OK ! So its been a while........but it's a busy life on the road, drinking, eating and of course riding!

Last you heard we were on the ferry to Greece. Well, we arrived after meeting a few locals on the boat and some good recommendations, we decided to stop for a cup of coffee and a spot of breakfast - coffee and a apple pastry. Yes, Noel I will never mention your poor choice of coffee and 2 cherry patries again.

Ed had heard about a town called Metsovo, it was not too far away, and we were curious, so off we set. The weather wasn't too bad, if a bit windy, and the relatively new greek roads weren't too bad, except exiting the tunnels onto mountain bridges was, if not, a little hair raising. En route we side lined to the town of Ioninia for another coffee, where Ed's bike decided it didn't like the side stand and promptly fell over, in front of a large crowd of old locals. All of whom were only too pleased to give us their evaluation of what to do next - his gear lever had bent and whilst straightening it, we managed to emass a few more locals input. But fear not, all was well, the gears worked fine and with the quick help of a local motorbike mechanic we were on our way again, next stop Metsovo !

The road up to this surprising little town took us via a short winding mountain road, but with the high winds became a little more hair raising. Ed decided to go on ahead as he knew I wasn't very good with heights whilst I waited in a slightly more sheltered spot. After a while there was a lull and with no sign of Ed I decided to go for it, only to be stopped with a full gust on an exposed edge of the road. Finally, Ed re-appeared only to find me on the opposite side of the road holding onto my bike for dear life to prevent it from being blown over. 'Round this corner' he shouted, 'its fine!' ! So I managed to get around the next corner where we descended into this alpine style town, which turned out to be a ski resort in the winter. And here we stayed for 2 nights, the weather worsened and a storm hit, snow appeared on the surrounding mountain tops and it was with this we decided we had to leave on the second day. Our host there made us feel incredibly welcome but the weather was not going to get any better. By the time we had packed up the bikes there was a hail storm, but as quickly as it had come, it went.

Next stop Meteora !

What an amazing place, some will know one of the monasteries, perched high on this volcanic outcrop from a James Bond film - can't exactly remember which. But the weather was warmer and sunnier........

The next few days were pretty uneventful as we worked our way to the Turkish border, except to say there was more rain and yet another storm.

Finally Turkey, once again the weather was warmer not sunnier but at least it was dry. Now, there seems to be not logic to this border crossing and some would say there isn't any to any border they have crossed. But after about an hour and meeting up with some british truck drivers who were transporting vaccines across europe, we were once again on our way..........to really bad roads and guess what, another storm. Our target for Tekirdag by the end of the day and possible sheltered parking for the bikes was over, a truck stop hotel was pretty much it for the night. This was our first introduction to Turkey, not a pleasant one, but the hospitality was fantastic, the bikes were safe and we were both in one piece.

The decision was then made to not head to the old capital of Istanbul but to head south to Gallipoli and visit the WWI site of the famous battle, the sun was finally shining. Incredible place, much larger than either of us had expected and very interesting, plus a local guide who took an interest in our bikes also recommended a place to stay. So it here at Enceabat we were met by a strange man called Paulie, local turk who spoke very good english if not with an aussie/scottish accent, who owned 'The Crowded House' hotel - actually more like an aussie themed hostel. But there was hot shower, comfortable beds and a cold beer for me and a non-alcoholic drink for Ed - and no I haven't driven him to alcohol just yet.

The following morning, complete with a slight hangover, we decided to head to the smaller, quicker, cheaper ferry across the Dardanelles and on to Troy. Problem, the wind was incredibly strong and it made the going very slow and even more hair raising than our trip to Metsovo. But we made it and I have to say Troy wasn't that amazing - and no Brad Pitt wasn't there ! By this time the wind had died slightly and we made it to a small seaside resort of Oren, after spending 30 minutes following a japanese tourist bus just to see where they were staying the night, but we soon figured too far away and the light was fading.

It didn't seem like a great little town but we went in search of a cheap little restaurant and we definitely found one. Once again turkish hospitality shined on us and the owners of Ali Baba restaurant welcomed us and cooked us a fantastic meal. Now Oren is a popular holiday destination for german tourists so our severe lack of linguistic skills when it came to turkish was saved by Ed ability to speak some german. And it was here Ed was given a little notebook and his first lesson in turkish, it was great fun.

Now we are in a town called Selcuk and staying in another aussie/kiwi hostel - ANZ - as recommended to us by Paulie. Once again the bikes are safe, the owners fed and watered. Tomorrow we are off to visit the famous site of Ephesus and then onto Pamukkale, which is the site of unique white terraced pools - maybe it will do our back s some good.

So for now, if you are still awake - I shouldn't be.........long day ahead !!