Slept in the car just outside Bolu last night. (Merzifon, Turkey)

We made it. 31 days. 8728 miles and 17 countries later. . It's been an amazing trip and we've definately learned a lot the past few weeks. We've had cassette versions of the koran thrown frantically at us from an adjacent van in Istanbul, drunk highly potent moonshine with  Iranian mechanics (a crime punishable by hanging), shared ice cream with some orphans on a roundabout in  in Mashad before being invited to stay the night in their orphanage, been interviewed by Barnaul City newspaper (and possibly some Russian womens' lifestyle magazine as well) and witnessed a total solar eclipse at the tope of a mountain in Mongolia.  read more »

P166: So. Despite the Shogun holding up pretty good, we had our second taste of mechanical trouble a couple of days ago whilst driving out of Turkmenistan. A very strong smell of petrol in the car and after checking the pipes and having a look round the engine bay couldn't work out what was wrong.

Until we came to fill up and noticed the fuel overflow pipe dangling precariously whilst emitting vast amounts of fuel vapour into the car. Thankfully varnish bunged it up before I passed out at the wheel; the fumes stopped, and we continued in peace.  read more »

P 43: Had our first taste of mechanical problems in the middle of the Iranian desert yesterday with the car struggling to get into 3rd and 4th gear. After taking a look we found the top throttle cable loose but couldn't work out why it wouldn't return and tighten up. With the next major town 600km away we were faced with driving all the way there at 35mph!

However, we stopped at a couple of garages but no one could figure it out. As the motorway called through a small town with literally 1km of garages we decided to try one last garage. After being turned away we'd given up all hope, until 2 chaps on a moped sped up and insisted we drive to their garage.  read more »

6 days 10 countries, 2 continents and near 3000 miles later, we prepare to enter iran.

So then. We've finally made it to sunny Istanbul after the dismal rain and thunderstorms of Eastern Europe. After setting off from Southern Romania yesterday we drove through Bulgaria and aimed to make it onto Istanbul by the evening. Until Varnish noticed a small country road near the Turkish border, which lead from Bulgaria into Greece and then into Turkey.  read more »