Turkey @ 13,110km

Now we start our flying visit through Turkey - roughly 900km north to south.

Turkey has such rich and varied religious, cultural and political history. All these influences are reflected in the architecture throughout the country with so many churches, mosques, castles, citadels and Neolithic sites as places of interest on our route. Even the smallest of towns can offer architectural and archaeological treasures worthy of a visit but as there are literally thousands, it seems unfair to single any out for special mention.

We begin this stage of our relay in the high plateau region of the Kars province which historically has had strong cultural influences from both Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Kars is noted as a trade centre for livestock and is also famous for its cheese, wool goods, carpets and felts.

We soon reach Horasan in the Erzurum province and continue on to the Bingol region. We’re still in quite mountainous land. It is said the name means “a thousand lakes” and you will see glacial lakes, thermal pools and the area is generally growing as ski resort tourist destination. This region has experienced earthquakes – a severe one of 6.4 magnitude hit in 2003.

We next cross the Tigris as it flows to empty into the Persian Gulf. Together with the Euphrates, these two great rivers marked historic Mesopotamia. The river is heavily dammed which not only helps irrigation of arid land but also prevents flooding when the melt-waters start to flow. It remains an important trade, agricultural and industrial natural resource for the country.

Is it just me or is it getting hot ?

Well - it’s definitely warming up now as we move into the more Mediterranean - type climate and by the time we reach Sanliurfa – often just called Urfa, the heat is really on. April/May daytime averages are 23-29 degrees and the temperature doesn’t drop much below 11 degrees at night.

We’re coming to the end of this stage of our journey as we travel through Sanliurfa. There is evidence of settlements in this area dating back to Neolithic times 11,000 years ago and a life-size limestone carving known as “Urfa Man” was unearthed here.

The town of Suruc is where we say farewell to Turkey and hop over the border into Syria for the next stage on COGH Relay (and our voyage of discovery).