Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible

By roychinnorNo Comments
Hurghada is a manufactured sunshine resort with little to recommend it, however we did give the cars their first complete service having completed over 4,000 miles. Fresh engine oil, topped up gearboxes, rear diffs and carburettor dampers. Chris found that one of Dorothy’s exhaust brackets was broken for which he found a man who welded it together and I replaced Bridget’s distributor points and adjusted the timing a fraction. The following day we drove to Luxor and it was quickly evident that Bridget still needed further timing adjustment as her engine was pinking voraciously, otherwise everything appeared to be operating well. The drive across the Egyptian Desert was most enjoyable with the craggy desert mountains, followed by the lush green of the vegetation and the beautiful orange, red, white and purple hibiscus, at the roadside, as we arrived in the Nile Valley. We checked into the Sonesta St George Hotel which had secure parking, an important feature as the cars would be...
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Egypt North

Egypt North

By roychinnorNo Comments
The indignity of it all; Egyptian registration plates we can’t even read! Well, some of the things Bridget and Dorothy have to do for their drivers, but it’s only until we get to Aswan. Following a very pleasant rest in Nuweiba’s Swisscare Hotel we struck out for Suez. Leaving at around 08:30 we thought it would be a brief and pleasant two hundred mile drive. As it turned out it was a hot, dusty drive in something like 37/38°C temperatures across the Sinai desert. We almost missed a left turn, just past Taba airport that would have resulted in a brief, but highly illegal visit into Israel, had I not seen the signs at the last minute. Re-fuelling in Egypt is not an exact science. Some stations have 90/92 octane petrol, some have unacceptable 80 octane, some have only diesel and some have nothing (I couldn’t figure out why they open at all). Tedious, and often threatening serious damage, sleeping policemen abound...
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Syria and Jordan

Syria and Jordan

By roychinnorNo Comments
  We left Antakya, in Turkey, at 7:00 AM and drove through the forty miles to the Syrian border under a clear sky but with a chill in the air. This is typical of early mornings in most Arab countries. Being processed by the Turkish authorities to exit the country took almost an hour. I approached the Syrian border with some trepidation because they could rescind our visas which would be catastrophic. I had considered alternatives even at this late stage and had decided if we were turned back I would get a shipping agent and explore the possibility of shipping the cars from Turkey to Alexandria in Egypt. This should have been possible and not taken too long, but the cost would have been fairly high. There were no car ferries from Europe to North Africa that we could use. I need not have worried we were allowed entry and the processing took another hour. During the processing we were engaged by a...
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Turkey

Turkey

By roychinnorNo Comments
We spent our rest day nosing around Istanbul just like typical tourists. Visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia Museum, Topkapi Palace, the waterfront and discovered Istanbul’s answer to Hampstead. There is an area of boutique hotels, bars, and restaurants. It comprises mainly of restored buildings so it is clean and very, laid back for Istanbul. As finding accommodation had taken four hours and resulted in budget breaking costs we only stayed for one rest day before moving on. Late change of mind meant we took the coast route south from Istanbul, along the coast opposite the Gallipoli Peninsula. After a hot days driving of just over 300 miles we stopped at Canakkale. This town is opposite the main battlefields, and now cemeteries, of the World War 1 action, so poignant for Australians and New Zealanders. We quickly found a hotel close to the ferry terminal and tried to check in. Having checked, with a rather beautiful receptionist, that they had rooms available,...
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Little Red Cars and Stuff

Little Red Cars and Stuff

By roychinnorNo Comments
The journey from Abingdon to Modena had been largely without incident, the exception being our excursion through Piacenza. This classic Italian town is approximately 20 miles from Modena and we were travelling on highway SS9. According to the map this goes directly through the middle of town, but the problem with maps is that they don’t get updated with road re-routing, one way systems or, in this case, pedestrianisation (not sure there is strictly such a word). Anyway, we entered Piacenza and found the usual glut of churches, cathedrals, narrow cobbled streets, etc. Then, as we approached the bustling centre of town we were faced with obstacles blocking the road and a sign that clearly (even with my poor Italian) was informing us that traffic was not allowed between the hours of 8:00 and 18:00, except for buses. In fact buses would not make it through the majority of streets because of their size. I looked around and decided I could...
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