Four wheels are very much better than two, pre Brexit collection.

[garbaldy]

well I've debated writing this long enough so put it to the vote and it was a close one at 48 to 52 so here we go.

 

A friend and I had a crazy last minute fiz for adventure and with Brexit looming we had discussed the possible impact on purchasing abroad, ive already had the insurance letter stating they are removing my EU 30 day cover so now was the time to shoehorn yet another mad dash before all hell brakes loose,

 

It was Saturday and that can only mean one thing collection time I had already done an 8am localish collection and spent the day running around left right and centre and then all of a sudden it got cold and dark before I knew it,

shit I've been pishing about all day and never even packed my kit bag, I grabbed the trusty well travelled bag and threw some bits and bobs in it.

 

 

I think that should do it so a quick coffee and a sit down to relax for half an hour or so which absolutely flew by and it was now time to set off.

on the stroke of 9.46 pm

 

 

I jumped into the landie as I've had it for yonks and still actually never driven it further than on and of the trailer.

 

 

It was bloody cold and I was well wrapped up and I got aprox half a mile before I quickly realised fuck this thing is shite, it stots about like a demented energiser bunny wired to the mains,  the PO did tell me it still had the petrol leaf springs and they are 11 leaf and with the 200 tdi engine being lighter I will need to address that, needless to say I've had it all that time and never even looked at it oops,

Of course that was the least of my worries as the stark realisation began to set in that this thing is dog slow being that it still has all the petrol running gear and I had to settle in for a rather slow run on light throttle as the engine was revving its bollocks off, I did think about aborting the first leg and heading back for the car but I'm not one to admit defeat so settled in for a cold 15 miles.

 

I arrived at the friends gaff and was glad to change motors, 

we set of into the night and since it was pitch black no pics until we arrived here,

 

 

And had some utterly shit breakfast roll,

 

 

And spotted the first chod of the trip which is a bit shit really as pretty much everyone will have seen it before. 

 

 

Then we where called and daylight was upon us,

 

 

And even spotted prancer

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stuck the beeny on and tried to get a wee kip in the van as its been a long day without sleep but the trains a noisy old thing so sleep didn't happen.

 

 

TBC

 

 

go knows what the score is with the pics its never done that before on the lappy usually just from the phone.

[garbaldy]

Well after a rickety train trip through the pipe with no sleep we hit France running and were off,

 

 

 spotted this lovely multi coloured polo

 

 

some nice bridge,

 

 

and big blue signs

 

 

and on a pit stop to fill both us and the van look what pulled in in front of us, lovely

 

 

then all of a sudden we had snow and it started to get really rather heavy.

 

 

another quick pitstop and the last one of the day.

 

 

Then we found a local hotel to settle in for some well deserved food and sleep.

 

 

the snow was still falling.

 

 

Whats this then.

 

 

Ah that's better and not bad distance in under 24 hrs. and not forgetting the extra 15 miles in the landie.

 

 

 

We left  at  11.10pm on Saturday evening and did

Scotland, England, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and into Poland in under 22 hrs with the last spell in torrential rain and then snow and we where in Swiebodzin for 9pm Sunday for a nights rest.

[garbaldy]

After checking in we sat down to a well deserved lunch and I plumped for a pork chop and my pal had roast beef dinner.

 

 

It looked a bit strange with some kind of coating on it but was really very nice and juicy,

Two full meals two pints and two coffees all for 13 euros, not at all bad,

 

After watching the tv and speaking to some other guests it was time to see what 45 euros gets you.

 

 

 

wow a double bed and a single in one room then in the other room a single bed and a double sofa bed, so in effect a room for six people.

 

And a big bang light too.

 

20190311_090528.mp4

 

Breakfast was quite nice too and plenty coffee to set us up for the day,

 

 

And while we where sleeping this arrived and parked next to us,

 

 

It was a lovely hotel and way better than I was expecting,  we mulled around for a bit so I took a few snaps of the hotels suroundings 

 

 

 

 

 

sorry for the pics on the tit I did take them all with the phone the same way so fook knows

[garbaldy]

Now todays journey was a short one as we had some bad news from the seller and was in two minds whether to just turn turtle and head home but more of that later.

we set off south and the roads where a little more sedate in places since we had deviated from the motorway.

 

 

we saw loads of these recovery trucks carrying three cars with twin trailer,

 

 

Then we came to the first toll road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another pez stop

 

 

During a pitstop for fuel and food I spotted some old tat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wuvvum]

I don't think I would've been able to resist that orange Polonez.

[garbaldy]

Vw factory was pretty large infact all the factory's  where massive

 

 

this was the longest block of flats I've ever seen

 

 

see still going.

 

 

 

 

I think the sat nav got seek of motorways and sent us down some back roads but the scenery was definitely much better

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TBC

 

 

 

 

[garbaldy]

I don't think I would've been able to resist that orange Polonez.

 

 

yeh I'm kicking myself really but my mind wasn't in the best place worrying about the sellers early morning phone call.

[Wingz123]

Theres the damn forum switching the pictures up again. So bloody annoying. Happens to nearly every picture I upload too.....and its taken up the correct way!!!

[paulplom]

Great thread. What mpgs are you getting with the custom. Mine's shite and I struggle to hit 30mpg.

[lesapandre]

I am no expert but a tip. If after taking the pics you open picture editor on your phone and narrow the pics slightly they then tend to load the right way up. Bit of a faff but it works for me..

 

 

Epic drive fantastic thread.

[bangernomics]

Fab thread this thanks for taking the time

[garbaldy]

Theres the damn forum switching the pictures up again. So bloody annoying. Happens to nearly every picture I upload too.....and its taken up the correct way!!!

 

Yes its bloody annoying and its even lay pics on the side that I took with phone upright so no idea, 

 

Great thread. What mpgs are you getting with the custom. Mine's shite and I struggle to hit 30mpg.

 

With me driving it hit the dizzy highs of 28.4 mpg and with my mate it was 26.5 mpg but we weren't hanging around mind.

 

I am no expert but a tip. If after taking the pics you open picture editor on your phone and narrow the pics slightly they then tend to load the right way up. Bit of a faff but it works for me..

 

 

Epic drive fantastic thread.

 

unfortunately I have hundreds of pics and they are now on the laptop as ive never had bother posting from the lappy till this lot.

 

Fab thread this thanks for taking the time

 

why thankyou,  I have to say I'm glad I never attempted live updates as its a right ball ache from the mobile.

[martc]

Repeat after me 'there are no emissions coming out of that VW factory'.

 

[garbaldy]

After some scenic driving (we will skip a dozen or so pics) we were steered towards the faster roads yet again and its about now that I was wishing I was in this instead.

 

 

Back on some faster roads we started to get the pedal down once again and we where motoring south towards the warmer weather.

These motorways where so new that they where unfinished with skeleton signs everywhere for miles and miles, the Polish have really thought this road building malarkey through as there are rest stops aplenty and regular fuel and food outlets with huge lots to park trucks.

 

 

oops I spoke too soon here comes the white stuff yet again, luckily it only lasted around 60 odd miles so didn't slow progress to much.

 

 

And we are now approaching a city.

 

 

 

Some nice gravity defying art work in this city,

 

 

Some river shame the dull weather makes for poor pics, just have to come back in summer I suppose.

 

 

And its starting to get busier as we near the centre.

 

 

All of a sudden I started to feel a tad hungry not exactly sure what brought that on though,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[garbaldy]

As we pulled over to look for a hotel for the night whats this then,

 

 

bloody some chair that is although I bet I would slide off.

 

 

 

So here we are checked into the centrum dikul hotel in Wroclaw and we were supposed to be on or way back home now having agreed to meet the seller at 1pm which was a bit of a bummer but hey ho life's a beech and all that. 

 

A rather large room with two single beds which had some funky control pad to do make the beds dance.

 

 

 

 

 

[garbaldy]

After a quick shower it was time to find some grub as the belly was grumbling.

oh look a toe nail grinder,

 

 

A short walk down the street

 

 

and we where in the main square which was absolutely lovely, pics not exactly brilliant as the phone doesn't seem to like the led lights.

 

 

 

 

oh look a pizza hut lets investigate.

 

 

Ordered this little lot and now bust

 

 

 

I really don't think much of the taxis here mind so best just walk back I think.

 

 

That's day two done and even though we are supposed to be heading west again we might still have to head south depending on the sellers communication in the morning.

 

TBC

[garbaldy]

Repeat after me 'there are no emissions coming out of that VW factory'.

 

post-3747-0-40312600-1553118045.jpg

 

Don't be silly it only goes into low emission mode when being tested.

[garbaldy]

So day three and up bright and early breakfasted and all ready to roll, no pics of breaky as well you all know what breakfast looks like,

After a long chat with the seller we are go for take off again so off we trot out onto the open road once more, well city road,

 

some lovely buildings here

 

 

 

and some lovely legs too

 

 

lovely cobbled street but what's that in the distance

 

 

oh and old pickup

 

 

a what

 

 

oh looks like an Iveco

 

 

yup definitely has Iveco DNA

 

 

Not much tat around really but the view makes up for it.

 

 

I would have loved to stop and pick up this wheel trim as it was huge must have been of a bus or something.

 

 

And as we merge onto yet another motorway we finally say goodbye to the city.

 

 

 

[loserone]

I can't get any closer to the front of this seat

[garbaldy]

back at warp factor motorway and we where making great progress on some really good roads which where actually pretty quiet.

 

 

spottings where thin as usual but something strange about this tipper

 

 

yup wheels cock on.

 

 

 

 

 

hundreds and hundreds of miles and only the second cop car spotted.

 

 

some sojers

 

 

I think these large domes where road salt

 

 

and dotted regularly along the main roads are these council depots or road departments all with pretty new machinery parked up.

 

 

the pics don't really show just how much black smoke was pouring out the back of this wee merc and the old woman was oblivious to it

 

 

I still cant get over how empty the roads where for pretty much most of the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

[garbaldy]

I can't get any closer to the front of this seat

 

I bet your also wondering why no trailer then.

[garbaldy]

more empty motorway

 

 

what's this an airport were not far from our rendezvous point now thank fook.

 

 

one last factory pic just because I like misterbishis

 

 

and were now off the motorway and onto back roads again

 

 

 

 

 

anyone want to buy a house as this is our view from the meeting point.

 

[BL Bloke]

I can't wait to see what it is. 

[binhoker668]

LOVING this thread fella.  Keep it coming!  

[garbaldy]

So we are now at the meeting point and call the seller who says the guy we are meeting is running late, no shit sherlock we where meant to be meeting him yesterday at 1pm, never mind not one to get down so lets have a mooch around and fill in some time.

 

what's this then

 

 

 

I wanted to take this home with me,

 

 

 

 mucho wanto this trabbie there was quite a few parked in this yard but unfortunately no one was about so we didn't hang around.

 

 

wee power ped

 

 

and we even found time for a bit of train spotting

 

 

 

and house spotting

 

 

not overly keen on the electric supplies though.

 

[Jim Bell]

What a write up so far.

 

Thanks for sharing, and couldnt give a fuck what it is.  Getting us there is half the fun!

[garbaldy]

What a write up so far.

 

Thanks for sharing, and couldnt give a fuck what it is.  Getting us there is half the fun!

 

I only wish I could have done a roaming report as its always good to revel in others misfortune  

[BL Bloke]

What a write up so far.

 

 

 

Agreed. Part collection thread, part travelogue.

 

That Trabbie looks really nice.

[garbaldy]

When this trip was meticulously planned in approximately 5 minutes over a coffee it was set to a fairly tight schedule, hence I asked my boss for Mon/Tues and maybe Wed  to which he said yeh sure fire away, well I'm not one to be told twice holidays.

 

Plan was so simple as in Sunday am nip over to Germany find hotel and sleep get up early Monday morning and drive into Poland and down to Krakow to meet the courier for 1 pm,  then simply hammer back west as far as possible before hoteling it ready for the final fling home on Tuesday, well that was a shite plan wasn't it,

instead we have spent all day Tuesday filling in time while waiting for a guy who doesn't speak a word of English and who wont answer his phone or messages to us or the seller, never mind at least its not to cold in the van and we could have a sleep,  yeh right have you ever tried to sleep in a bloody van cab never gonna happen for sure. 

the seller eventually got the courier on the blower and said he was an hour from us which was a bummer but never mind at least he's made contact finally.

 

And as if by magic he's finally arrived, I snapped a couple of pics and then got stuck in with the worlds speediest transfer.

 

 

 

 

Piff Paff Poof and we have unloaded three bikes and chucked two in our van and one back in matey boys van, I think we must have looked well dodgy to the locals but hey ho lets go.

 

 

 

And we wave goodbye to the place we have been stuck at all afternoon good riddance,

 

 

The seller was called to confirm we where loaded up and homeward bound and he was happy enough and then told us what had happened with the courier,

Now these bikes are purchased form Odesa in the Ukraine and he said that they do not like exporting for some reason, what was happening was the courier was taking one at a time to Hungary and then shipping them up to meet us,  apparently someone on the border had been caught with 20kilos of drugs and everything was clamped down on and he was stuck  with one bike either side of the border hence the days hold up,

anyhoo its not important anymore as we where motoring west again.

 

That's enough for tonight as my fingers canny take the strain.

 

TBC

[stormee]

That piece of covered meat was a Schnitzel!