Hakkari was a place we’d been warned against, both by home and Turkish acquaintances. Riddled with PKK “terrorists”, a Kurdish independence party, it has recently been a stage for many uprisings and protests against the virulent Turkish army. However, as we ventured further south east towards Kars, the stern warnings not to go there lessened: [...]
Trabzon was not a happy time for either of us, and our glue wasn’t working. With the added drama of almost losing a treasured camera, it was a moment in the trip we are both happy to forget. Turning away from the Black Sea, the sticky tarmac, and the endless flight from Istanbul, we rode [...]
We were finally crossing the border into Turkey – gateway to the Mystical East. By some miracle we found our way straight into the tourist heart of Istanbul, Sultanahmet, and started the trawl for an affordable hotel. The first half dozen were all way above our budget, and despair was setting in, as we had [...]
We waved goodbye to the ‘Land of Brigands’ with a mixture of emotions. It had been exciting to see a country still emerging from years of isolation, with an infrastructure still learning to cope with the 21st Century, and a road network not yet properly established for modern transport requirements. That it takes 4 hours [...]
With our bones settled and our washing done, and competition for the biggest bike in town coming from three hairy Greeks all riding newer versions of the GS, it was time to shake, rattle and roll and head on out. Permet, an inch away on the map and only 50 odd miles along the twisting [...]
We had been told by many the roads in Albania were dreadful, and that the whole place was still trying to catch up after so many years of seclusion. All I knew about the country was the usual megalomaniac dictator had kept all the cream, and the rest of the population had suffered dreadful privations. [...]
Tearing ourselves away from the wooded slopes of verdant Montenegro, winding up perilous roads over mountain passes, through logging villages and alpine passes, our road began to descend, our ears began to pop, and the flat patchwork plain of Kosovo spread out below us.
Our first stop was Pec, Pesh, Peja (the ‘j’ being a ‘y’). [...]
With no cabins available, we passed a fitful night on our sheepskin ground-mats and the seats of the Pullman chairs, which all the Tunisians rip off the seats to act as mattresses, and which we copied. Bleary eyed and disappointed our planed route was in tatters we watched as the cliffs of Palermo hove into [...]
Tozeur was hot but we found a shower and all was well. De-sanded (as best we could) and a little cooler, we hunted for supper, slept and then back up for another day’s travel. Having given up on Libyan visas we were heading for Tunis and a ferry back to Italy, but on stopping for [...]
After an unforthcoming visit to the Libyan consulate, where we had hoped to get any information about entry to Libya, we raced for the ferry only to see the midday one pulling away from its mornings. We duly lined the bike up alongside donkeys and lorries in the queue, and with the help of Paul [...]