Day 14

After a less than perfect night's sleep thanks to lots of wild dogs howling for much of the night we braved the outer ring road of Istanbul to try and find the only Land Rover dealer in Turkey.

After stopping at a very helpful petrol station we found the correct place and immediately felt out of place in our shorts and T-shirts. The dealership did not have any dealings with the Defender model (only the top end models) but was able to provide oil and fuel filters and fuel centrifuge.

We set off towards a campsite about 60km to the east of Istanbul intending to leave the Baja at a local expert to get the oil leak properly sorted, but as we headed down the slip road onto the motorway a call came over the radio to say it's engine had cut out. With nowhere for the other two vehicles to pull over we were forced to drive on and leave them to fend for themselves.

We continued to the campsite which has to be the best location so far - right on the Black sea with a sandy beach and it's own swiming pool. The only thing wrong is there is no hot water in the showers.

Some routine checks were done on the vehicles, including the brake pads on the defender, which was probably just in time as one of the rear pads was so worn it would have been metal on metal within the next 100km.

Received a text from team Baja to say they had got help with their engine problem and with the oil leak, and also got the engine running smoother. They had decided to stay in a hotel after another trying day.

Tomorrow we are getting a taxi back into Istanbul so we can actually see some of the sights instead of the motorways.