From Coast to Coast

31.05.2013
Left Sultanhani at the crack of dawn or 07.45 heading for the Mediterranean, across the Taurus mountains. Great drive after leaving the dusty plains at Konya. This is downtown Turkey that the majority of tourists who stay at the beach resorts never see. The roads are really rubbish and pothole dodging is not amusing. There are great improvements being made by dualling nearly all the roads we have travelled but it is a work in progress and could be good one day. Unfortunately it seems that the quality of build is sub-standard and by the time one carriageway is upgraded, the other has deteriorated again. Some ruts are lethal, and the number of breakdowns at the roadside is enormous. In addition to this, thou have to watch for shepherds deciding to graze the flock on the other verge without warning, (but they always wave as we pass......and are now riding donkeys instead of walking), tortoises risking life and limb to get to the other side, and the odd car taking a shortcut home down the hard shoulder towards you.
Speed limits are universally ignored despite a highly visible police presence with radar guns. Motorhomes are rare here and people stop and stare as we pass and usually wave happily at us. But the tough side of life is the sight of (mainly) women bent double hoeing the weeds under a blistering sun in the hard baked, rocky and dusty soil. There is lots of agriculture on the plains (and we know they are self sufficient) but it seems mightily inefficient even to me who knows little. And how they can work, covered from head to toe in that heat I don't know. Sailing past in air conditioned comfort makes us realise how fortunate we are and blessings are counted.

The Silk Road.......next stop Samarkand

30.05.2013
Leaving Goreme for a short leg to Sultanhani for one night. Most people required revictualling and we will not be passing much in the way of civilisation for a couple of days so first stop was the Kipa hypermarket at Nevsehhir (apparently a  Tesco  operation). As these don't appear to open until 10.00  (now confirmed) a small convoy decamped at 09.30 and by following the leader managed to miss the entrance and cause chaos by performing a mass u-turn across the dual carriageway. This was then exacerbated by Ken& Malc heading down a slip road to the underground carpark before realising there was no way out and max. height was 2.5mts......eventually we all parked in a service road
and left Pat on guard duty whilst we attempted, yet again, to find the supermarket in a shopping mall.
The big problem though was the discovery that they didn't sell alcohol.....although Bob asking for pork chops on the butchery counter nearly started another religious war....oops. To find beer, we had to traipse round to the back of the mall where it felt like dirty old men in macs buying porn trying to get beer. (Note local brew is Efes @ 5%   and costs 4 lira per 500ml can or about £3 a litre which is quite expensive but there is no competition. )
So , on the (definitely in need of repair) road across the plains , hot & dusty, passing camps of nomads-black tents are Kurds, white or blue are Romani and the ever present shepherd with his flock. Saw  our first Caravanserai, the Silk Roads equivalent of a motorway services for camel trains and stopping, found that it had been restored and was now used as a feeding station for modern travellers. Built in 1230, these places were safe places to  feed,water and bed the camel trains and were a days camel walk apart ( 35km I am informed). Some charged, others were free, provided by rulers who saw the benefits of trading routes passing through their lands. So we had 2 glasses of tea for about 80p and reclined on cushions in the cool of the great stone arched roof.
Our nights destination, the campsite at Sultanhani, itself an oasis from the dust of Cappodacia was in an orchard and very pleasant. We walked into the very dismal,dusty,town with a group to find the Caravanserai , which is supposedly the largest & best preserved, and symbolically marks the start of the Silk Road as routes from the coasts to the north, south and west converged here to begin the 4000 mile trek to Samarkand where an identical building marked the end. It was built by Sultan Hani, was free to use and had, within its massive walls, a summer courtyard, winter covered quarters and a small mosque.. outside the town is grim, little to be had from the handful of coaches who pass through for a brief visit as there's  nothing else to offer.....not even a bar serving alcohol so a cold beer's out of the question. In the evening we joined Ken/Jackie/Malc/
Christine/Alan & Pat for a meal cooked by the site owners wife. Very Turkish and a very pleasant evening.......note: carpet shops abound and even the site owner tries to sell  some by spreading them all over grass. We passed shops of people stitching rugs and sewing carpets but as soon as you look at one you are besieged by the family trying to get you into the shop....too much hard sell, need to back off, everyone agrees.

UNDERGROUND CITIES

29.05.2013
A day of leisure (at last) with no planned movement or excursion.
Since we had to cut short Monday's trip, we hired a taxi and went to Kaymakli on our own to see the underground city about which all the others had waxed lyrical. It is very hard to describe this phenomenon as it sheer size defies belief. The cities were mentioned as long ago as 400 BC and are like an ant colony carved from rock . There are over 100 tunnels here going down 7 levels but not in a way you can follow. Some levels are only accessible from 2 or 3 levels higher or even from levels lower. There are churches, wineries, food stores, stables, wells,   ventilation shafts and living quartets. Passages can be sealed with huge millstones that roll across in a groove. Some tunnels are too small to stand up in, others are enormous. They were apparently finally abandoned as bolt holes after the ending of oppression on Christian communities, about 1600 years ago. Fascinating.
Returning to camp we took a walk to a nearby rock church 8th century and unrestored according to the guardian who showed us around and then insisted that we share a pot of tea with him. Fresco's on the walls & ceilings, tortuous staircases & tunnels carved in the rock and the best millstone bolt stones we have seen.
Back at the ranch, we had a street party dinner down the road with everybody bringing their own thing, followed by boules which was finally floodlit .

The Balloons of Cappodocia

28.05.2013
One the selling points for this trip was the chance to go on an early morning balloon flight across the hills so despite not feeling 100%, Bob booked me on one along with ONBF & Richard & Monica. All the others seem to have been put off by reports of 2 fatalities last week when one balloon came down on top of another, but in fact the safety record is quite impressive. There are 21 companies doing commercial flights with 194 balloons; of those, 140 are used regularly and the others used for training by the organisation we booked with who are the training authority & licence all the pilots; it takes at least 2 years, many hours , and $65 000 to gain a commercial licence; this was the second accident in 25 years.
So 04.40 this morning , in the dark we waited for buses to take us first to the HQ for tea & croissants and then to the launch pad. There were 96 flight plans filed for today, equating to at least 1500 clients! It could have been chaos, with probably 96 nationalities but these Turkish boys know a thing or two about a mass balloon launch, and I thought they were great. As the dawn crept over the hills, balloons started rising from behind every hillock until everywhere you looked the sky was full. The weather had been cloudy but as the sun rose the clouds gradually  melted into a perfect day. It was like a giant has waved a bubble thingy across the sky. The flight took us over this amazing sandstone landscape carved by millions of years of wind,rain and ice into a fantastic spectacle and the pilots took the balloons into valleys, up ridges and then high up to view land as far as we could see. All too soon we landed, perfectly, with hardly a bump, and suddenly the ground was filled with Landrovers & trailers appearing from tracks & gullies trying to get as close to each landing as possible so as not to inconvenience us by having to walk too far. Champagne & cakes, an opportunity to buy glossy photos taken  at the launch and a memory stick recording of the flight taken by the pilot on a remote controlled camera and downloaded as we supped our drinks. Great organisation giving a superb experience.
It seemed weird to be back at camp at only 08.00, but many had got up at 6 to watch.
At 10.00 we had a guided walk from the site through something called the Red Rose valley, 3.5miles according to Joan's pedometer. This was mainly downhill, getting close to the houses and churches carved into the limestone, stopping at 2 makeshift  bars for freshly squeezed orange juice ( available at every street corner in Turkey so far and great value.....this was a bit pricier as everything had to carried up the tracks) tea & apple tea .  When we reached civilisation  there was a nice restaurant waiting for lunch and then a coach back to camp.

The Sultan's Revenge

27.05.2013
Up at 6am to watch around 100 hot air balloons taking to the air from the valley floor...a truly amazing sight. However I had to beat a hasty retreat when the dreaded Gippy tummy bug struck. I manfully joined the coach for a visit to the outdoor museum but had to retreat and after being sick spent the day on the bed. I am not alone so a restaurant in the last couple of days may be to blame.

On to Ccentral Turkey

26.05.2013
A cracking drive through great scenery only spoilt by some awful roads to Nevesehir ( Newcity, but most of them seem to be) As we drove across the Anatolian plains there was little sign of human habitation, but what there was appeared to have been recently built.
A furious debate had erupted the night before, isolating the 2 Garmins which appear to be on a different planet. However, the smug tomtoms discovered there be dragons on their routes and they refused to follow the route recommended by our guides for the last 30km. Normally everybody treats this as a challenge for embellishing tales of derring-do and no harm is done, but dire warnings were issued not to approach our camp from east as it involved an incredibly steep cobbled road with a series of hairpins used by coaches that took no prisoners. 'Nuff said. All the satnavs however thought we must be a bunch of woosses and were determined to have us up this mountainside. Sanity prevailed as the women forbade anyone to attempt it, and Alan & Pat looked relieved at the group pledge to follow his notes. Most satnavs were switched off with 35km to go as we all got sick of ever more strident instructions to head off into outback.
We all arrived safe & sound to a site on the top of the hills with superb views across the weird lunar landscape of Cappodocia and the Goreme Valley and National Park. The rocks are very soft sandstone, sculpted by high winds,rain & snow into huge conical formations that people have tunnelled into, carving great underground cities many levels deep.
However, last nights fun was the arrival of a French tour and a German tour at the same time with only space for one group we all congregated under Ken's awning to watch the cabaret which lasted a good 45 mins and ended with the French abandoning their vans in the roadways and going off to the camp bar.
This meant nothing moved and the Germans with ill grace had to settle  for also camping in roadways, so close to each other they   would not have been allowed in the UK.  The problem is a lack of sites (the Turks do not camp or travel in motorhomes) and the growth of tours like we are on......and talking to a charming French lady later, their route is almost identical to ours.

Ankara....wow!

25.05.2013
Whilst Ankara existed long before the Turks settled in Turkey..... Alexander captured it on his way through....by the time Attaturk chose it as his centre of operations for the wars to depose the sultans and then fight the war of independence against the Greeks, it was a very run down affair with mud streets, called Angora. After his successes, he eschewed Istanbul with all its connections to the Byzantines and the Ottomans and moved the capital to the newly named Ankara in 1923. . There is a very small old town and ancient fortifications with stunning views around but the city is fantastic and deserved more than the day we spent there. We started at the Attaturk mausoleum which has to be one of the most imposing ones of its type. Simple but magnificent and we saw many wreath laying ceremonies by both small any large groups.....many children....the museum dedicated to his life and achievements was awe inspiring and the galleries depicting WW1 and esp. Gallipoli were tremendous. Top spot. A couple of museums......wonderful roman tablets & friezes -....nice lunch apart from the absence of alcohol to drink,
it being Muslim....mooch about the city centre and then to the largest shopping mall we've ever seen. There was a supermarket in there but it took 20 mins to find it and panic had set in as we only had 40 mins.  Everybody desperate to stock up on beer as supplies running dangerously low... This place was
enormous and packed on 4 floors.
Turkey has a young population....50% under 25 and average age 28. Its also self sufficient , growing and supplying all it needs. It also has the oil & gas pipelines from Russia, Georgia, Iran & Iraq as it is considered a stable regime. I'm very impressed with turkey. Ankara is a stunningly vibrant city, reminding us both of Tokyo looking exceedingly prosperous.

Turkey 6 - Constantinople 3

23.05.2013
A cracking day but very tiring. Spent the morning at the Topkapi palace which was a great experience  but marred by the crowds. These places are in grave danger of being overwhelmed by the sheer weight of numbers and of course we are part of that problem so its no use getting all holier than thou. The Alhambra in Granada has a ticketing system, controlling the numbers by booking  time slots and that seems to work so may be the way to go. Had a forgettable lunch at a Best Western hotel overlooking the Bosphorous, then the highlight was the Blue Mosque which doesn't need me to say how  beautiful  it is. Go see. Next on the list was the basilica cistern, a massive underground chamber built to store water for the city by the Romans, followed by the Grand Bazaar which I think is just an enormous tourist trap. It IS enormous and you can probably find anything you could imagine in it but it is mostly full of things you don't want.....
From there back to the campsite, 2 hours away. Traffic horrendous and if we get through Istanbul unscathed it will be a miracle......
I haven't mentioned the couple we came across on the campsite at Edirne, Mark Millward & Claire Rugman  who are cycling from Bristol to New Zealand. They have a website www.grandbiketour.co.uk  so follow their progress. They have chucked the rat race and are taking 2 years to have an adventure and are really nice people. We left them heading for Istanbul then onto Georgia to avoid Armenia , Iran, Iraq & Syria which doesn't sound like much of a choice to me. Wish them luck and follow their progress.
24.05.2013
The long haul day...330 miles to Ankara. Left at 07.00, although several others left at 06.00 in a vain attempt to avoid heavy early morning rush hour traffic. I suspect Istanbul is always manic and hitting the main ring roads at 08.00 was no better or worse than 07.00 or 09.00. Our electronic toll transponders seem to work OK . the traffic police were everywhere and have the most amazing collection of unmarked vehicles......revealed when they turned on the red/blue lights to chase offenders ......we reckon it was like refs at a scrum-blow your whistle every time because someone would be committing an offence, and if not now, they would next time. The best ones were unmarked motorbikes that looked like off-roaders but had the red/blue lights in the rear topbox.
The route to Ankara was straightforward, mostly unremarkable but with some good scenic bits. We again travelled with ONBF  and had a pleasant lunch at a service station bigger than your average Tesco superstore. Had minor problem finding the campsite as the TomTom let me down for once or they've   recently moved the airport . ONBF followed the supplied route notes and we didn't , ending up in the back streets of Ankara and taking  a  horrendous effort to get sorted....we were not alone however as most people had an amusing tale to tell......
The campsite is basically awful , being a piece of waste ground ringed by a security fence and belonging too and adjacent too, a 5 star hotel, who's facilities we can use. Imagine 5 star hotel reception lobby with wedding guests and conference delegates into which wander bedraggled campers in t-shirts, shorts and sandals with towels over the shoulder looking for the showers. The campsite has one water point which is next to the pit for emptying chemical toilets and has 2 electric sockets for 10 units......
The showers are in the basement and basically designed for guests using the sauna or swimming pools.......weird or what.
To top it all we had a meal there in the evening which was a help yourself buffet which was OK.
Weather v.hot .  Ankara is enormous and since it mainly stems from 1923, very modern.  Built on a series of hills and valleys, the approach is stunning as it seems to go on forever.

Turkey 5 - Constantinople 2

22.05.2013
A day to explore by ourselves. Eschewing offers to go with others we decided we would rather move at our own speed and as Tacsim Square is described as the central hub of modern Istanbul, it seemed a good place to start. Having cracked the tram system, we rode to Kabatas and then took the extremely modern funicular to Tacsim. The focal point is the monument to Kemal Attaturk...and you really have to visit Turkey to experience the reverence with which he is held.
We had tea at the most expensive place, paying 10tl instead of the usual 2.50 tl..........I am astonished that tea is the preferred drink rather than coffee, and served without milk in thistle shaped glasses it is quite delicious and refreshing. Turkish coffee is a bit of an acquired taste and actually twice as expensive as tea. We then just wandered. Headed down the main street towards the golden horn, diving off down side streets as the mood took us. This is where east meets west - the main street could be anywhere in Europe(almost) but go 20 yards off and its a different world. And anything that can be traded is sold on the streets with some looking like giant car boot sales .  There's little pressure to buy, generally just a polite invitation to view the wares on offer or to step inside a shop. ... everywhere people just trying to earn a living anyway they can .
Nice lunch close to the Galata tower which we ascended afterwards for a fantastic panoramic view of the city and then meandering through the streets down to and across the golden horn.
I will gloss over the evenings entertainment at the folklore show and dinner. A Dervish can only do so much whirling , the belly dancers probably double up as lap dancers and as John Cleese said ' will someone's shut that bloody bouzouki player up'

Turkey 4...Constantinople 1

21.05 .2013
Up at the crack of dawn as our coach into the city-where we shall stay in hotel for 2 nights -  leaves at 07.15 . We wondered why were leaving so early to rendezvous with guide at 09.15 when we were only  travelling 48 km but we hadn't experienced the Istanbul traffic nightmare. Turkish population is 75m of whom 15m live in the city (which is not even the capital) with 3m cars, all of whom appear to be the streets at 08.00. Actually, they seem to be on the streets until midnight and might well be around later than that for all I know. Our bus driver , Nazeem, who also drove us around Edirne, is superb if not terrifying and was very unlucky to try using the hard shoulder ( like many others) to get to  an exit from one carriageway only to round a bend into the waiting arms of the traffic police who were everywhere. Discussing the matter at lunch it seemed that there was a lot of sympathy for the guy and after I found out from the guide that they had relieved him of 77 TL ( about £30) it was suggested that 1 organise a whip round so we put in 7tl a unit and gave him 70 tl  for which he was extremely grateful.
Istanbul  is a great city. We visited the  Dolmabahce Palace,  the Spice Bazaar, the main Post Office in search (eventually successfull) of the elusive motorway toll stickers ( of which more later) and the Hagia Sophia. We cruised the Bosphorous for an hour which is just as congested as the roads with hundreds of ferries and pleasure steamers trying to avoid Russian oil tankers coming from the Black Sea.
Had a cracking lunch at a fish restaurant, crossed the Golden Horn by the Galata bridge and followed the old city walls which are only second to the great wall of China. Everything lives up to expectations in size and magnificence. Reached our hotel - very central, in university district-  at 18.15,  and after a shower and freshen up set off at 20.00 to explore at night with ONBF plus Richard & Monica. Cracked the tram system(3 tl a journey by buying a jeton to get through the turnstiles. nb £1 = 2.65 tl). Went down to the golden horn and walked along the waterfront and then walked back up to Sultanahmet square to see the Blue Mosque illuminated. Crowds everywhere and bars and many shops still open at midnight when we finally got the tram back to the hotel- only 3 stops. Great city for walking; never felt threatened;  locals only too happy to help with directions and information and there is a real buzz about the place. Today we do our own thing and meet for dinner and the inevitable belly dancing show tonight.

Turkey 3......its hard to be original all the time

20.05.2013

On the road to Constantinople on the scenic route which wasn't but which was patrolled by numerous traffic police monitoring ridiculous speed limits which dropped from 110 to 70 to 50 on  a dual carriageway at each minor junction, the 50 kph lasting for maybe 200 yards. We had the pleasure of a police car for some 10 miles who were obviously debating the options of a Mexican shakedown before deciding we weren't worth the bother and taking off with a salute and a cheery wave. We pulled off at various fuel stations in search of the elusive motorway toll transponder always to be assured that it was available the next Shell station....   its like Portugal - everybody should have one but nobody knows where to get one and we will need one on the long haul to Ankara.....which my ever faithful TomTom informs me is an area of limited mapping and there may be dragons......so much for modern  technology.
Tallking of which I upset ONBF again by ignoring the daily route recommendation (whereas they didn't )  and following the TomTom arrived at our campsite 30 mins before them after having turned off the suggested route with only 12 km to go....  albeit having to traverse 6 km of something that could never be described as a road. However they were not amused but who wants to follow step by step instructions slavishly ? It turned out that 3 of us followed our satnavs and found the shorter, quicker route , much to the despair of team leader who provides these routes and feels let down when people ignore them.......
So .....  close to Istanbul. A lovely rural site with bullfrogs in the pond making a racket like a pack of hounds and we are by bus in the morning for 3 days of sightseeing in temps of 30+.

Turkey 2

19.05.2013

A very pleasant evening when we had our first invitation to join Malc & Christine, Ken & Jacky for drinks......these 4 are joined at the hip and are pure Yorkshire and met on a trip to Greece last year....there has been no evening socialising at all so far, apart from this foursome who do everything together. The problem is that we have a group meeting at 6 pm to plan following day,  which interferes with sundowners and food preparation so everybody goes back to eat at 6.30 and then don't reappear. Anyway, last night, it now being so warm, (34 in the van) everybody was sitting out and they called over for us to join them with the expected overflowing of alcohol.
It must have been good as there was some deliberate shutting of windows around us at 10.30 (incl ONBF) so we were obviously being  a bit raucous.
This isn't to say that the group hasn't gelled because it has. There are 16 of us plus Alan & Pat, our guides and Bob & Maggie, their understudies who might take over next year but who have the least personality of any in the group and are basically ignored by one and all. The rest  get on very well and are a very interesting and extremely well travelled lot - I doubt there's a country in the world that someone hasn't visited ( we feel very amateurish by comparison). But whilst everybody takes wine it is generally  in moderation as we may have to drive the next day.
So we are camped outside Erdine (the only campsite)
run by a brute of a women who only speaks Turkish & German and yells at any infringement of her unwritten rules.....our coach driver for today drove into the distinctly scruffy and iffy campsite ( which is not much more than a field) without apparently
reporting to her first and another Balkan war erupted putting all previous ones to shame.
So today (a national holiday commemorating Attaturk starting the war of independence against Greece) we visited the monument to the siege of Erdine in one of the Balkan wars against Bulgaria which documented the atrocities committed by said Bulgars  and probably ensures that the many school /children  being taken there also grow up hating the Bulgarians . Then to the Selimye Mosque, very big and beautiful (6000 regularly pray there) and the first mosque we have entered in a Muslim country. We had lunch by the river, very Turkish, very good and then to a museum of a hospital school  that was founded in 1484.. v. interesting. Weather v.hot and very interesting thunderstorm late afternoon with hailstones like golf balls for all of 10 minutes.
Tomorrow off to Constantinople.

Turkish Delight.......it was going to be said sometime

17.05.2013

An early start for a short journey but everyone paranoid re entering Turkey, having right paperwork, getting visa etc. In the event it was hard to figure out what all the fuss was about. Road from Alexandroupolis was crap of the nth degree but toll free only capped by the first Turkish road which was cobbled for 8 miles. Filled up with diesel en  route and took opportunity to top up with LPG causing consternation as they couldn't believe I had a hybrid engine running both diesel & LPG and therefore had to show them what was required.
Border crossing was simple enough although a bit tortuous as the customs wouldn't look at you until you had been to the police window ( next one along and the same person)  and bought the visa (€15 each) ...and why in € when the currency is lira ?....smacks of fistful of €'s across the border in the morning..until eventually we had the the right stamps in the right places and were on our way.
Had to cross the centre of Erdine with notes from our leader but TomTom had better ideas and we found the campsite without problem. Others ( such as ONBF stuck to the notes (and their Garmin)  religiously and we last saw them heading into downtown  Erdine as the roads got smaller & smaller.
They eventually arrived an hour behind us having had to travel  another 30 miles to extricate themselves from the city centre.....not sure they are still ONBF  but I am spending more & more time with Malc & Ken who can't help being northern but can produce alcohol out of the ether and who appear to have limitless supplies.
Weather now v.v.hot. ....it's 8pm and temp in van is 34. so everybody outside chatting and drinking.......
(and being bitten by things  they'd rather not think about)
Campsite is basic but acceptable...a field outside Edirne with low voltage electrics and hot water.. and apart from us there is a group of 6 Italian vans  and another of  12 German vans so traveling in groups very much the norm.
Nb an impromptu boules session saw the men regain their honour by winning 2-0

At leisure

17.05.2013

Walked into town last night along the beach and promenade. Very bustling with wall to pavement cafes and restaurants. Today was cleaning and tidying, then a stroll into the town again for coffee and a beer. Economy might be bust but the bars are full of Greeks and a smallish glass of beer costs €4 which I think is expensive. Beach is scrubby and nothing here makes us think that we would return even though seafront is reasonably attractive. Weather hot & sultry in the high 20's and forecast to get hotter.
Tomorrow the trip really begins as we head into Turkey and negotiate the border crossing near Edirne which may or may not be fun. We are well stocked with bottled water, food and drink and the water tanks are full as campsite showers may well be avoided for the next 30 days ( along with the toilets).
We are  camped next to a guy called Mark who has ridden  a motorbike from England za and is on his way to India via anywhere ending in -stan. The bike is a Husqvana  trail bike specially modified with paniers and oversize fuel tank and extra-all-terrain tyres. He came down through Albania which sounds like an experience for the young and adventurous and is extremely laid back about the perils ahead after Turkey. Good luck, Mark, I hope you make it safely.

It's all greek to me.....

16.05.2013

Part of being in a group is discovering like minded fellow travellers, so it will come as no surprise that I have linked up with Malc and Ken who can't pass a bar without stopping and who have well stocked cellars on board. Their wives, Christine and Jacky, are also like minded, so we had a nice walk along the beach (stony but nice views) visiting the numerous emporiums whose sole purpose is purveying strong drink.........so we are now best buddies.
I am not intending to ditch ONBF as the car will prove very useful, and whilst they are entertaining, they try to have 3 non-drinking days a week (with varying success, it has to be said). Whilst laudable in itself, it does get in the way of jollity as I discovered when we all had a meal in the restaurant on wed. night together.u
with Richard & Monica. (Bob having taken to her bed, after I had fed her I decided to accept the invitation to dine with the others as life is to short.....)
The campsite restaurant setting was to die for....a terrace perched over the beach, all flowers, blue tiles and canopies looking over the Aegean. All Shirley Valentine. Had a cracking meal but whilst I thought I was being abstemious with a half litre of red the other 4 had a small beer each..........very odd.
Thurs morning and Bob back in the land of the living thank goodness albeit now coughing. Left Plaka at 8.30 with ONBF ( we travel in 2's for company, assistance and arguing over the route and my TomTom is invariably correct and superior to a Garmin). Longish drive 260 miles but at Alexandropolis Municipal camping by 13.30 after part interesting, part boring journey.....nb few if any services, even on  toll roads so have to divert off for fuel and rest breaks which then becomes a lottery as to whether you can get back on motorway as it's not always guaranteed.

Home of the Gods

15.05.2013
The joy of being best friends with caravanners is that they have a car to transport you to the supermarket which saves time as you don't have to stop in route.
So we popped into town to stock up on essentials such as ouzo and found a very drinkable CDR Villages at a mere €2.99 in Lidl.
Easy drive to Plaka which is close Mt. Olympus but no sign of any gods let alone Zeus. May to sacrifice a virgin or two as Bob feeling distinctly under the weather and has now taken to her bed. Is it serious ? Its in the lap of the gods.

All's well.....

14.05.2013
Puncture repair only took half hour but they got lost trying to remember where they'd left us......
On the road  and arrived KASTRAKI BY 13.00.
Fairly spectacular drive into mountains with lots of hairpins. Weather not good but cracking group meal in restaurant. Fairly refrained drinkers and ONBF not quite of the usual standard.
Trip by coach to monasteries perched high on mountain crags very interesting. 7 of us elected to walk back to campsite as weather stunning, views magnificent and finished up at a taverna for lunch.
Everybody out for evening drink and things loosening up nicely. Bob is not well having found a cold somewhere and feeling below par last couple of days

Off to Greece...first calamity

10.05.13
The meal was very good and a motley crew has assembled who are well travelled, interesting and not taking things too seriously which may prove a problem for our revered leader sometime in the future. We have made instant friends with one of the 2 caravanners  Geoff & Sue who are parked next to us, arrived at the same time and seem to be on our wave length..... and may prove handy for transport with their car.
11.05.13
At leisure. Into San Marino by bus (with a crowd of fellow tourers) which is not so much a country as a shopping mall and pizza parlour. Pleasant enough place with great views but little to warrant lingering. Nice lunch with our new best friends .
12.05.13
Left campsite at 9am  for run to Ancona (119 km) where we boarded ferry overnight to Igoumenitsa  in Greece. Farcical loading procedure involving much shouting and swearing which could have been avoided by simply explaining where they wanted each unit to park instead of assuming we were mind readers. Left port at 14.00 - ETA 08.00/09.00 depending on who you ask. Bob not feeling too well.
Food & drinks on board Minoan Lines extremely expensive - 42€  for dinner for 2 indifferent plates and 2 drinks. Good chat with Geoff & Sue, now officially  our new best friends ( or Onbf ) sitting on the deck in glorious sunshine as we sailed the Adriatic. Passable night in cabins as the camping deck was full . Times all to cock as Greece is CET +1HR  and the boat operates on Greek time always. So up at 06.30 but docking was 09.00 and not 08.00 as we had been told so a lot of sitting around.
When we rejoined vehicles Geoff found flat tyre on caravan ( double axle jobby.... V.expensive on toll roads). Managed to reinflate and we followed them to nearest fuel station ( diesel 20c cheaper than Italy so everybody needed to fill up) where nice man got in his car and led them off to a tyre shop. We stayed at fuel station and are waiting for them to return as I type..(unless they've been sold into slavery already)

The merry band assembles..

9.05.2013
From Bellinzona to Parma was uneventful apart from chaos at the Italian border where one or other of the customs were on a go slow. Fortunately I spotted a seemingly empty lane for caravans, overtook 2 lanes of stationery traffic for 500 metres and whipped through without anyone seeming to notice or care if they did. We were probably caught on CCTV and have a European arrest warrant out. The mirth was short lived as we ran into hell on earth transiting the Milan tangential or the product of the M25 and. spaghetti junction.. Chaos was a polite description. Then on to Parma and a very pleasant little campsite in the countryside at Tabiano, a thermal spa town.
10.05.2013
To San Marino by 1pm and meeting up with the rest of the group who seem a happy bunch. We have drinks and a meal this evening and and no doubt there will be more to say on group dynamics in a while.

Into Switzerland...

07.05.2013

A good run through the Vosages after a brief but unnecessary detour into Nancy for supplies of bottled water and red wine ( I wanted to make sure that we had plenty of the essentials on board as Greek wine is crap and Turkish is expensive and Italian supermarkets not as plentiful as elsewhere so as we were heading into Germany via Switzerland  decided to stock up asap on French wineboxes. We had to cross the centre of the town at 9.30  ... And I mean centre... to find the Auchan S/M which was not good and expensive and then discovered lots of better options on the route.....) Anyway, we are now sorted . Spent the night at Bad Sackingen in aire @ €10.

08.05.2013

Great run down to the Italian border, with stunning views of snowcapped mountains (Bob was most upset when I discovered that the pass over the St. Gottard was still closed)  stopping at incredibly expensive Swiss campsite which is OK but close to motorway and noisy. Bob did the driving from Bad Sack.. down to Kussnacht and managed to negotiate gods own traffic jam round Zurich and roadworks from hell on the only single carriageway joining two motorways between Schwyz and Altdorf that was twisty and narrow which she loves.....not. It took ages to find anywhere to pull off and changeover and when we finally did it was only 1/2 mile from the next motorway.....hey ho, all good experience but I did have to change my trousers.
Queued for an hour to get through the stacking for the St Gottard .....strangely busy for a Wednesday I thought....and then took the pretty route to Bellinzona where we  stopped at the extremely expensive TCS site near the noisy motorway.
Original plan to have tomorrow as rest day has been  altered and we shall head to Parma to ham it up.
......later......have discovered after a walk that the noise is not the motorway but the raging Ticino river just over the bank so apologies.

The adventure begins....

May 6th 2013
Spent the night at Gravelines and left at 9am in glorious sunshine.....  just the ticket for the start of an adventure. As we are fulfilling my desire to follow the crusader trail we have adopted the personas of a knight and his squire and the Gf (courtesy of Blackadder) is now referred to as Bob ...(to whom I find myself strangely attracted when we wrestle like lads do..).
Bob decided to do driving on this trip in case of emergencies like P&M in Croatia last year and before we left drove down to Somerset for the service and most of the way back. All that remained was to get her (him) driving on the continent which has happened for nigh on 40 years.....so after the morning tea   stop, Bob took the wheel for a couple of hours thro Belgium and down to Luxembourg. In his (her) defence, the roads in Belgium are now the worst in Europe with potholes the size of dustbin lids which have to be dodged constantly whilst trying to avoid being rear ended by Lithuanian maniacs delivering Russian prostitutes by the lorry load to paedophiles in Belgium and then having 30 miles of roadworks with lanes so narrow that traffic was moving in sequence to avoid side swiping.......and the lane markings were non existent in places where we had to switch motorways so it was a bit fraught.....but Bob coped well and I only screamed once.
So well in fact that we made Luxembourg ahead of schedule and merely stopping to refuel at £1 a litre, pushed on to Metz by 3.30. We intended overnighting at an aire by the river Moselle but it was overflowing(campsite, not river) so we stopped at the camping municipal next door which was very pleasant. 5 main walk into town which is well worth a visit and the cathedral is most impressive with stained glass from the 13th.C to Chagall in the 20th.
Very buzzy city. Good place to visit.

On the road to Turkey

More than 12 months ago I saw the chance to join a group on a trip to Turkey and persuaded the Gf that despite her trepidation and misgivings  this  would be fun.  So after a great deal of planning and research we are sitting in aire near Calais on a very pleasant sunny evening (which happens to be her birthday) contemplating a thousand mile journey to San Marino where we shall meet up with the other 10 vans in 5 days on Friday 10 May before heading across the Adriatic to Greece and on to Turkey. We've been vaccinated against hepatitis despite my protestations that I didn't share dirty needles or bodily fluids with homosexuals and tetanus despite my assertion that I had bad reactions to it ( and subsequently had a very uncomfortable 4 days). The van has been serviced and prepared so tonight -in  true Crusader style - will be spent in prayer as we prepare to take the Cross and meet the infidel at gates of Asia. We are looking forward to a great adventure.