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Persembe - Erzurum
E.Route : Persembe - Erzurum : ETD 0505 : ETA 1705 : Dist 342m.
A.Route : Persembe - Erzurum : ATD 0550 : ATA 2255 : Dist 338m.
- Depart Persembe 0550
- 0755 - O801 Crew change, bogstop
- 0859 - 0956 Swim-stop
- 1015 - 1032 Stop past Trabzon
- 1040 - 1135 Conference stop ( Trabzon )
- 1300 - 1353 Lunch stop
- 1553 - 1601 Fuel and crew change
- 1900 - 2010 Evening meal and conference
- Arrive Erzurum 2255
Est.A.Spd : 28.5mph : Gross A.Spd. 19.70mph. : Net.A.Spd. 26.00mph.
Stop time : 4:06 hr : Speedo TD 6250.4 : Speedo TA 6580.3
Comment : Noisy end to the convoy system ( hence the long delays in and round Trabzon ) and the longest day's travel so far. Also in the stone-throwing belt, an unfortunate position at an average speed of 26 mph.
Jim Lindsay's diary:
A low day with a lot of arguments. The previous night had been grim, with torrential rain flooding out some tents,
and the rumoured cholera had now been joined by smallpox. Some members insisted that they would not carry on unless
it was genuinely safe. In this sort of atmosphere we now had a long day of travel over mountain passes where people
liked to throw things at travellers.
Some contingents were actually bogged down in the overnight mud and others were delayed for medical reasons, so the
convoy system really ended at this stage, and from now on we tended to travel alone or with buddy contingents. This
day we went on with Cardiff and Leicester despite Greg trying to get us all to stop overnight in Trabzon. Some
coaches were still stuck in Persembe, others opted to stay in Trabzon, and Oxford had not been seen since Istanbul.
The tortuous Zigana pass was bad enough in itself but it also had a population of bored little goatherds. Waving to
them was always good policy. Some were content just to flash at us but others threw stones no matter how frantic the
waving. We noticed that almost all the local trucks had broken windscreens, so this was evidently normal behaviour
and not xenophobia. One enterprising boy offered apricots for sale at the top of a series of winding turns, and if
people drove on without buying, he punished them by rolling rocks down on them when they got to a lower level. When
the main convoy came through the following day, it was a real shooting gallery and one contingent had a direct hit
from a large boulder rolled from high on the hillside and straight through the open door.
Our destination that night, Atatürk University in Erzurum, was bleak and stony but at least there were sheltered
walkways to lay down the groundsheets, and the facilities were adequate until everyone else arrived. There was an
incident involving some of our prized corned beef reserve being eaten in the small hours. This was instigated by
one person who had slept through the official meal, and had all sorts of political ramifications in the following
days.
