Found this old brochure that I thought might be of intrest. They were a bit rough and ready but I always
thought the bunks were more comfortable than todays ships !
The rest of the pics hopefully bring back some memories ,good or bad ! 
Was that the boat with the portakabin ratchet strapped to the deck for the women to go in, took my now wife out on that boat, classy. Lol
richmond:
Was that the boat with the portakabin ratchet strapped to the deck for the women to go in, took my now wife out on that boat, classy. Lol
Yes, that was Diesel Kate,s accommodation.
Diesel kate wasnt she from nodds of ripon or somewhere up there?
richmond:
Diesel kate wasnt she from nodds of ripon or somewhere up there?
She drove for Nidd last time I saw her ,but she did drive a F10/12 for someone who was at Her Majesties Pleasure for a few years , as soon as he came out he got rid of her and she joined Nidd. Made me smile in the last but one photo of the height of the top bunk , on the Coutance and Purbeck you had a job to get into the bottom bunk due to lack of headroom . The Daf in Framptons colours was driven by Bernie for several years.
brings back a few memories, interesting crossing when it was rough, flat bottom made the boat ride over the water instead of cutting through it making standing up difficult sometimes.
Nice to see the Atkins truck in the first pic 
When the sea was rough didnt it ever come down with a bang scared me to death
Blimey…That brings back some happy memories…I always tried to get top deck so i could sleep in the truck as well… had more sleep that way…nice pics…
wagsie:
:lol: Blimey…That brings back some happy memories…I always tried to get top deck so i could sleep in the truck as well… had more sleep that way…nice pics…
Yes, when I was on GBE we always tried to be outside, good nights sleep then and last off the boat
The grey cells are kicking back in, i remember the arguments with the french waiters the odd fisticuffs with the waiters and when they had finished wiyh your meal they used to throw the food into the center of the tablecloth and just throw the lot. I hated that , pig ignorant waiters used to make me laugh cos every now and then one of the drivers would punch them .
scaniia141:
brings back a few memories, interesting crossing when it was rough, flat bottom made the boat ride over the water instead of cutting through it making standing up difficult sometimes.
Being flat bottomed would not make the bad weather sometimes experienced in the Western bit of the Channel seem any better no matter what shape her underwater profile is. It’s all down to buoyancy, the more buoyant she is the more she will seem like a cork, a good sea ship IS something that rides over the waves rather than plough through them and the slamming experienced is due mainly to a shallow draft combined with the height of the swell. During bad weather the ‘Crouton’ wasn’t really big enough for that route if you poor sailors expected a comfortable ride across the ditch.
… Ooh arr Jim lad, where’s me ■■■■■■ parrot gone 
BTW, flat bottomed boats ships etc came into being when sail disappeared, the long thin hulls (shaped like a ‘V’) on sailing vessels caused them to have less leeway (going sideways) due to the angle of the sail and the wind opposing the required heading of the boat.
Well remember a few Truckline crossings, must be thirty years ago now, seem to remember that when the trip was going to be bouncy they tried to get the meal over ASAP, preferably before you hit the channel and the big waves. Anyone remember the Truckline branded Palmolive soap (assuming the Spanish hadn’t pinched it before you got to the washroom).
I was in Poole one trip loading sand for Guernsey and the ferries weren’t going because of the bad weather, I phoned our managers to inform them we were staying put also only to be told ‘Well, it’s not too bad here, and the ****** ****** has sailed’. Bloody arm holes! they were in bleedin Rochester and the other ship had sailed from Rotterdam 
I remeber once I was last on top deck, and yeah on the bloody lift… I had one to many wine’s with dinner and was woken up by the deck hand… pulled the curtains back and drove off boat in just my undies, and having a left ■■■■■■ you can guess what happened at customs, !! yeah it was a woman, and I had to get out and hand over me passport… lol… not a pretty site I can tell you…!!!
kerbut:
wagsie:
:lol: Blimey…That brings back some happy memories…I always tried to get top deck so i could sleep in the truck as well… had more sleep that way…nice pics…Yes, when I was on GBE we always tried to be outside, good nights sleep then and last off the boat
Remember pukeing my backside up on that freighter a few times in rough weather, i even heard blokes crying because it was so rough it nearly threw you out of bed, in the morning when you got to cherbourg the corridors and toilets were covered in puke.But in summer when the sea was a millpond i use to stare out of the porthole enjoying the fresh sea air venting threw.
Adr freight always went on last and had to reverse up the ramp.
Cherbourg Gendarmes funded the whole French police for with the fines Irish drivers use to get for breaking driving hours , and that git Pinnochio nicked me £400 for not having my adr certificate with me , my bad but £400 was a bit steep.
Remember seeing Diesel kate for the first time at cherbourg i think she had broke down dockside and was waiting for a part when we disembarked a driver give her this part and she started fixing the wagon with her hair in rollers and a dressing gown on lmao.
Also Irish drivers racing to the shell garage at Trelliers ?.Came across a really serious accident once near Coutance oddly enough, as you went down into the dip and the road swept up to the right , two P&O Pandoro wagons involved in a fatal, apparently overtaking each other and a french car driver came the other way and got caught between them, the car hit the trailer and knocked two of the axles off the trailer. What a mess .
There was a sister ship to the coutance ran by a Polish crew in summer and it route was Cean and sometimes Cherbourg .Anyway had a 5 axle low loader on with a bit more tiles on it than it stated on the CMR’s The crew said on the ramp top deck, i said “that wasnt wise” he said" how heavy are you", i didnt want to drop myself in it so i drove onto the ramp MAX 44t was on the wall next to it , Up it went creaking and groaning , all the time im thinking hope this bloody thing doesnt break, it got 1ft from the top and wouldnt go anymore, not surprised my gross was nearly 56t , it went down a lot fatster than it went up , the crew just shook there heads i tried to hide my very red face.
Hi all I have read this thread but I seem to go back to the very beginning of truckline in the early 70’s and was driving for PBC European Transport from Southampton,£35 a week all in.The boss of PBC was ex coalman Franky Allen who is still alive and kicking and lives only a short distance from me today,he was one of the directors of Truckline in its infancy putting money in with others,he also had a French office in Cherbourg which was rare in those days and had half the fleet registered in France probably for permits,remember them ,I drove a non sleeper AEC mandator for that company but not having a sleeper cab was not out of the norm all thosed years ago especially being given the chance to drive abroad,oh such excitement.Anyway my memory of the early truckline ferries is that firstly they only took 12 drivers and the rest were put up in a hotel and flown out the next morning from Hurn airport and picked up by a mad Frenchman in a extended merc limo to go to the port to pick up your truck,of course you were a couple of hours behind the ones that had sailed but it did not seem to matter in them days.On the occasion you sailed my memories of it were that you all sat round a long table and dinner was served,one of the waiters was a young man named Michael but I think he batted for the other side never the less he was very pleasant,If you didn’t like your meat raw you had to get in quick and the first words I learnt was bien quei which means well done,many times I sent it back for more cooking.As mentioned before when it was rough seas it was really bad,once sailed on a sunday night and landed in Cherbourg on Tuesday morning and it took a couple of days before I stopped rocking .I have posted a pic of a banjo I have owned for more years than I care to remember ( never learnt to play it ) and stuck on it is a piece of a sticker they used to give drivers to stick in there side windows,big into sticke all those years ago or at least I remember it that way,definitely a Mary Hopkin moment,cheers Buzzer.
I had heard of the flying over system but it was before
My time, good comment matey