So, after a week of looking at the options for staying in Scotland I decided I needed to keep to my path and my plan, so I hopped back on my bike and headed east, a quick stop in Switzerland for a few days and then once again the long ferry journey from Venice to Greece.

I landed in Iguomenitsa on the north east coast with a German biker called Christian. We'd met on the ferry and clicked almost instantly, talking about so many subjects wide and varied subjects from communism, global warming, western lifestyle, religion, possible world solutions and such, sleeping on wild beaches and broken headlands. Then one day while riding for the port in Athens I had my visor up, much to Christians anoyance and something stung me slap in the middle of my face, God knows what, but boy did it hurt. Had to stop, pull out the offending sting and ride on in quite considerable pain.We kept riding and arrived late at night in Athens and and slept on the port in waiting for the ferry to Chios Island and onto to Cesme in Turkey the next day. However when I awoke the morning my face had other ideas for travel my eyes had started to shut from the sting and I looked like a clihgon from star trek! I thought about a tip to the doctor but just nipped to the pharmacy and ttook some antihystamines. We did manage to grab the ferry to Chios, but by then my eyes were almost closed and after a night camping on the beach I awoke with both eyes closed and a trip to the hospital in Chios was inevitable. I was put on a cortisone drip and left for 2 hours to recover. A little better I left, slept the night on a beach but over the night my heart started racing like a train and in the morning I feltt like death and another trip to the hospital and another drip and an overnight stay. Apparently the cortizone lowers the blood pressure and increases the heart rate and mine was dangerously low and dangerously fast. I wish they had told me that before they gave me it!
Once out of hospital I was on my own again, Christian had to leave the day before as he had only a short time away from work. So I caught the tiny ferry to Cesme in Turkey and rode the mediteranean coast to a huge gorge near fethiye where I spent a couple of dats recovering in a treehouse camp. Very touristy but what I needed after two days in hospital.

I stayed ten days or so in Turkey, sleeping rough in the mountains and riding dirt tracks through mountain villaes with chickens and hens and kids shouting and waving from windows. I kept heading east as I was aware that by now things were tgetting cold in central Turkey and near the Iranian border almost down to freezing at night. I stopped for a few days in Capadoccia which is like no place Ive ever seen. Its truly amazing. Think of the star wars landscapes and youve got it. Its too hard to describe, but imagine caves cut into rock formations that are from another planet and youre not far off. Its easiest for me to post the pictures.

While I was in Goreme in Capadocia I started to hear mixed reports of the declining situation in Pakistan. Apparently the goverment was becoming unstable, diplomats children were being sent home and armed escorts were being used on the roads. Now, this didnt dsound good to me, on a bike and having to ride Taftan quetta road near the Afgan border. After checking the foreign office website which confirmed my fears, but then it always does, and with the bombing of the marriott hotel and other overlanders turning back I started to think it might be wise to do the same. For me riding alone across Pakistan started to feel like too much of a liability.

So, after much deliberation and research I decided to come back to the uk and look at my options which is where I am now. Im pleased I decided not to ride across Pakistan and Iran, but I would have liked to have made it at least to India with my bike. So for the last few days Ive been researching what to do back at Lothlorien and the conclusion is to store my bike here as its finacially not feasible for me to ship it to India and I dont have the time ior space to organise freighting and Im flying to India tommorrow (only option thats really viable) and hiring or buying an old Royal Enfield Motorcycle to ride round India and continue this trip. As to whether I can continue on from there I dont know. Its hard to ship Indian bikes out of India now but I will look into the situation as it emerges. For now Im just going to concentrate on riding around India and allow things to develop from there. I may have to do a Charlie Boorman and travel by whatever means possible. So on Friday I will be in Dharamsala and from there I will keep you all posted. Many blessings to you all. Jonny