As it’s the weekend I thought it would be good timing for Part 2 of Ian Harpers Monaco F1 experience. In Part 1 we left Ian back in the “Dust bowl” above Monaco where all the trucks park up. Enjoy Part2 and some more cracking photo’s;

The morning after and my phone rings morning can you bring the box down we will see you when you get down so I sets off into Monaco which is as bad and as slow as getting into London city at  8 in the morning. Just over an hour later I’m on the harbour behind the start finish line by the motor homes, this is one busy area all the GP teams trying to set up all at the same time and a lot of them with little sleep as they came straight from Barcelona the night before.

Box off I was trapped in with other trucks so a little wander about, I saw a couple of Procar lads I knew who work for Ferrari and they were shattered but getting on with the job of building the motor homes.

I’m out and away calls made but no backload the may be one near Milan “Ok I’ll head that way then”. Back on the motorway by Ventigmillia the overhead signs are saying 38 degrees and it was luckily the air con was making it more bearable. My phone rings out with a text message “ Go to Curno details to follow “ I had a good idea where I was loading….I was right I was loading in Brembo Brakes, 2 pallets of brakes for Bentley at Crewe. Pallets loaded CMR sorted I’m away up the Brennero not a lot of time left on the day so into the big truck stop at Sadobre by the Italian tolls. Away in the morning over the fernpass , into Germany and there was a huge queue of traffic around the airport at Stuttgart. 2 and a half hours later we move, there had been an accident, a Romanian truck hit a car and flipped it over .

I made it to Luxembourg the queue for fuel was massive so went and parked up for the night and will do it in the morning, shower stock up with coffee and a dvd  then bed early start. Fuelled up and away 6 hrs and I was back in the UK, I knew I wasn’t going to make it to Crewe so started the drive up and got as far as Derby cattle market.  Into Bentley Motors in Crewe security say to me “Oh you should have rang us to say you were coming” on asking why these were some new development ceramic brakes and had to go to the R&D building and they wanted to know when they would be here. 15 minutes later tipped CMR signed delivery notes signed and I was heading back for Manchester and home.

Another good trip with the little Renault Midlum.

Now as it’s Easter weekend it’s time for the third and final installment of Ian Harpers recent road trip to Rhodes in Greece with a little Renault Midlum 7.5 tonner on removal duties. Over to Ian for the final installment;

Day 10
I arrive back in Piraeus not a bright sunny morn but mild and misty. I depart the ferry and take to the road traffics relatively light 30 minutes and I’m on the motorway. Stop at the first toll €8•10 its gone up 20 cents, oh well. I trundle along the 3 lane motorway until the road splits for either Tripoli or Patras , through the second toll which was still the old price of €7•90 then into Patras. I still come in the old way pass the BP right and down to the waterfront as all the immigrants have moved to the new way in there are the odd few this way but whichever way you will come across them. At a set of roadwork’s they all popped out, 2 jumped on the tail lift and onto the roof in full view of a police car with 2 officers watching, fag in one hand and a frappe in the other. I looked over and they say €100 and we will get them!! I just laughed. Pull into the marina and they jumped off and onto the port passing a few more along the way. In the port, ticket collected catch up with emails etc on the free wifi and wait for the Superfast XII to arrive, load and set sail.

Day 11
Once all the rattles and squeaks were either suppressed or eliminated, shower, food, internet then quick look at Ingoumenista, mainly freight getting on Turks, Bulgarians and Greeks. Woke up not to bad a nights kip quick shower and see what kind of day it  is, warm but foggy my phone springs into life with a message from the Croatian tourist board so at least I have an idea where I am. Off the ferry normally it takes around an hour and a half to get off and out of the port as the port is way too small for the amount of vehicles that use it, anyway as I’m one of the last off not too fussed, Surprise! No queue so by 17:00 I’m out the port on the autostrada adriatica heading all points north. I get to Dirkendorf Germany for 04:00 in 9:25 and call it a day.

Day 12
Woke up about 09:00 freezing night heater on and must of nodded off I get up go for a shower and coffee time is going so slow I’ve started to get that “just want to get home” feeling. 13:00 eventually comes around and I’m away through Stuttgart just before it starts to build up with evening traffic. I pass a Davis International, we wave he flashes me in and I’m gone. I pull into the Standehoft total garage and guest house, As I’m getting out the cab “Mr Davis” pulls in and asks “You going for something to eat?” my reply prompted him to park and follow me in. A beautiful curried schnitzel with onions and potatoes and a coffee to swill down we departed, only to catch each other up at Capellen Luxembourg in the queue for fuel, 1hr 20 it took for me to get fuel and away will I make it to the tunnel / All4trucks?

No! I didn’t with the combination of wind rain and heavy sleet that slowed me down the as I pull on to the A8 around Tournai. Traffics stopped. Luckily we all reversed down the road and took another junction to get round the hold up , which was a wide load that had wedged himself between the concrete barriers in the roadwork’s. 01:16 bed.

Day 13
I woke up to some inconsiderate Belgian with his radio on full pelt playing euro pop! 10:30 comes and I’m away, only to make it as far the other end of the car park and one of the Belgian douanes flag me down quick check of passport load and manifest I’m away again, Lille is pretty quiet and up the A16 then again! a French douane flags me down into the lay-by near the house with the WW2 memorabilia all painted in pshycadellic colours. 10 minutes I’m away after explaining I was removals so didn’t need a CMR. On pulling into the tunnel the queue started at the roundabout by the x-ray machine 20 minutes and was in a lane waiting 51 minutes after that onto the train we go. Back in Blighty Woo Hoo!! I ring the customers to see if they will be in today one was in Bentley NR Ipswich and the other North Elmham just outside Dereham.
20:30ish the drops off will I make it back to Manchester? it will be close, as I’m crossing the A17 heading for Newark the trucks owner rings ” how’s it all going” and I said “I’ll be 30 minutes short of getting back to the yard,” no worries ring me and I’ll come and meet you”, with that I’m on my way A1, A57 Sheffield and then the snake pass. I had mentioned earlier in the week that I kept getting the whiff of diesel and when the truck go’s for its 10 week check see if there’s a leak. I prefer the snake pass it’s a lot quieter than Wood Head, so trundling along and I hear a different tone to the truck. The exhaust was blowing “there’s the fumes issue solved”! As I drove as quietly as I could through Glossop the meeting point was arranged at the McDonalds at the M67 we grabbed a brew and then on our way into the yard. By 00:30 that morning shower and in my own bed.

Excellent Ian, thank you very much. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did. It’s a good read and some great photo’s as well. If you didn’t get them, please use the links to go to the other parts of the story. Just to let you know I Have another of Ian’s stories ready an waiting to show itself on the blog, so keep checking back, it’ll be here soon.

Part 1 – Click HERE.
Part 2 – Click HERE.

Here we go again, time for Part 2 of Ian Harper’s trip to Rhodes in Greece. In PART 1 we got to day 4, sitting on the Minoan Lines ferry in Italy waiting to set sail for Patras, Greece and onwards toward his final destination, the Greek Island of Rhodes. Hop into the little Renault and enjoy part 2 of 3;

Day 5
Quite an uneventful crossing. The food is not the best and some of you may be asking why I didn’t get the Superfast ferry instead, well it doesn’t sail on a Monday that’s why. We dock in the new port at Patras just up the road from the old one. I had time to kill as there wasn’t a ferry that day so there was no rush to drive to Pireaus, so I went in the terminal used the free wifi and then got on my way.The immigrants were out in force looking at new ways to get in and on to vehicles for their free taxi to pastures new and benefits a plenty! They are still building the motorway from Patras to connect with Athens and if anyone has driven in Greece they know that even a single carriageway has 2 lanes on it as you drive on the hard shoulder. I pull into gate E1 at Pireaus docks as it is the gate I need and is the easiest to get in too. My ferry is in but it’s not sailing for another 20 hrs so round to gate E3 weigh off and park up where I can. A quick walk to the cafe, kebab n chips, a couple of bottles of beer to take away and into the cab as its blowing a gale and starting to snow. From where I’m parked I watch the unorganised mayhem of the Crete boats loading then slipping away into the darkness of the night.

Day 6
Why is it when you don’t have to get up that you can’t lie in or in my case wake up early and can’t get back to sleep? I have a wander about take some pics of old Volvos, Scania’s and anything else that was worth taking.

My phone rings it’s our other driver Paul he’s in a sprinter van and catching me up as we are both heading for the same Island. Paul had another 6 removals on, all small deliveries for the regulars we deal with. As you do, first thing is a brew then book in as we were both booked in on the same number. Tickets acquired we joined the mayhem of loading. If this was the UK health and safety would have a field day, how no one gets run over is amazing.

Cabins on our own, showered, then some food. Blue Star Ferries are part of the same company that own Superfast but the food on these ferries are run by Goodies which is a fast food outlet in Greece. Saying that the food is cooked warm and plenty of it. We arrive late but considering that the boat had 3 other stops and struggled getting on the docks with the wind they had done well.

Ok we better do some work so the truck was being emptied first then parked up until Sunday when we leave, as the collections were in tight spots etc not very accessible even for a 7.5 ton truck. A phone call and an hour later we are outside the new home, which wasn’t (as usual) finished. The Greeks don’t seem to comprehend time and completion dates.

Any way we could still unload and with extra hands we were done in 2 hrs then a brew and some sarni’s we said our good buys and onto the next job. Luckily all the drops were pretty local to where we were based at Lindos 3. We’re in Lindos itself and if anyone has holidayed there, knows how narrow the streets are so up to the amphitheatre, and take it from there. One drop was in the florists opposite the amphitheatre and another was picked up in a car the last was to a bar on the top road things were going great. 2 more drops in Lardos up the road and the last was where we park the truck at blue line villas. 9pm and we were both empty, shower and bed.

Day 7
It snowed throughout the night and the was still a smattering of flakes on the floor the sun warmed up and it had gone. First job a collection for the truck some people moving back to Whitehaven, it was even tight for the van to get in. 2 hrs and 1 very full 4.3 metre sprinter van later and it’s back to the truck to tranship. Thats the big one out of the way back to Rhodes town, 8 small boxes. Then Falaraki 18 boxes and Krematsi for another 24 boxes we got back to the truck it was cold dark and blowing a gale so shower Chinese couple of beers and bed.

Day 8
As we had done so well with all the collections and deliveries all we had to do was tranship 2 of the collections on to the truck and that was that done. So nipped round to one of our regulars for a couple of hrs for a brew. Graham the manager of the villas came down and said how do you fancy a night out with us, we said yes please so we all went to Lardos meal and a few jars.

Day 9
No rush today so up give the truck and van a wash check them both over then say our goodbyes and a hour drive back to Rhodes town to catch the ferry that night. Nowhere is open at the moment so we had a wander around and Paul has an interest in the last wars so a visit to the war memorial and he takes pictures of the headstones. You may think this a little morbid but Paul is helping the Commonwealth War Graves Comission in a program of logging who is buried where. It helps relatives see and find out where they are laid to rest in peace. It took us an hour or so to do the job and if this helps 1 person out then whats a couple of hours in our lives? Back to the port, kettle on, tickets collected, wait to get on the ferry. Paul was only going as far as Kos as his main collection was on the Island.