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was at 3.30PM. We had only been on this Site for an hour when

we noticed that Police were stopping all cars outside the gates on the

Main Rd. It was pointed out to us that quite a number of Turks go to

Germany they buy Cars & take them to Turkey & sell them This export

is not permitted hence the check. The Manager of the Site was

helpful towards us & introduced us to Pat & Ingrid who were on their

way to New Zealand. Pat had sprained his ankle & they had been

at the Site for 5 days, we learnt afterwards that drink had caused

the fall Milage was now 4905

Friday Sept 13^th

We left this Site at 10.45 & then discovered that the Garages in

Bulgaria do not take Cash for Petrol, you must have coupons for

this, so after making enquiries we went to a Hotel, which was out

of our way, & managed to purchase Coupons, so we went back to

the Garage to fill up. Our travels in Bulgaria had been only

one stretch of Motorway of Two miles, All Roads through the Towns

and Villages are of Cobble Stones this causes you to reduce your

speed to less than 25MPH & then get a shaking, once you are

completely out of the Villages the road is Ashphate, we had a

rest from that in a lay by & realized that we had now done

2000 miles of our journey. We were having high hopes of

getting through & out of Bulgaria today but the road conditions

slowed us up. It is a very poor Country to live in. The Traffic

along the roads of Bulgaria so very heavy Commercial. You see very

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few Cars, which gives you the impression that it is a Communist State

we reached a site at 5PM & met a family from Yorkshire who were

going to Australia by the same route as we had received from the

R.A.C. They had sold up everything & were emigrating, they had

a Bedford Van nicknamed Bessie there were five in family the

Site was clean, our Milage was now 5070                

Sat 14^th Sept

It as at 10AM that we managed to pass out of Bulgaria & into

Turkey. At the Turkish Customs we found a Long line of

Lorries parked for nearly half a mile. I overtook these & reached

the Checkpoint. We were a long time at this. You had Forms

& papers to fill in in, & quite a lot of people & Cars were waiting

We had 5 Bulgarian Petrol Coupons left but could do nothing about

them. We changed what Cash & then had this long wait to enter

Turkey, it took just over an hour to complete formalities & when we did

finally get cleared we decided to head for a lay by & have Tea

At this Lay by we met a Cyclist who was touring the World & he told

us he expected it would take him 4-5 years I did not envey his

task but he was cheerful & had G B Plates. After this point we

lost sight of the Family from Yorkshire and we went on towards Istanbul

In Turkey you will find the road is just Straight, in fact it is straighter

than any British Motorway, the Country is just Flat with very

little vegetation. Just molten Rock. The driving standard

appeared to me to deteriate. They drive & keep as close to the

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Car in front as is possible to do. My advise to any British Motorist

is keep clear of these Coaches because they really are a death menace

We saw a B.P. Mocamp at Istanbil & drove in. You select your

own place & look after yourself. Supervision at these Mocamps

could make them Ideal. We had experienced strong head winds

driving had been hard & we had had heavy petrol consumption

Sunday 15^th Sept

Our milage on reaching this Mocamp was 5273. The people in

the Camp were quite a cheerful crowd, & this B P.Mocamp is known

as one of the Camp in Europe where you can get good Service, there is

Hot Water, Good Toilets, Shaver Points, washing facilities, cooking etc

here we met people from London who were just ending their holiday &

there were quite a number of GB Cars & Motor Caravans here. We

decided to stay for a day or so to see Istanbul, we got to

Istanbul in one of those Ford Vans that are used as Buses in these

places, do not ask where we went to get to Istanbul because I

shall never know. It was a dirty Place & in full Market swing

as we walked through we took Photos & wandering around we

saw a Coach from London. The driver offered us a lift back because

his party were staying at the next Camp along which was Shell

That Coach party consisted of all young folk on a three month

Tour of Europe.           We returned with them to B.P. Mocamp &

then a Gent came over & introduced himself as Joe

Could he Talk, after about 3 hours we finally got away

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from him, it had disarranged our plans but it was now dark

& we went to bed.

Monday 16^th Sept.

We awoke to find it was raining so we left the Mocamp at 10

& drove along the Coast line road to the Bridge, from Istanbul

onwards it was really bad with the driving Rain & very bad

roads. These places have no drainage so the Rain water

just floods the roads. We took the road over the Bridge, A Toll

has to be paid here, & on towards Ankara. In Istanbul one

has to be careful of driving, no matter what experience you

might have had. Traffic Lights are ignored by these drivers

& if they can see a way of getting across, they will take it. As in

the previous Countries, Coaches are the danger. Keep clear of them

else they just force you off the road. We did stop for a cup

of Tea but were pestered by boys who tried to sell us Fruit

but as we did not buy then they started to throw stones. You

get this trouble throughout Turkey, our next task was to reach

Ankara. Road conditions bettered slightly as we went on, we

started hill climbing & went high so that we were in the clouds

There is just the 2 lanes for traffic but as the descent started so we

increased speed & were able to average 40MPH. Although this is

the main Road A.5. straight through, it is a dangerous road

because all kinds of Live stock wander across. You find

Bullocks, sheep, Goats, Chickens Geese. They just wander

 

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Across the main Highway at Will, so it is not surprising to see

The Carcases that lay in & by the side of the Roadway. It

Is therefore a great danger to drive after Sunset. We found

the B.P. Mocamp on the right as you drive in. It was almost

deserted but it was clean & had its facilities but was not as

good as the B.P. Mocamp at Istambil. The cattle around

this part of Asia look underfed there is nothing in the Vegatable

way for them to feed on.        We saw loads & loads of Water

Melons since entering Turkey & it appears to be the main crop.

The women are the workers in these parts & you also see a few

Bullock Carts.