Fred's Blog

That was my day - that was

2011-11-18T23:42:00.000Z

Well, a fairly easy last couple of days to round the week off. Thursday saw me in Kingston-upon-Thames and Andover and today I have been loading the van for our run to Spain tomorrow. Mind you I say loading the van. I loaded it, un-loaded it and reloaded it, couldn't get it all in properly first time around. All done now though and off to find some sunshine in the morning.

That was my day - that was

2011-11-16T22:43:00.000Z

Well not such a long day today. Left home at about 12:15pm, ran down to Slough to load and up to Manchester. 404 miles, 1 sandwich and 1 cup of coffee later back home at 9:30pm. Traffic in Manchester was naff!

That was my day - that was

2011-11-15T22:28:00.000Z

Well, up at 6am and after a bowl of cornflakes and a cup of tea on the road 30 minutes later. A quick run up to Preston and then on to Stockport and from there to Long Eaton in Notts. From Long Eaton to Lincoln and from Lincoln to Leicester. Leicester to home. 475 miles later I arrived back home at 8:30pm. A pretty normal day if you drive for a living. Oh yea. 1 sandwich, 1 cup of coffee and about £90 in fuel.

I've got a heater!

2011-11-11T22:33:00.000Z

I've been driving around the country with a seized up heater control. Seized on cold! Not too bad on short journeys but if you have to run to Wales and back a different story.

The heater control, hot to cold, seized up on the van a few weeks ago and I have just managed to get it fixed. It meant that the dashboard had to come out and I decided that I wasn't going to do it, too cold out there at the moment, so I took it into my local friendly mechanic. He quoted me £250.00 plus parts which from Mercedes were nearly £300.00. I did a quick Ebay search, the source of everything you could ever need, and got the bits needed for £60.00. The van went in to the workshop yesterday evening at 5pm so that the mechanic could get an early start this morning and I collected it at 4pm today and guess what, the heater WORKS!! Yippeeee. It's great.

You don't realise how much you use the heater until you haven't got one. Back in the 60's a lot of cars, certainly the old bangers I could afford weren't fitted with heaters and you went out in the winter dressed as if you were going mountaineering and these days if it isn't fitted with full air con you don't want it. How times have changed.

My most used Route to Spain

2011-02-12T22:39:00.090Z

I have been asked by several people for the route I take down to Spain. So here it is.

Dover - Dunkerque - Rouen - Dreax - Evreax - Chartres - Tours - Poitiers- Bordeaux - San Sebastian - Vittoria Gasteiz - Burgos - Madrid - Albacete - Murcia - Arboleas/Albox.

I will add detail in the form of coordinates but please remember that the coordinates for the outbound journey and the return are different. (you stop at different places each way even if it is only the other side of the road.). The return route will be in a separate post.

Before I add detail here is some basic info that may help you have a better journey.

Motoring in France is no longer cheap with fuel (diesel) at 1.40+ Euros per litre on the Toll roads and with the addition of tolls to pay it is getting very expensive.
Buy your fuel at a card only fuel stations. i.e. Carrefour, Leclerc, Auchan, Simply or any other fuel station that doesn't have an attended service. You will save up to 15cents per litre.
Don't try and do the journey in 22hrs, yes it is possible but what you gain on the journey you will lose when you get to the UK making up for your previous lack of sleep!
Drive for 2 hour stretches and have a short break of 20/30 minutes, walk about for a bit and have a coffee or drink water. Artificial boosters, Red Bull and the like are, in my opinion, totally unnecessary and again, in my opinion dangerous. Yes, they give you a high for a short while but when you come down you are left feeling lower and more tired than if you hadn't drunk it in the first place.
Reduce your speed. Driving slower requires less concentration therefore you will last longer before needing a long break or stopping to sleep. I regularly do a 16 hour driving day, day in and day out by following items 4 & 5.
If stopping to overnight along the way somewhere stop in well lit areas and not where it is dark. Most of the stops below are OK for night stops.

The Detail:
I generally try to land in France with an empty fuel tank and fill up at one of the two options near Calais. Please bear in mind that the coordinates are for the exact location where I stop and are DIFFERENT for going north and south. I will indicate if they are accessible from both directions. although I have listed everything as a stop I don't stop at every one of them but adjust my stops for approx. two hour driving intervals or a night stopover.

Stop 1. Total Garage one mile off the A16 towards Calais. Terrible coffee, very clean facilities, open 24/7. If going to fuel up there at night take your passport to the cash desk and they will switch the pump on for you. Coordinates to follow. Accessible from all directions
The alternative is a Carrefour station open 24/7 (card only) where the fuel is generally a few cents cheaper. No coffee or facilities. 50-57-10.7N 001-53-20.1E (that is fifty degrees fifty seven minutes and ten point seven seconds North. Zero zero one degrees fifty three minutes twenty point one seconds East) Accessible from all directions.

Stop 2. Aire de la Baie du Somme. Shell Garage approx. 70 miles from Calais. Normal motorway price for fuel. Good coffee clean facilities. Coordinates 50-10-05.2N 001-45-21.6E. Accessible from all directions.

Stop 3. 100+ miles and approximately 2 hrs down the road and approximately 20 miles before Rouen. Shell garage, reasonable coffee, clean facilities, open 24/7, good night stop. Coordinates 49-40-41.7N 001-20-15.9E. Only accessible southbound.

Stop 4. An additional hour and a half and a small Toll further on and approx. 200 miles from Calais. Total Garage generally good fuel price as just down the road from Leclerc card only station. Reasonable coffee, clean facilities. not 24hrs. I think that the opening hours are 6am - 10pm. Coordinates 48-44-52.5N 001-16-14.8E Only accessible on the outbound journey.
The alternative is a Leclerc card only station just before this on the outbound journey, no coffee or facilities. Coordinates 48.46.32.1N 001.12.39.9E This station is situated just off a roundabout and is accessible from all directions.

Stop 5. Aire de Poitiers Jaunay Clan. Approx. 375 miles from Calais. 24/7 Motorway fuel prices. Reasonable coffee, clean facilities, good overnight stop. Coordinates 46-42-15.9N 000-22-15.2E (you are just on the eastern side of the Greenwich Meridian here) Only accessible on the outbound journey.

Stop 6. Auchan Poitiers. 24/7 Approx 400 miles from Calais. Card only, cheaper fuel, no actual facilities but right next door to a massive shopping centre so possibly facilities inside. Coordinates 46-32-58.6N 000-17-57.5E. Accessible from all directions.

Stop 7. Total garage (bottom of the RN10 not far from Bordeaux) 24/7 Approx. 500 miles from Calais. Good coffee Very clean facilities. Coordinates 44-58-59.2N 000-25-94.7W (You are just on the western side of the Greenwich Meridian here). Only accessible southbound.

Stop 8. Details to follow

Stop 9. Repsol garage, 24/7. Cafestore Cafe. Approx 750 miles from Calais. Good Spanish coffee, attended clean facilities 24/7 reasonable fuel prices. Coordinates 42-52-38.0N 002-42-52.9W. Only accessible southbound.

Stop 10. Ermita del Porto de Somosierra. Approx 900 miles form Calais. Cepsa garage open from about 6am to 10:30pm. Hotel across the road for good coffee and clean facilities. Coordinates 41-08-05.5N 003-34-52.5W. This is the only place name I have come across that is printed in red on my map. google it and find out why! Accessible from all directions.

Stop 11. Area 108. Approx. 1005 miles from Calais. Not sure if this is 24/7 or not. Very good coffee and very clean facilities. Coordinates 39-54-44.3N 002-44-35.7W. Only accessible southbound.

Stop 12. Details to follow.

Return trip details (Albox to Calais) will be posted as soon as I have the coordinates.

Fred's Blog - the ups and downs of a life on the road

2011-01-31T19:55:00.006Z

Hi All

Several people have suggested that I write about my life on the road so here goes. I will try and put things in chronological order but I do sometimes get dates and times muddled. It's an age thing but I'll do the best I can.

How it all got started:
I have been in and out of the transport industry for many years but the European side of things really got started several years ago when a friend of mine who is living in Spain asked me to tow a boat out for him. (I will add some pictures a bit later) This I duly did and spent a day or so relaxing in the Spanish sun but at the same time bemoaning the fact that I had come down with an empty van and not only that but I was going back empty as well. Not a commercially sound thing to do. Anyway, a few months later I had another phone call from my friend asking me to tow another boat to Spain. What, I said "have you sunk it already". "No". He replied "I've sold it"! A few weeks later the same scenario, relaxing in the Spanish sun and bemoaning the fact that again I had no return load. Back home to the UK grotty weather, even worse traffic and the usual grind and yep, you've guessed it a few months later another phone call asking me to do the same thing again. I couldn't believe it but wasn't going to refuse the chance of some Spanish sunshine! I duly complied but this time while sitting in the sun my friend suggested that he put an "ad" on the local Forum for me advertising my services. And that folks is how my regular runs backwards and forward to France, Spain and Portugal got started.