GRIM REAPER BUILD

Collecting the Hearse from Bocum, Germany.
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600 mile round trip in 3 days.

The planning of the trip started as soon as we got back from the show in Germany. Lefty and I sorted out dates with Gerd and Marlees and we got the ferry booked for the ever trusty Passat estate and trailer (this would be it's second trip to Germany to collect a car.

On 6th September 2004, Lefty and I headed for Dover and got the 02:30 ferry on the 7th. We arrived in Calais around 05:00 and set off for Bocum. As with many of the trips we do to Germany and Holland, the first stop was Jabbeke services for some much needed caffiene intake and a bite to eat.

Our next target was get around Antwerp ring road before it got too busy. Hmmm.....not quite so easy this time. The ring road had been under re-construction for some time and the layout of the road works had changed since our trip earlier in the year. Combined with a bit of tiredness and lack of concentration on my part, we missed the exit we needed and ended up heading into Antwerp city !!!

However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the road we should have been on was at a complete stand still, but the inner ring road we ended up on was moving quite freely. The end result of this was probably a fairly decent time saving.

Soon we were in Bocum, meeting up with Gerd and Marlees and getting the hearse loaded up, ready for the trip home.

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Loaded up ready for the trip home.

The evening was spent with Gerd, Marlees and Martin, a few beers, a good meal and a late night in preparation for the trip home.

The next morning we set off back to Calais. The trip was pretty uneventful, except for the moment I realised we weren't going to get back to Dover, without having to buy some fuel - UNHEARD of in the Passat, as it was always run on a company fuel card at no expense to the driver (except for paying the tax benefit of such a perk!!). This was much to Lefty's amusment and he's never let me forget it!!

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