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Expedition Diary Turkey Next morning, after an unsurprisingly late start we crossed the bridge into Asia. We found a most delightful pseudo-campsite by a beautiful lake near Izmit and here we paused for some much needed work to be completed on the Land Rovers. It was a relief to be able to refresh ourselves with a swim in between shifts. We were looked after by the adjoining hotel staff extremely well - they brought us fruit and snacks and refused to let us pay for anything! After learning that we could not fly the microlight from the proposed airfield as it was now military only, our only option was to begin flying again at Ankara's main airport Esenboga: the Turkish equivalent of Gatwick - a rather daunting experience for our little plane! The night we reached Ankara we camped again on the side of the road and just as we finished dinner, the traffic police turned up and we thought we would have to move on. The smooth chat and pink leaflets did the trick again and the policemen left, having given us gifts of melons which they just happened to be carrying around in the boot of their car! A few minutes later, the local Chief of Police appeared and not to be outdone immediately offered us cucumbers and chillies! They had also brought their camera and after a short photo session they bid us goodnight. Perky set off from Ankara airport the next day for Sivas and the rest of us set off on a long drive. When we arrived we found Will and Toby being looked after by the police again and we camped just beside their caravan. We ate some local kebabs and had an early night. The next stop was Erzurum an "Alpine" town at 5,000 feet where the Turks come to ski in the winter. We treated ourselves for the first time to smart rooms in a hotel with en-suite baths with hot water and all, such luxuries! We sampled some fantastic local food and again killed some time there as we waited first for Pinky's fuel line, which had snapped, to be repaired at the local tiny Land Rover and then for Mutley's fanbelt to be replaced - we were still having more than our fair share of mechanical problems. 
The Land Rovers headed toward Dogubayasit (affectionately known as Dog
Biscuit for reasons of pronunciation) where we found a rather grotty but
fabulously situated campsite. It sat above the town and below stunning
Mount Ararat, next to the ruins of a beautiful palace. The views were
magnificent. Here we finally met up with the traditional overland route
to India, and bumped into our first fellow travelers. Andy, a kiwi
motorcycling from Bombay to London was able to give us some very useful
tips on travelling through Iran and Pakistan and some wonderful dates.
We also met some Germans and Swiss travelling in various ways around
Europe and Asia, and Dave who was looking into climbing Mount Ararat
without being arrested.
We stayed here for a couple of days whilst waiting to get clearance for the microlight to fly into Iran. We were half an hour from obtaining clearance when the shift changed and it would have been a case of waiting another 3 days minimum, so we decided to get moving and Tiger was again brought out to trailer Perkey. So on to see how we fair at the Iranian border with the Microlight on the ground. |