THE JOURNEY OUT
We took a 2am ferry from Dover to Dunkirk, and, avoiding as much of France as possible due to tolls, we drove through Belgium, inched into the Netherlands and down to Munich. We picked up Paul (A 18-19), the third member of our team, and a couple of nights later found ourselves in a campsite in Prague.
From there we went to Vienna, where everything was covered in scaffolding, to Budapest, a great city, and headed northeast towards the Ukrainian border. We came to a town called Sighetu Marmației on the Romania/ Ukraine border, a single wooden bridge connecting the two countries. Oli had discovered there were some aid workers with the organisation The Blue Dot and it was here we donated our supplies. We volunteered for the day handing out food and toiletries to the steady stream of people coming over the border from Ukraine.
A scenic drive through these surreal mountains which had a marble effect of colour on the rocks.
We then set off on the biggest single leg of the trip, driving for around 26 hours straight from Romania, through stunning mountain passes, crossing the Transalpina, and into Istanbul.
After spending three days in the bazaar and taking in the sight of the historic Blue Mosque we set off for Ankara; another scenic drive through these surreal mountains which had a marble effect of colour on the rocks which changed from red to grey to blue.
Heading up the Black Sea coast, through Samson and Ordu, we entered Trabzon, found a small campsite, pitched a tent and went to sleep. The next morning we awoke to find the tent pretty much afloat following heavy rainfall, a river running through its middle section. The three of us battled to get the sodden canvas back in the car to set off as quickly as possible.
We headed into Georgia, staying in the heavily developed Batumi and visited the historic Katskhi pillar, a natural limestone monolith upon which sits a church as we passed through Chiatura.
