1300km later

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We made it!

I've got nothing negative whatsoever to say about Turkey, it was brilliant. We felt safe the whole time, everyone was welcoming, locals bought us traditional tea and restaurant owners even ran after us when Joss forgot his bag. We're all sad to say goodbye to Turkey.

We decided to get up really early in Istanbul so that we could beat rush hour. This proved to be a great decision, we cruised out of Istanbul on empty streets as the sun rose over the city. The roads were clear all day and it was really great to see how the country changed as we headed east. We arrived at the Black Sea late and found a campsite on the beach so decided to call it a day. Jason cooked us up a great meal and we turned in for the night. Wierdly despite jus driving the whole day, it was one of the most enjoyable for myself. Seeing so much of the country and finishing on the beach ... Great stuff!

It feels like there is a bit of a hole in our lives now that Steve has left us to go back to the UK. A hole just the right size for a little more legroom 😉 obviously it's actually sad to see him leave, but the silver lining is that all seats in the car are now comfortable.

Today we had a relatively early start. We arrived at the Georgian border at 14:00 and three hours of queuing later we were through. A short trip up the coast and we arrive at Batumi, a place Jason had talked up. To be honest it feels a little fake, a little bit of a Russian holiday resort. Think Blackpool Pier meets Benidorm meets Vegas. Not to worry though, we're heading inland tomorrow to witness the beautiful country side that in sure Georgia has to offer and end up in Tbilisi.

The car showed it's first signs of age today. It has been slowly developing a squeak that only today we were concerned enough to take a look at. Initially thinkin it might have been more serious it just turns out it was an anti-roll bar bush that was sliding out. A simple fix and the squeak is gone! Long live the sumo!

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