Syria - Homs - A good samaritan - Day 18

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South, down the motorway towards Homs where we turned westward to the castle of the Chevaliers. It was perched high up on a small mountain and we could get the car right to the front door. It was well preserved and we enjoyed a whistle stop tour of the place.

By now we were in need of diesel but could we find any? Hens’ teeth were easier to locate. No filling station - and they were few and far between - had any fuel at all. So back we went to the centre of Homs where we were assured we would get fuel. Despite the best navigation, and a search for fuel we found none and got totally lost in the middle of city to boot! Finally we made it to the outskirts on the eastern side but still no fuel. We saw a sign for a Total Garage and turned off the road only to find that they had no pumps. They did however say they could take us to a garage which did have fuel. A mechanic on his motorbike shot off to see if there was fuel, but returned with a gloomy face.

Meanwhile Jeremy had an urgent call and, being in a build up area, he boldly knocked on the door of a small factory to be welcomed by the owner who offered him all the facilities Jeremy needed. Learning of our predicament he told us what we had already worked out that, as fuel is so cheap in Syria there is a raging black market smuggling the stuff across the borders into Turkey and Jordan - probably Lebanon as well. The Armenian (Christian) factory owner offered to supply us with all our diesel needs from his factory supply - some 6000 litres in a tank - but we said we would try one more garage first. That proved abortive so we went back to accept this gentleman’s kind offer. He let us have about 60 litres per car and, once in our tanks, he then refused to accept any payment whatsoever for the stuff - 180 litres of diesel, say, GBP180. He could not have been nicer, kinder nor more generous. We thanked him profusely and as we left he thrust a huge box of grapes on us, picked from the vines in his little garden. We felt so humbled.

It was getting on in the afternoon so we went flat out eastwards towards Palmyra. The road was straight, good, and we made excellent time through real desert countryside. We arrived in Palmyra just as the sun was setting. So, having a glimpse of the Roman ruins we sought a campsite there but to no avail. We back-tracked into the desert for some 8 miles or so where we found a hidden gully about a mile off the main road where we pitched our tents just as it was getting dark. It proved a wonderful site. (207 miles today)

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Photos

Syria - Hama - Hotel
Orient House Hotel - Hama - Syria

Syria - Crac de Chevalier
Loggia to Knights' hall in Crusader Castle - Crac de Chevalier - Syria

Syria - Homs - Petrol
Queueing for diesel (abortive!) - Homs - Syria

Syria - Homs - Armenia angel
Armenian Angel (Armen Janjanian - centre) who rescued us with 180L of diesel in Homs - Syria