East meets West

Thursday 29 August 2024

When we first drove out to Turkey in the 80’s (and again in 2013) our route would take us to Eceabat on the western side of the historic Dardanelles Strait from where we would catch a ferry to Çanakkale. On board we would have a glass of tea and a simit - similar to a bagel encrusted with sesame seeds. No sooner had you consumed them then you’d be back in your vehicle ready to disembark and set off on your route again. 

But this year another crossing option was available to us. The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, was opened two years ago and became the world's longest suspension bridge - its main span stretching 2023 meters (surpassing the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan by 32 meters).

The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge took 5 years to build at a cost of around 2.5 billion euros. The unmanned toll booth didn’t seem to recognise our UK number plates and wouldn’t spit out a ticket, but that was sorted on payment of £14 at the other end. The new bridge symbolises not only a connection between the European and Asian sides of Turkey but also commemorates a crucial Ottoman naval victory during WWI, hence its name. Whilst impressive it lacks the elegance and beauty of the Millau bridge in France which we crossed over in our spring road trip. 

We’ve been coming back to Turkey for years, it has a unique and diverse culture, influenced and shaped by its history. Whether that be the ancient civilisations of Anatolia, the Ottoman and Byzantine Empires or the modern blending of east and west. It’s a lovely mix of ancient traditions and contemporary influences.

Since arriving at our friend’s house on the outskirts of a small village on the Bodrum peninsula, miles from anywhere, we haven’t done much other than swim, eat, drink and sleep. We did head out one day for brunch in a garden cafe - a traditional Turkish breakfast & then some!! Over 35 different plates of food were brought to our table!

Next door to the cafe we wandered into the Turkish rug shop where the local women in their headscarfs and şalvar (baggy trousers) sat next to a young lady working on the loom. There were thousands of colourful carpets and kilims, made and sourced from areas across the country, available to buy. If we weren’t limited on space in the van we could have been sorely tempted to while away a few hours choosing a rug to take home. 

Drive / Eat / Sleep - Repeat

Sunday 25 August 2024

This is the sight we woke up to on our first morning in Turkey. We’d arrived at this spot on the northern coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in complete darkness. Having driven past quite a few local tourists wild camping in caravans, vans and cars we reckoned we’d be safe here. 

Despite setting off at 6am from Slavonski Brod in Croatia for the long day ahead, we had underestimated the time it would take to get through 4 border crossings (queuing up in the non-EU passport lanes, customs checks and, for Turkey, purchasing vehicle insurance). I had worked on us arriving at our destination around 8pm - but it was just after 10pm when we finally parked up on the beach at Bolayir. Outside it was still over 30 degrees but the lovely sea breeze made it feel very comfortable. We popped the top, had a late snack and went to bed listening to the waves lap on the beach, no street lights, no traffic, no noise - just bliss.

In preparation for this trip I’d done plenty of research, best route, cost of fuel in each country, cost of tolls and/or vignettes and we had our Plan A all ‘mapped’ out. Not sure what plan we ended up on with road work delays, accidents closing motorways and border queuing but overall it still took the planned 5 days & we roughly took the original route.

If we’re on a mission to get straight to our destination then we generally suck up the costs and pay to drive on the fastest roads. We’re not usually paying for overnight stops or restaurant meals and drinks so it kind of evens out. If you’re interested the numbers for our trip from Shrewsbury - Mumcular (near Bodrum) are as follows:

2483 miles (door to door)

5 days

4 overnight stops (all free)

£94 one way ferry (Dover-Calais)

£12 two breakfasts (other food/drink in van)

£232 fuel (average ~ 42mpg)

£31 vignettes (Austria, Slovenia & Bulgaria)

£39 tolls (Croatia & Serbia)

£33 bridges & tunnels (Austria & Turkey)

£62 Turkish Vehicle Insurance (min 3 month)

£503 Approx total (20p per mile)

We’ve encountered many different systems for paying for road use on the trip out. Some countries are ‘free’ (for us transiting through they are anyway) like Belgium and Germany (famously very fast too!). For others you purchase a vignette which covers you to drive on their roads for a specified cost per time period. Then there’s the mystery charging on toll roads with booths - it’s hard to know how much the journey will cost us depending on the distance and what vehicle category each country class us as! 

In the future the UK may end up with a system which replaces the current Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) car tax system to plug a gap in Government funds. It will be interesting to see which of the possible systems they might decide to implement or whether it will be a flat pay-per-mile. UK diesel prices (which has a high level of fuel duty) are also more expensive than most of Europe (in Bulgaria we paid £1.04 a litre and in Turkey £0.93).

That last bit is all a bit dry and dull isn’t it so I’ll leave you with a photo of this ubiquitous Austrian road sign which always made us giggle!! 

On the road again

Tuesday 20 August 2024

Picture us driving off down the road singing away to our favourite Willie Nelson song.

It's the "Goin' places that I've never been" that always excites us and this latest trip will be no different as we plan to travel through northern Greece and, fingers crossed, into Albania - places we haven't been to before. On our big road trip in 2013 we had hoped to venture into Albania but running out of time, money and insurance cover meant we didn't make it back then (see Homeward bound blog post from Aug 2013).

Some of the roads are quite familiar to us as we used to drive out to Turkey when Dave & I managed a yacht charter business for 6 years in Bitez, near Bodrum in the mid 1980's. 

Around March each year we used to leave the UK in our lovely Rover SD1 with it's powerful 3.5ltr V8 engine, its huge boot stuffed with all manner of boat bits (toilet seats, winches, autopilot spares ...etc etc). By sharing the driving, 4 hours on and 4 hours off, we used to complete the 2500 miles in 2 VERY long days. We would catch a few hours sleep and a hearty breakfast in a motel on the outskirts of Ljubljana which was then part of Yugoslavia. 

We will take the drive out a little more sedately this time planning to do it in 4 days stopping overnight in Germany, Serbia and in northern Turkey before meeting up with friends who live near Bodrum.

So if you're interested in our latest trip please check the blog out every now and again to see where we've been - Kath & Dave 

Final coddiwomple through France

Wednesday 6 March 2024

I’m home having left Dave in France. We haven’t fallen out, that was always the plan as he is spending a week snowboarding in the Alps, happy that fresh snow is falling on the slopes.

When we left San Sebastián in Spain we had about 10 days to work our way towards Geneva airport for me to get my flight home. We’ve been caught out before when driving through central France in winter and had to sit out a snow storm, waiting for the roads to be cleared. So we were definitely keeping a watchful eye on the weather as we headed north east on the National Road network.

The drive up the coast to Bordeaux was lovely, the sand dunes there are massive - the Dune du Pilat is said to be the largest in Europe. This dune section, between the sea and the forests, is approx 100 meters high, 500m wide and the ridge extends for 2.7km. Definitely somewhere we’ll return to when it’s not hailing, blowing a gale and the van is being sandblasted!

Heading inland we explored the Dordogne region (the river, the valley and the department). The area is characterised by Chateaus sitting high on hilltops, houses perched on the rivers edge and against rock faces, car-free villages, cobbled streets and bastide towns with their fortress gates, market squares and geometric design. 

Monpazier

Beynac-et-Cazenac

La Roque-Gageac

Sarlat-La-Caneda

It was an interesting area but the weather was wet, cold and dreary so we checked the forecast again and decided to completely change direction, put in some big miles and drove to the south coast. The sun was out down there and the temperature was 10 degrees warmer than it was in the Dordogne area. 

Carro Point

We headed for the Camargue region exploring the coastal towns and sandy plains whilst soaking up the sunshine, before changing course again and heading back north. 

Camargue region

Le Grau-du-Roi

Aigues-Mortes 

Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Martigues

So that’s definitely the end of this particular road trip - 3 countries, 6700 miles and 9 wonderful weeks. Just going with the flow, no fixed plan, occasionally doubling back and detouring and quite a bit of ‘coddiwompling’ - travelling in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination. 

‘The path that takes us straight to its destination is a dull one indeed. It carries only the one message and when we have read it, we have read it. The winding road, however, is a continuous story. Each bend is a mystery and rounding it a discovery.’ ~ C.R.Milne.