Italian Belle Vista

Just a few of the shots I took on my last double driving jaunt through Italy. I also had the pleasure of travelling on the Italian rail system, clean, modern, cheap and very efficient, hang your head in shame Britain!!!!!

Double Drive Mania (The Willi Betz way is now a Rock And Roll normality)

Well I have just returned from a double drive that has lasted over two weeks and because of the new 45 hour weekly rest break for truck drivers, touring europe has changed! More and more tour trucks are double manned so costs go up and so does ticket prices and with the added cost of diesel the future looks grim! Driving out of Dover and heading up the hill to the M20 you would think you had arrived in a third world country with all the foriegn trucks parked by the side of the road and the litter and no toilet facilities the UK is certainly not a welcoming country for international or local haulage!

Middlesbrough

UP THE BORO!

Adiós to The Police!

The concert in Valencia was the last show for Gennyworld and the day of the show we were informed that they needed the generators back in the UK in two days time. After a hectic two day drive we were back in England, tired and still suffering from inhaling the dust that was constantly being blown around the gig and the heat and the biting mossies the cool and rainy weather of England was a welcome change!

KATOWICE TO VALENCIA

I set off driving at about midnight on thursday night after the concert and headed for Valencia in Spain ( it is a long way!) I crossed the German border at Gorlitz and headed for the french border at Mulhouse stopping for a break near Hof. My next stop was near Besacon in France then on to the border town of La Jonquera in Spain, it was crowded with thousands of trucks weekending in the numerous truckstops, so I had my minum 9 hour rest stop and headed south, the french were planning a fuel protest on Monday, good luck to them, something has to be done! Driving in Europe compared to the United Kingdom is a far better experience, the germans and the french have certainly realised that trucks and their drivers are important and the autohofs and the centre routiers are to be admired compared to the total lack of facilities we put up with in the UK. Anyway I could go on and on about the british goverment and the politics of greed, so I won't. I arrived in Valencia on Sunday late afternoon in time to watch the Euro 2008 football final in a local Valencia bar close to the stadium that is home to Levante football club. Spain were the worthy winners!

SLASKI STADION CHORZOW, KATOWICE, POLAND

After three days of driving across Europe, mainly Germany, we made it to Katowice in Poland and we are at the Slaski Stadium. I have made several visits to this stadium in the past and it is being rebuilt ready for the 2012 Euro football finals. We are lucky with the weather so far as it is hot and sunny. Poland has certainly joined Europe now, the borders are open and the prices have sky rocketed!

The Police at Stormont Castle Belfast

Well it is show day in the grounds of Stormont Castle and it has not rained yet, in fact the sun is out! The genny's have been here all week and it gave us chance to have a look around this fine city. after the show tonight, its off to catch a ferry to Scotland and start the long drive to the next show in Katowice in Poland!

On my way to Belfast

After Saint-Etienne the next port of call for Gennyworld and the generators will be Stormont Castle Belfast, Ireland. I drove up through France without any problems and boarded the Seafrance Calais to Dover Car Ferry. Diesel prices have hit 1.55 euros per litre on the motorways of France and Germany. The french-spanish border town of La Jonquera is blockaded by striking spanish truckers my sympathy goes out to all owner operators as what the oil producers are doing is criminal, I expect its a sign of the times that governments are finding it hard to govern anymore as the global corporations of greed and greedy speculators run riot. The pics above are of the City of York.

The Police on stage in Saint Etienne France

The Police start the concert in the daylight of early evening.

The Police at the Geoffroy Guichard Stadium Saint-Etienne

We set off for France staight after the show in Dusseldorf, arriving in the late evening of that same day. I drove through a spectacular electric thunderstorm as I went along the Lyon ring road. Today is the day of the concert and it is a mix of sunshine and showers. The venue reminds me of an old first division English football ground.

Dusseldorf The LTU Stadium.

Since the concert in Marseille we trucked up to Mannheim in Germany were the Police did an Arena show, the Generators were not used because the house power was adequate for the scaled down production. Before the show finished I set off for Dusseldorf and drove up the A3 autobahn and when hauling 40tons seemed liked a giant rollercoaster ride, up and down those German hills! The LTU Stadium has the roof closed today for the concert to protect us from the glorious German summer weather.....not!

On the Road Again

Well we picked up the Genny's last Wednesday in England and set off for Marseille in France, I managed to get on the 8:35 pm Sea france ferry and finally parked up about 1 am Tuesday Morning. After a pleasant drive down the Autoroutes of France listening to Bob Dylan CDs most of the way I arrived at the Velodrome Stadium, Marseille at about 10 am Friday Morning. We are parked up close to the stage ready for the Police concert on Tuesday night.

The Way We Were 1970, “Ah - but I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now”.

This was taken at a Grateful Dead concert in 1970 (life before Slack Haddock and U2)

Stones St. Petersburgh

SEATON CAREW, (from panama to parmo) by Martin Nesbitt.

O WINSTON LINK " The Master"

A great american photographer!

http://www.linkmuseum.org/

U2 - Vertigo (Live In Milan 2005)

Air Freight

All forms of transport are used when touring the world! We have come a long way, since the transit van!

Charlie on the Big Screen

Bookshelf

Reading matters.

Steam Railways NYMR

I went for a drive across the North Yorkshire Moors the other day and ended up at Grosmont Railway Station.

ITS THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN!

Well its time to dust down the old Blog and get ready for more pics and stories from the road, the touring season is just about in full swing so I hope to be blogging in the next few weeks!

Hotel Taos New Mexico

Hotel Taos New Mexico
Originally uploaded by GrahamW

Just an old Hotel I once stayed in.