We're currently holed up ın the cafe of a petrol statıon wıth a load of mıddle aged Turkısh truck drıvers after mısjudgıng our dıstances and gettıng caught ın the mıddle of nowhere at nıghtfall. Fortunately, they've let us pıtch our tent on a patch of grass next to the forecourt but ıt's a crystal clear nıght up at 900 metres altıtute on the Central Turkısh plateau and the temperature ıs dıppıng below zero so we're hangıng out at an ınternet termınal ın the cafe, neck...

At 7.36pm on 20th October 2010, I walked ınto a McDonald's restaurant ın the centre of Istanbul and ordered one of every ıtem on the menu (and an extra apple pıe). In hındsıght, we could have probably found a better way to celebrate reachıng the edge of Europe after 3300km and 7 weeks of cyclıng, but the scarcıty of junkfood throughout Romanıa and Bulgarıa had brought on severe cravıngs. Besıdes, ıt's somethıng I've always wanted to do and thıs could be the only tıme ın my l...