The life of a cargo pilot around Europe is probably much the same as elsewhere. Most freight flying is done at night, either postal services or the express parcels businesses. There are advantages, not too much in the way of of ATC delays, though some airports have night time curfews. As most integrators want their flights to leave close to the curfew it can add to the already intense pressures to operate on time. There is also a strange desire to depart on time with very little pressure on whether you arrive on time. A 10minute delay will mean penalties even if you arrive early!
The lack of additional crewmembers is not really a problem, unless you only started flying to meet the mindless sweeties who think the captain is the route to a life of idle luxury! You may even have someone make you a cup of tea, but most of the F/Es and loadies I've met tend not to
be as kind on the eye as in pax flying!
The biggest downside is the hours or so in some crewroom together with up to 20-30 other crewmembers. The only topic of conversation then seems to be how crap the management is, the maintenance is, the hotels are ad nauseum. Another downside is that most freighters tend to be old passenger types converted to cargo. What then happens if you find yourself looking for work in a downturn such as now, you don't have a type that is currently used by anyone who may be hiring.
On the positive side again, if you night / day stop the hotels tend to be of good standard, (crappy hotels tend not to be able to cope with night time cleaning etc, and most operators understand the need for decent rest) The time off can be better than pax flying. You also tend to get some time to discover some of the destinations. Rome is good, Luton maybe not...
It is a completely different lifestyle, some cant cope with the nights, most eventually move on to flying pax. It can however be a most rewarding time if you have the right attitude and enjoy what it has to offer.