Asia

As we arrived in Argolis, our hopes of finding sunny weather were quickly dashed as we encountered yet more rain. With the forecast for the area and the rest of Greece predicting rain for the foreseeable future, we made the decision to move on and head to Antalya in Turkey. This was no small decision; with good conditions and no delays we estimated that the journey would take at least two full days of driving covering about 1300 miles. With no time to waste we bought some cake and set off.

The journey was long and rather dull until we entered Turkey. After the Turkish customs man kindly informed us it was very dangerous to sleep in the van we set off in the direction of Istanbul. After an overnight stop in a Turkish truck stop (where Jason quickly learnt what Ladies is in Turkish) we set off for, hopefully, our final day of driving. We quickly realised that perhaps stopping before Istanbul was not one of our brighter ideas. Driving round Istanbul in rush hour traffic on a Monday morning is much more dangerous that any climbing I’ve done! Jason did an excellent job to negotiate the traffic and tolls, and we made it through in one piece.

The further south we drove the worse the driving conditions got… Central Turkey was significantly colder than the coast and had suffered some moderate snow. The rough and pot-holed roads became even worse when covered in a layer of compacted snow and ice. The van’s bald front tyres weren’t ideal, but we somehow slipped and slid our way south, passing a variety of crashed cars, lorries and coaches.

We thankfully made it to Antalya in one piece and parked up for the night under the crags. We were awoken the next morning by a goat running into the side of the van…