Homeward Bound
I mentioned in the last post that I shot through Azerbaijan and most of Georgia, staying at the seaside city of Batumi. I thought I’d...
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Silk road, sow's purse
mrsantry
- Jul 20, 2019
- 18 min
Banged Up Abroad
A transit visa gives me 5 days to enter and arrive at my designated exit point. I entered via Farap in the South East of Turkmenistan and...
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mrsantry
- Jul 11, 2019
- 2 min
Special, no pics update
Bandwidth has defeated me keeping the blog up to date. So I need to keep this shortish. I will fill in the gaps once I can connect...
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mrsantry
- Jul 6, 2019
- 9 min
Pamir Highway Part 2
The roads deteriorated as we progressed eastwards. They were generally stony/rocky and/or sandy. We were climbing higher too (well ok,...
53 views
mrsantry
- Jul 4, 2019
- 5 min
Pamir Highway - part 1
I’m sorry about the delay in getting this report to you. The Pamirs are simply beautiful but simply extends to very poor internet...
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mrsantry
- Jul 1, 2019
- 3 min
Summer in Samarkand
No problems finding petrol for the journey thankfully. Uzbekistan is known for petrol shortages as it tries to push everyone to LPG,...
44 views
mrsantry
- Jun 25, 2019
- 3 min
Plov Virgin
One non-Bukhara story first.... OK, it’s not a 9th century minaret or a piece of rather lovely honey cake. It was a very old Lada Riva...
46 views
mrsantry
- Jun 24, 2019
- 3 min
So, I've found the silk
Khiva was to be my first ‘tourist’ destination in Uzbekistan. It’s a fairly uninspiring town on approach but then all roads focus on the...
31 views
mrsantry
- Jun 23, 2019
- 4 min
Through the Gates of Hell, into Uzbekistan!
I planned to continue North, then East to Konye-Urgench and to exit Turkmenistan and enter Uzbekistan on the same day. I needed to be in...
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mrsantry
- Jun 21, 2019
- 5 min
Ashgabat 'City of Love'
A loose translation(from farsi) of the name of Turkmenistan’s capital city is ‘the City of Love’. As a tourist, even a transiting one,...
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mrsantry
- Jun 21, 2019
- 4 min
Of camels and white marble
I was extremely tired after my escapade across the Caspian, due to lack of sleep and maybe a bit of heat exhaustion. I should have headed...
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mrsantry
- Jun 21, 2019
- 11 min
Waiting For God Knows What
I realised at the end of the first day that I’m not really built for delays, waiting and the essence of mañana. I realised at the end of...
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mrsantry
- Jun 18, 2019
- 1 min
Temporary blip
I’m in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. I have written a detailed report of my trip over, which I will post as soon as I can. For some reason, my...
44 views
mrsantry
- Jun 15, 2019
- 8 min
Two haircuts in 24 hours
I had the late afternoon and evening to explore Tbilisi. I could have stayed another day there and seen more but the car was parked in...
57 views
mrsantry
- Jun 14, 2019
- 5 min
Are we in Asia yet?
There is no definitive view of when Europe ends and Asia begins. Some bodies say it is the crossing of the Bosphorus (Istanbul). Others...
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mrsantry
- Jun 12, 2019
- 5 min
Alaadinsane
We had a drive of about 4 hours to a city called Sivas. This is a fairly non-descript sort of place – about the size of and with maybe...
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mrsantry
- Jun 10, 2019
- 3 min
Balloons and fairy-tale castles
The early part of the drive from Lake Egirdir gave us spectacular scenery and some steep climbs. Despite the temperatures, there were...
38 views
mrsantry
- Jun 9, 2019
- 1 min
Chillin' by Lake Egirdir
After a long drive to Pumakkale, we took a shortish 3 hour run to Lake Egirdir. It is vast, covering some 480 sq. kms and is set just...
32 views
mrsantry
- Jun 8, 2019
- 3 min
Cool Pools
It was a long drive of just under 6 hours from Istanbul to Pumakkale. Around 2 million people visit here each year. It’s unique. Thermal...
27 views
mrsantry
- Jun 7, 2019
- 3 min
"Maybe Istanbul was the city in the sky where the people who were our reflections lived."
Burhan Sönmez ................................. More prosaically, Istanbul is fascinating, utterly bonkers, a bit smelly, noisy, hot and...
46 views
mrsantry
- Jun 6, 2019
- 3 min
Tin Man Parts for Sale
Well, it wasn’t any snoring which interrupted sleep but dogs barking, cats fighting and motor scooters roaring about certainly did. We...
49 views
mrsantry
- Jun 4, 2019
- 2 min
Borderline beauty
Another 525kms added to the clock today. A fairly easy drive through Croatia and into Serbia. We’re now at its southernmost point, just...
44 views
mrsantry
- Jun 4, 2019
- 3 min
The Marie Celeste Hotel
I picked up Keith at Marco Polo airport. I managed to miss him as he arrived through the (two) arrivals exits, despite watching out like...
34 views
mrsantry
- Jun 2, 2019
- 3 min
Venetian blind
I must just gush a bit about the place I stayed at yesterday. It’s an agriturismo – a farm based B&B. The rooms were modest and simple...
34 views
mrsantry
- Jun 1, 2019
- 3 min
Au revoir France
I was planning to go straight to Venice but chickened out at the first opportunity. This of course is a dreadful lack of commitment to...
32 views
mrsantry
- May 16, 2019
- 4 min
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
- Abraham Lincoln So, key to a successful trip is preparation, apparently. This particular blog is dedicated to inveterate, preppers and...
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mrsantry
- Apr 23, 2019
- 3 min
My trusty steed
It seemed sensible to think about what vehicle to take. Part of me wanted to go for the grand luxe option of a massive Discovery or Land...
57 views
mrsantry
- Apr 23, 2019
- 3 min
A daft idea?
I'm not sure when the idea of a long road trip occurred to me. I'm hardly short of things to do and desperate for some new stimulation. ...
30 views
mrsantry
- Apr 12, 2019
- 1 min
The route
The first leg of the trip starts at Toulouse. From there, we head East, through the Cote d'Azur into Italy then into Croatia, then...
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