We’re in the slightly sad position of having decided that the countries ahead interest us more than the majority of Turkey. So we settled on a day off in Istanbul (by “off,” I mean we only covered 120 miles) but, for the rest, we’re rushing it.

It was lovely to be back in the city – it’s where Louise and I went on honey moon 3 1/2 years ago, in mid summer, and is the first city we’ve been through with which we are in any way familiar.

Last night we stayed in a small camping lot at the back of a 4 star hotel near Ankara. Being out of season, all the dedicated camping facilities are out of use, so we were instead allowed to use the hotel toilets, showers, lobby and so on. Very luxurious (this post is brought to you from the hotel toilets, currently in use as a dish-washing room). It was, however, our coldest night yet, and hopefully the coldest on the trip – with 6 inches of lying snow, all our water was frozen in the morning.

This evening we should be a long way south, on the Mediterranean coast (nearly 1000m altitude here) and at the Syrian border, ready to cross tomorrow morning if all goes well.

To be honest, we’re all struggling to cope with Kester’s inert coolness.