After doing Greece I drove to Kosovo. It took some time and the day after when I was suppose to climb one of the mountains there it just didn´t feel right. So I decided to not do it and drove to Turkey instead. Just a small drive of 12 hours…

As a Swede travelling in Europe the borders have been very open. Not until eastern Europe there has even been any border controls. But to get in to Turkey the control was pretty hard. I had to open my trunk and they searched my car. I had to pass I think 4 different controls. And the attitude was tougher all over.

When I arrived it was dark and my gps sent me on a really bad gravel road leading to nowhere. So I had to drive to a hotel in the middle of the night to get some sleep and try again the next day. This time my gps sent me to another really bad gravel road and I ended up hiking for an hour in the middle of nowhere. It was in the area but it was not right. So I went back to the car and put google maps in satellite mode and found a way up to the military base that´s on the top. I started driving it and as you can see there was a lot of fog. After a while there was this sign saying that entrance was forbidden. I stopped and took a picture of it. Then I kept driving. Another sign came and a fence. I stopped once again to take a picture but this was the last picture I dared to take. I drove all the way up, sat my foot outside the car and turned back again. Maybe it was the long drive and no sleep that made me a chicken? But it was not my best day. After being on the road for a while eating every meal from a gas station. Just coming from the misery in Kosovo. I had a few really bad days. I felt alone, weak and sad. But it was going to get worse.

I left Turkey and drove to Bulgaria to climb Musala next. Another long drive all by myself.

Mountain no 16