Day 8 | 07.05.2016: Stories from 8 Days on the Allgäu-Orient-Rallye

Our three cars are rolling, on Saturday, for the 8th time. What have we experienced so far? What has stayed with us? In this blog I’m writing about experiences we haven’t dedicated a separate post to, but that I still want to share. From now on we’ll publish these little stories right after our daily blog. The ones from the past week I’ve summarised below.

Our VW Passat (Rösli) ended its journey early. She had to be retired even before the official rally start. That left us with the question we had to ask ourselves: what will we do with her? Well, she’s since made it back to Switzerland, to one of our team members. The broken parts will be replaced. After that she’ll occasionally be spotted on Swiss roads. We’re not just letting her go.

• On Wednesday, Wilma had a flat tyre. For the first time. The rim had taken a knock and was damaged. No problem. The wheel was changed in 10 minutes.

• We stop along our route and eat a proper Turkish doner plate. Also for the first time. It tastes different from the ones we know back home in Switzerland. Whether better or not so good is a matter of opinion.

• From Friday to Saturday we slept in our cars. Not for the first time. Not for the last time. There’s just barely enough room to turn over. Surprisingly comfortable nonetheless.

• The hospitable Turks often invite us in for tea. Chai — black tea, with sugar if you like — is drunk here roughly as often as it rains in Great Britain.

• We don’t only drink tea with the hospitable locals; we also share a cup with police officers, mechanics, and a petrol station attendant. The probability of someone offering you tea here is about the same as the chance of rain in London.