Here we go again!

Well we have had a very restful time in Turkey, but now it is time to move on again. Our visas expire at the end of December.

Next stop Morocco! Or to be more specific the occupied territory of Western Sahara. It's a long way down into Africa, even further south than the Canary Islands. In fact is it as far south as you can drive on normal documents.

The journey is 6000 km!! That's 12 days at 500 a day, and that is too hard going for me! Ideally we would be dreaming about a leisurely drive through the Balkans, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, where I have good friends.

But as usual the authorities have something to say about that! Luda needs visas - I need none!

We were hoping to get her visas in Turkey, but the rules say she has to apply in Ukraine. Then we found that it is ILLEGAL in Ukraine to send a passport via post or courier. So now she has to fly to Ukraine in the middle of winter to get her visas, and I have to stay in Turkey. I can't go with her because I can't leave Turkey without my van. And we can't go in the van because she has no visas to cross Bulgaria and Romania! Confused? Yeah tell me about it.

So we have been busy online researching and had to come up with a plan.

The Moroccan visa is no problem - we are told. She will get that in a few days. But the EU visa is a different matter. She has to apply to the Greek consulate in Odessa, and institution not known for its efficiency. Anyway, they will either say yes or no. If yes she will fly back to Turkey and we will enjoy the drive together.....if no, I will hit the road alone and get a head start, and she will fly to Casablanca, where we will re-unite and enjoy the drive south through Morocco.

In that case I will want the fastest way from A to B, and that will mean driving to a greek port near Corfu, jumping a ferry to Ancona in northern Italy, a short drive to Genoa, and then a long 2 day ferry ride direct to Tangier in Morocco. Should take about 5 or 6 days in total. (and a shedload of dollars!.....although I worked it out that it will be cheaper than driving all the way)

Her ladyship will skip down the steps of her personal 757, to find me and the van, steaming and knackered, having driven and shipped all 4.5 tonnes of me the entire length of the Mediterranean in a week! "Taxi to the Sahara, Madame?".

Then we have a further 3000km to drive down the entire length of Morocco to the town of Dakhla, the last town in Morocco before Mauritania, Senegal, and Africa proper.

I will write about Dakhla in future posts, but I spent 4 months there 2 years ago.

Luda is not that keen on the trip to Ukraine, but she will get to see her mother and son and pick up 20kg more of her gear. It may be quite a while before she sees them again.

Life in Turkey has been nice. My sisters place has a fantastic location, with sunsets to die for! It's a nice working fishing village, more a small town. I am told it is full of villa owners and tourists in Summer, but in December expats number about 6! We have met a few people and made one new good friend - Charlie, a young guy who is a mining engineer locally. Originally drinking buddies to improve his English, we soon struck up a friendship. He has helped us enormously with all things Turkish.

The van, having spent 2 months parked outside, forgotten save for the odd shopping trip, is now away at various local garages being fixed and serviced ready for the trip.

Those Ukrainian roads took their toll, as we found 2 broken leaf springs on the rear wheels, and I hadn't even noticed! The other springs have been taking the strain, but the next one to go would have resulted in some real damage. Yesterday I watched as 4 Turkish lads with minimum equipment, jacked up the van, and removed the entire spring in 20 minutes. The boss of the place then produced 2 new springs from stock (!) and I was back on the road in 2 hours. They don't mess around!

A week ago we were invited to Izmir to a small party. Having not partied for many months, we decided to go, and had an absolute whale of a time. Izmir is the most liberal and cosmopolitan of Turkey's big cities, and has a fabulous location. We parked the van right on the pavement outside the small backstreet club, and had our own evil looking Kurdish security guards "guaranteeing" to look after the van while we partied inside. It was cool to come in and out of the party and chill out in the van. We didn't leave until the next evening, when we saw the most spectacular sunset in living memory. A photo would not have done it justice, and we had no camera anyway. But it was amazing. As the sun set over the harbour, the last rays streaming across the water highlighting all the buildings and features of Izmirs many hills, the sky was alive with incredibly diverse cloud patterns and aircraft trails, and the whole lot was cycling through the most amazing shades of red, orange and purple. We just sat there on the promenade in silence.......nothing needed to be said.

On the drive back we passed a huge salt lake that in ancient times was sea. Old ruins were just poking out of the water.......just like buried villages in a new reservoir, only this was 2000 years old.

Turkey is full of surprises.

We shall be happy and sad in equal measure to leave.