JELL'S SOMEWHERE ON THE GLOBE: THIRD WEEK, DROWNING IN TURKEY

THIRD WEEK.
Well after the ups and downs of the weather in Europe its nice to finally reach temperatures that are consistently warm at 28 degrees, makes life so much more comfortable. Istanbul was a welcome change from our previous cities, we got overdosed on culture during our stay, taking in the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Basiilica Cistern and the Topkapi Palace as I reported in the last blog, not to mention the sampling of the local brew and foods to pass the evening. We stayed at the Sultan Hostel in the Sultanahmet area of the city, very nice and comfortable but could be rather noisy at night due to all the aussies who were in town for ANZAC day on the 25th of April, those who went on space’s stag weekend in Amsterdam will know what I mean.
We left Istanbul on Wednesday in a minibus which came to pick up the 24 of us plus backpacks, we had to open the back window and pile the backpacks up to the roofline to fit us all in very cosy, he then took us out to the truck which was on the outskirts of the city because Jacko had done some minor maintenance work like an oil change and the crankcase oil seals (did I just say minor!!!) anyway all good apart from the fact that the bus driver got lost on the way out there and ended up going the wrong way around a traffic Island to get back on track and having a close encounter with a rather large truck of which I’m sure our driver was totally oblivious about, we were pleased to be reunited with our truck after an hour of the Istanbul traffic. Set off for Gallipoli arriving down here at eight in the evening, campsite quite basic but right next to the Dardanelles straits which is the stretch of water that links the Aegean sea to the Marmara sea, Bosphorus and then the Black sea so all the shipping for Istanbul and Russia goes through here very good for ship spotting from my tent door which is only 12 foot from the waters edge. Took a guided tour of the Gallipoli peninsular today (Thursday) told us all about the battle and how 30,000 allied servicemen lost their lives here in 1915, tonight we are going up to the site to get a place ready for the Anzac day dawn service at 5.30 in the morning, apparently you need to get there early as they are in excess of 20,000 people who attend the event.
Friday, what a night arrived up at the site last night, left Jacko and the truck about 1.5 kilometres from the site very strict security not allowed alcohol or camping equip into the service, managed to get some seats up in the grandstand, it was already quite full and it was only 8 oclock at night. The wind had got up and needless to say the temperature plummeted, so outcome the sleeping bags good to minus six they say and once we were in them we were just toasty even Jan who as one knows does occasionally feel the cold was warm, mind you she did have three layers, hat coat and gloves on, all you could see were the whites of her eyes good job really otherwise my life would of been hell for the next six months because she wasn’t going to go until I talked her into it. Trying to sleep in the grandstand was a tad difficult kept waking up with pains where I didn’t even know I had bits to hurt mind you it was worth it in the end they reckon the attendance was the same as done the landings back in 1915 about 20,000. Unfortunately the morning after rather let it down a bit we left the site of the service to be directed by the police and army (of whom there where many)to our truck which they all seem to reckon was up at the highest point of the Gallipoli peninsular and when your walking carrying your sleeping bag and roll mat its a long way up there, upon reaching the top you then discover that they’re no coaches up there, we have a quick scan around because you can see for miles luckily I had packed my binos (just for this very event !!!!) and there down by the sea only about ½ a mile from where we had been sitting is the truck, oh yes we were pleased the army weren’t letting any vehicles up the hill until all the different services were finished so there was nothing else for it, other than to walk all the way back down again, so five long hours after the service finished and probably five or six miles later we are reunited with the truck and our ticket out of there, well once they opened the exits and that was another 30 minutes later but for certain we will not forget it. Jan did manage to get a jog in think we’ll call it the ANZAC day marathon.
We have now crossed the Dardanelles straits by ferry from the town of Eceabat across to Canakkale onto the Asian side of Turkey, it was at the ferry crossing I noticed what looked like the old Ladder 1 from Headquarters even had Ray Leonard driving it (picture to follow in next blog), thanks Chris for your earlier comments about the truck being the old horsebox from Headquarters I think the fuel consumption is about the same but the horsebox was way more comfortable to ride in. Stopped off at the local market and brought fresh fruit and veg as I am in cook group for the next two nights, beef stroganoff tonight and a barbecue on the open fire with some chicken tomorrow we are all getting more used to cooking on the open fires no disasters yet had a overnight bush camp amongst some oak trees close to the old city of Troy and first thing in the morning we were off for a tour around its remains complete with wooden horse beautifully preserved from the period !!!!!!! the guide highlighted the nine ancient cities built one on top of another and dating back to 3000 BC, it was during the visit that yet again the weather has taken a turn for the worse the wind is still blowing but only now the temperature is akin to walking on the front at Felixstowe in January Brrrr. Visit done we are heading south for Selcuk some six hours drive away, we must find the warm weather here surely, and the temperature does improve up to a magnificent 19 degrees well its an improvement on 4 degrees anyway. Visited the ancient Roman city of Ephesus the best persevered classical city in the eastern Mediterranean they have only excavated about 15 percent of it but its very impressive, it was during this visit that it started to rain and yes 24 hours later its still raining GREAT !!!!!!! spent last night in the bar next to a huge open fire not quite what we expected in southern Turkey but we’re here to be surprised and the weathers certainly doing that. We head off eastwards tomorrow Pamukkale about six hours drive away and perhaps the sun, so must dash got to dig out my wellies and southwester as the water level is rising rapidly.

We do hope the weather is not too sunny at home from the soggy Jells somewhere on the globe.

BUSH CAMP JUST BEFORE TURKİSH BORDER, THE COWS ARE COMING.DO İ LOOK SCARED