TURKEY
I
n the hope of becoming the
youngest person to circum-
navigate the world solo and
unsupported, I left England
in August last year to ride my
little Honda CRF250L motor-
cycle around the world, at 21 years
old!
Sat in the comfort of my home in
London less than a year ago I never
imagined I’d end up here … 10 kms
from the Iraqi border just outside of
Silopi …
I’ve just been turned away by the
Turkish military and was told I could
go no further, and to be honest I’m
still not quite sure why …
It was a very last minute decision
to head down this way, and because
my Turkish visa is about to expire I
thought I could exit Turkey and cross
into Iraq and then onto Iran and con-
tinue my journey east. I was warned
yesterday that the border might still
be closed as its apparently been shut
since September last year and was
also told that you can no longer cross
with your own vehicle, but I’ve suc-
cessfully passed through every single
one of the 14 military checkpoints
through this region so far today so
thought I’d try my luck … sadly I was
turned away.
TRAVERSE 61