London to Sydney
Paul's Diary !
Day 9, Greece – Thessaloniki, Galarinos, Tenedos, Radokipos, Triglia, Galarinos, and Alexandroupoli.
Well, bit of a sleep in today … up and out for breakfast at 8 and ready for a 9.30 start.
Today we leave Thessaloniki and head to Alexandroupoli … about 450km's with 3 dirt stages to do. The first tour was 40km through Galarinos to the Tenedos stage. This is a 21km windy dirt stage that suits the Astra much better … but the problem we have is we are seeded up the back with the other slow car/drivers because of our crash. Cars were sent off at 1min intervals. Off we go with Steve driving today and by the first few km's the Leyland P76 was stack in a ditch.
He was the car in front of us. By about the 10 km stage we had caught the Suzuki, but that was the end of us. There was once again too much dust so we couldn't see and couldn't get close enough to pass. By the time we got to the end everyone had similar issues of catching others, etc… so the decided to go for 2min intervals for the next few runs. After this stage we had a short tour of 27km though Radokipos to the 15.9km Triglia stage. We had the Suzuki in front of us then the Leyland.
I went and spoke to both of them and asked if they saw us coming if they would let us go … no problems. Well, we caught the Suzuki at around 5kms and he pulled over to let us go. We then caught the P76 but there was soooo much dust I am sure he couldn't see us so we tailed the P76 in for the last 500m. That meant we caught up around 4 minutes on these guys. From here we had a short tour of 28km through Galarinos to do a part of the Tenedos stage again, but this time we take a different turn about a third of the way in and finish it at around 12km. Once again we caught the Suzuki at around the 5km mark and he pulled over to let us through. We couldn't quite make it on the P76 this time.
I think all in all we did a good job today and made back some positions to enable us to be re seeded for tomorrow. I forgot to mention, the Teratrip stopped working about half way into the second stage … so we are now only able to run on the car speedo until we can somehow find a new probe hookup.
Probably wont be able to get one until we hit OZ, so fingers crossed for Turkey and India. Don't want to get lost in those places!!!
After the stages we had a 315km tour to Alexandrouploi, a small seaside town in Greece somewhere! Landed in around 6pm, showered, washed a few clothes and now its time for a few beers and see if we can find somewhere that is showing the Canadian GP on TV! We have asked everyone if they have a spare probe … no one does of course!
I haven't mentioned anything about the weather. So far we have just had beautiful blue skies and temperatures ranging from 22 to 32 depending on whether we are in the mountains or on the coast. We just couldn't ask for better! Pity we haven't had any real opportunity to enjoy it!
Day 10 – Greece/Turkey – Alexandroupoli, Kesan, Melange, Akbas, Eceabat, Ferry ride, Bursa.
Today is out of Greece and into Turkey. We go from Alexandroupoli through Kesan, Melange, Akbas, Eceabat and finish with a Ferry ride across the peninsula and a 313km tour to Bursa. Total is 560 kms with one dirt stage of 23km and a tarmac of 19km.
We are only about 20km from the border so most of the morning is spent doing the whole Greece/Turkey Visa/Carnet/Border control thing that takes hours. The whole order of cars really got screwed at the border so they ran the first stage out of order just to keep moving. We were about mid field. Anyway, we finally get through and head to our first dirt stage. Today its my turn and first go at a dirt targa stage. This stage is twisty, lots of loose gravel, mainly uphill and through logging grounds with lots of ruts and challenging roads. What a blast. I guess I took it fairly easy, but the little Astra handles quite well in the dirt … just lacks power, so most of the stage we don't even really need brakes. The brake bias is set for total rear so when you approach a corner you tap the brakes and the rear end skips out to help set you up for a corner.
Lots of fun. The dirt tyres are great and the little car tracks where you point it … you just have to make sure you steer around all the rocks and ruts. No moments, just lots of slipping and sliding. Took a while to get used to it but I am sure I will get there. I think in the end we still had a respectable time. This stage finished right at the beginning of Gallipoli beach and memorials. We had a few hours to spare so we stopped and took in the feel of the area.
There is definitely something about this place .. it has a serenity that somehow seems contradictory to the events that occurred in WW1. More than 200,000 soldiers died here, around 80,000 Australians (maybe more??) and at that time in 1914 it represented about 10% of the Australian population. The whole area is swept with small cemeteries and memorials with some historical notes on the various battles won and lost. It all really seems so pointless and sad, and I just can't imagine these sorts of things still happening today! There were quite a few tourists up at the Lone Pine memorial, probably the most famous battle of the area.
Off we set for a short 23km tour in between, but we had 2 hrs to kill, so we stopped at a little roadhouse for some stuffed peppers, car wash and some petrol. We took off down the road again and called our support crew to find out where they were. They had been held up at the border control for about another 2 hours on formalities, but were rushing to meet us to change tyres to tarmac for the next stage. They finally arrived, we changed and got in to the stage with a few minutes to spare. Well, this so called tarmac stage .. Eceabat .. was 18km but really it was some old tar strips on lots of gravel and pot holes through the bush. I think we would have been better off on the gravel tyres.
Anyway, tight, lots of uphill (which doesn't suit the Astra) and very rough. We are really in conservation mode so I drove to survive, but even though it was all safe and seemed slow I think it was once again respectable for the stage. From here we had a short drive for a quick stop to a BBQ put on by the Turkish Astra Rally Team for the even, then on to the Ferry across the peninsula and the 313km tour. The road was rough and bumpy, but not much traffic and wide and open.
It took us to 8pm to get in to the Holiday inn … once again in a paddock miles from anywhere, but all we wanted to do was shower, eat and rest. The crew arrived at the same time so they were chartered to do a spanner check for tomorrow. By the time I went and did the note changes and marked up the tulips it was 9.30 pm. Time for a dinner and wine, followed by a quick beer at the bar and bed. Start time for us is 7.15am tomorrow.
Day 11, Turkey – Bursa, Murseller, Olmpus, Gule Gule and Ankara.
Today is another long day (I don't know which ones aren't!!) that takes us from Bursa all the way to Ankara through Murseller, Olympus, Gule Gule and then to Ankara. Total distance is about 650km today with 2 special tarmac stages of 27km and 11.2km.
Early start to the day as we have been re seeded in to mid field. Start time of 7.10 with a short 35km tour to the first stage of Olympus. This is yet another tight blast through the countryside mainly uphill with a stretch of 1km of cobble stones through a small village about half way. Lots of bends, up and down and opening out towards the end. I must say navigating today I started to feel quite nauseous at around the 20km mark and was getting a little worried about being sick! We were high up in the mountains for a start, it became quite foggy, and when I started to feel ill the sweat just started rolling as I watched the km's tick over ever so slowly.
Fortunately we made it through without any mishaps from my end! Speaking to the rest of the field pretty much every navigator had the same problem … with a few actually in a worse state, so I didn't feel so bad then! Off for a short tour of 86km for the next stage of Gule Gule (means Go With a Smile in Turkish) at 11.2km. Once again uphill, but perhaps not quite as steep as the other stages, with a lot more longer straight sections where we actually got to use 4 th gear a few times! The surface was actually broken and gravel for a fair portion of this section. All went well through here and I think wee ended with a good time. All in all we are creeping back up the ladder! Now for the grueling tour of 491km to Ankara.
Ankara I believe is where the USA based a lot of troops for the Desert Storm attack some years back. Fortunately the drive was on quite large open freeways (built by the US for DS I believe) from the edge of Istanbul to Ankara. Sat on 140kph pretty much all the way and only stopped for petrol. We really needed to get to our hotel (once again out in the middle of nowhere about 20kms from Ankara) so we could re pack the car.
The support crew we have been using in Europe are leaving us tonight so we need to get all our spares, types, etc…. packed into the Astra and load it onto the big Russian Antonov plane. The Antonov leaves later tonight and we all stay at the hotel, but we have 5.30am bus rides to the airport to catch our Malaysian Air charter to Cochin. So, off to do the packing, quick shower, feed and very early night tonight!
Day 12, Turkey/India – Ankara, Cochin.
Well today was an early start .. up at 5am to get ready for the 5.45 bus to the airport. Last night Steve took the car to the airport to be loaded on the Antonov … and he was the only one that didn't have enough power to get up the ramp! Stuck half way they winched him up the rest.
Did have a feed and beer last night, but the Hotel in Ankara would only accept cash for beer and food … I guess they didn't want any walkouts! Anyway, the tried to charge 21Euro's for 3 beers … that's about $40 Singapore dollars! I got them down to at least $4 Euros …. And dinner was $15 Euros with a $35Euro bottle of wine.
And of course they will only give you change in their Turkish Lire … which you just cant change anywhere! Not to worry … anyway, bus to the airport, hop on the Malaysian Air charter and six hour later here we are in Cochin. From the air it looked flooded, I guess its monsoon season here. Its still raining and doesn't look like letting up! Should prove to be an interesting week. Our car is full of all our gear and we still need to sort it all out, so I think everyone is in the same boat, therefore we have a day off tomorrow to sort all this out.
Good thing really. The hotel is of course over the road from the airport, nothing special, but at least the telly is in English with some movie channels to watch!
