 6 miles away on the south west side of Warsaw. But today of all days is the day the local taxi drivers go on strike and cause gridlock it takes me nearly 2 hours to drive 6 miles but I finally arrive at my collection get loaded and head to my penultimate collection in Lodz. As I am leaving Warzaw around 1030 I catch a glipse of a thermometor to see that its already 29 degrees. After a few hours drive I am in Lodz and loaded and quickly on my way to my last collection in Leszno. As I arrive in Leszno I again see a thermometor finding that its now 35 degrees I find my last collection point and get loaded and turn in the direction of Frankfurt de oder and home.
I’m making good time until I get as far as Magdeburg and the van starts making a sucking sound and goes into limp mode, now this is all I need, I ring the boss and let him no I’m having problems and tell him that the way I am going Im going to have to stop and call out the breakdown people. As its now the middle of the night I decide that I will try and make it to Hannover before I stop for the night but as I carry on the van starts to get slower and slower and with the wagons flying past me I decide to call it a night as get to Helmstedt services.
Thursday morning is another hot day as I wait for the breakdown people to sort themselves out and send someone to me which happens around lunchtime when a recovery truck arrives from near by marienborn. As the van just about drives I decide that I will follow the recovery truck to the garage, where they quickly establish that a pipe to the turbo has split and caused my problem. Its soon fixed and I am mobile again reaching calais by about 10pm. Once back in the UK I make good time to Holyhead where I am booked on the 1150 crossing to Dublin. I quickly get to Naas and tipped and on my way back to dublin for the 2055 crossing to North Wales. As its a quiet friday night I manage to get my own cabin and crash out for a few hours kip. The boat arrives on time in Holyhead and I get home around 0400 in the morning.
That was May’s collections and deliveries done or so I thought but thats another story for another time.
maybe next time 