when i found out i had to go and collect it our selfs, the planning began. till i broke the rearspring outrigger on the right side of the 109" s2a from 1962. we planned to leave on friday, 22:00 local dutch time (9pm british time) only the night before that, we got the poor landy back, fixed, and we hoped that it would hold out the trip (the whole landy) i worked a long day that friday, loaded up the truck, engine crane , petrol can's and 2kg's of liqorish (next to the lager) i could get a 1,5 hour sleep and there we went, the part trough holland was good, even in the dark with heavy rain, belgium was not to bad, but they have to mark the road better..... finaly we got to france, at the port of calais, where we checked in, even with the illegal petrol can's (warning everybody, they don't think light on this!!!) and we got the drug dog check and for illegal immigrant's. the boat trip was just over 1 hour, and then the trip really begun, we went for the tourist route from dover to hasting's and it was nice, so nice we started worrieng about the load and brakes... climbs and descents of 16% and monuments proved that crashes do happen. after a "team meeting"at a little restaurant, we went on and did the dutch thing, if it happens, we sort it out on the way. we found the first addres, loaded up the engine, the crate was just slightly bigger than planned,but we managed to get it in. we pay'd and left, to collect the other engine and gearbox (serie's 2 stuff) got it on the truck, with a lot of trouble, soft soil and not enough height with the crane, so the time came to show the lot what a strong bugger i was, and it did work. on the way back, we stopped at a big supermarked, and i am proud to have my client card so shopping is more fun :-) i got my Guinness and cadbury's and finaly i got a british cellphone number :-) we let te car do the work in lower gears to get to the top of the hill's and slowly went down (it's a 3/4 ton model and with us inside and the freight it was just 0,5 ton over the limit) and we went to dover, id card check on the way on, in france we could drive straight throu. we drove to belgium, we did not have a clou about the time, every fuel station was closed, even the streets where empty. (later in holland we found out it must have been 20:30 thats 7:30pm british time) over in the town of knokke-heist they set a diversion, we followd and we got back at the same spot, we disided to find our own way, and drove to antwerpen, and then in to holland. after the port of rotterdam, i felt tired, and when i was home i was exausted. the trip lasted 27,5 hours of driving, on the boat but no sleeping. it was wurth it, and i think that's how we got the name the dutch nutters. cheers, arjan and klaas. "the proud dutch nutters"
- posted
18 years ago