I found an old photo over the weekend of me , looking extrordinarily handsome ( and a good deal thinner ) whilst standing on some rocks with an Ocean backdrop…
I recall it was taken in 1976 on route for Italy via the Vent…I’m not sure if the Autoroute was there back then? In any event the company I was working for was unwilling to pay any tolls unless absolutely necessary so we had to take the old road over the " Col " , I forget the name of the pass.
It was a very long haul in an underpowered Berliet and fully freighted.
Anyone have any memories of that route or , even better , photos.
In a later life whilst working down that way I’d regularly use those lanes in the van to miss the traffic heading into Monaco. Hard to believe that it was two way truck traffic way back when…
I did it occasionally: it was all tunnel/bridge/tunnel/bridge - about a hundred of them from what I remember - all along the coast line. Very dramatic! Didn’t the Germans build that stretch of road? Robert
The first time I went that way we ended up in Monaco with an Ergo AEC Mandator. The Law ecorted us out - without a fine - up out to the Grand Corniche. Some of the bends took 2 or 3 shunts. Until there was Veterinary Inspectors based at Aosta, Menton / Ventimiglia was our way into Italy with chilled beef.The Motorway finished at Nice, probably before, but was opening stage by stage. Too many birthdays to remember the route clearly but it was a long way round and we had to cross northern Italy to get to our first drop - Aviano up close to the Yugo border. Jim.
Not sure if the Germans built that road… Interesting to google it later though…
I recall the Italian side very well , with all the flowers and glasshouses dotting the hills and the views of the med. there sure were plenty of tunnels! I remember my seven year old daughter ( now 31 ) counting the tunnels on one trip. I’m too old to remember how many now!
It was at that time Toll free for about a hundred or so clicks and was still the same the last time I did that route in the 90’s.
The main thing I remember though was it was such a relief to get on that stretch after the Corniche!
I recall when they started to move the bottom of the Corniche to make way for the downward section of the autoroute, and dumped it in the sea to made another runway at Nice Airport. There was an article on it in one of the trade mags at the time. The tonnage ran into fantastic figures, and they used blue Saviem tractor units (Richard, stop it now - 240bhp HYB 421N was never on the job - FAKE NEWS!!!), each one pulling 2 x tipper trailers. they made a special road that ran alongside the main road for these so they never had to go on the public road. From time to time you would have to stop in a road block, wonder what was going on, and then hear (and feel) the next load of rock being blasted. The first service station upon entering Italy was an IP (Petroleum Italia), and if you were using Euroshell cards you were always pleased to arrive there, as there were none in France for a long distance before Italy.
I can remember going across the top of Monaco on the Grande Corniche one summer night in the early 80’s when everything came to a stop. Everybody was out of their vehicles looking down on the harbour. It was the annual Monte Carlo firework festival taking place. Somebody said, that night, it was the turn of the Hungarian entry.
Also; I once took the train from Ventimiglia to Marseille and the return fare was ventimiglia lira. Which caused quite a bit of confusion.
Absolutely love the South of France and have fond memories of that part of the world, early 80`s, sitting outside the truck, parked up in the evenings in the summer, warm summer nights, the cicadas doing their thing, a few cold bottles of Kronenburg, a baguette and some cheese and pate, listening to Radio Luxemburg!!
Love it! Quick, where`s that time machine? I wanna go back!
I once delivered a load of new furniture as part of a groupage load for STS of Southampton,
in the centre of Monaco to the Hotel de Paris…I had a police ■■■■■■ in and out, and could only move at certain times…all good fun back in the day…
Check out around the final 15 minutes of the old 1975 film The Romantic Englishwoman starring Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson.There’s some great location filming there and in the mountains behind up to La Turbie.
bullitt:
Absolutely love the South of France and have fond memories of that part of the world, early 80`s, sitting outside the truck, parked up in the evenings in the summer, warm summer nights, the cicadas doing their thing, a few cold bottles of Kronenburg, a baguette and some cheese and pate, listening to Radio Luxemburg!!
Love it! Quick, where`s that time machine? I wanna go back!
Sounds like the perfect cab night in Bullitt. Or should that be Cab Night Inn…
Oh yes. Radio Lux… What memories there.
Strange to think that now, courtesy of an iPhone and the scores of Tuner apps you can get even the most obscure stations from all over the world…
You can’t replicate the sound of an in and out signal on a transistor though eh
It’s an interesting Google about Radio Luxembourg and its early days in the 20’s etc.
And all those DJ names you’d forgotten. Tony Brandon et al
My grey cells have dragged up another memory of my first time over the Grande Corniche. A freezing and foggy October night. Me in a Mandator being led by none other than Scorey P in a DAF 2100.
Me as green as the grass here in County Kerry…
Those who know Pat will recall that whilst a decent , knowledgable and humourus type to run with , he wasn’t one to suffer fools gladly and was apt to be a tad volatile in certain situations…
Not the time to be asking ■■■■ fool questions if he was under a trailer with his famed lump hammer
" adjusting " something…
I recall he once called me a Pultroon for some assumed misdemeanour… A quaint old Irish word, I was informed later over a glass of Schnapps he often carried in the cab, meaning Eejit.
What of dear old Pat these days? I guess he’s in his eighties now and I think he used to attend the Thursday club at Pat Duffys r.i.p…
Hi Baldrick,
Glad to see you had the pleasure of running with Scorey P. I’m sure he was born with that lump hammer in his hand, its known all over europe.
Pat joined us at PBC from Robinsons glasshouses Winchester, surely the lump hammer and glass was not the ideal combination for Scorey P.
I haven’t seen him for some while but gather he is still living in winchester, will look him up and keep you posted.
Ha ha!! No, you’re right!! I’ve never known anybody carry so much in the passenger side as him. Always choc a bloc with chains , tools and god knows what.
A very good fella to have around if something went bang.
Pat would have no reason to remember me in his long career I guess.
I was at PBC from '76 and came and went through the Cabmont and British International years up to about 1980 ( I think! All a bit of a blur now )…
Did our paths cross anywhere ?
Cheers now.
Stuart.
Baldrick,
No our paths would not have crossed at PBC, as I was involved from early sixties to 1973 when I resigned and moved to Penzance. I suspect you drove a K or L reg Mandator day cab which were purchased new by PBC, the original driver probably being Ray Marden from Warminster.
I notice you reside in the Republic a place we had strong connections with as we pulled constantly for Bert Allen of Slaney Meat Co from Enniscorthy to Europe. I guess you were not involved in this work.
Regards,stroker.
An L Reg . I didn’t realise they’d had them from new.
Well used by the time I got in one!
The older serving drivers when I joined were Pat, Dave Noyce from West End , Pete Stansbridge and I think Jim Bailey from Codford.
I don’t recognise the name you mention though.
I know of Enniscorthy in Wexford but never had any association.
About 1972 one of our drivers called Tony Valori turned up in Menton with a load of Irish beef. I was down there with my car and was supposed to show him round the drops in Italy - where to clear customs etc. His fridge had lost its gas en route and the beef was rejected at the border and not allowed into Italy. Our assistant to my father who was TM sent him back to Salsbourg - a German firm that processed Wursts had made an offer on the load, but without the right paperwork he turned up at Menton again and by this time the load stank. I picked up my father in Nice Airport and he paid a local farmer to dig a big hole and torch the lot. A couple of days later a driver turned up with a LB 76 ridgid and drawbar reg. no. SVB300F Ex Asian Transport and he refused to drive any further, so out of desperation,he took my car and I delivered the load to the 5 drops.
I remember the wooden Routiers and the drivers washing their clothes in the river. Jim.
bullitt:
Absolutely love the South of France and have fond memories of that part of the world, early 80`s, sitting outside the truck, parked up in the evenings in the summer, warm summer nights, the cicadas doing their thing, a few cold bottles of Kronenburg, a baguette and some cheese and pate, listening to Radio Luxemburg!!
Love it! Quick, where`s that time machine? I wanna go back!
Just reading your post takes me back there, if you could bottle it you would make a fortune.
Harvey
Baldrick1953:
An L Reg . I didn’t realise they’d had them from new.
Well used by the time I got in one!
The older serving drivers when I joined were Pat, Dave Noyce from West End , Pete Stansbridge and I think Jim Bailey from Codford.
I don’t recognise the name you mention though.
I know of Enniscorthy in Wexford but never had any association.
Best wishes,
Balders.
Sadly , David Noyce & Peter Stansbridge are no longer with us, but I have just spoken to Bernard Thompson(via skype) he had one of the French reg. Berliet’s from new. Bernard is still going well and sends his regards to all…
Regards,stroker.
