Day 14 | 13.05.2016: A Turkish lesson for Berta and Wilma

It feels as though the flat tyre and Vroni’s accident were at least half a lifetime ago. The shock, the worries and also the fears. All gone, vanished into the experiences of the past few days. Instead, once again on the road heading towards a school in the Turkish hinterland, on dirt roads riddled with potholes — hundreds of them lie in the way. Some drivers swerve around them, others less so, and everyone surely misses one every now and then. So from the asphalted road with potholes, we moved onto a dirt road with potholes. To save time and avoid risking a flat tyre, we swerve around them today. But life has no shortcuts. The Allgäu-Orient Rallye certainly doesn’t. It is one long detour, around 8,000 kilometres from Germany to Turkey, to Georgia and back to Turkey again. And sometimes the road is softened by rain, as now. Some time before the other rally teams arrive, Wilma gets stuck in the mud — precisely because she swerved around a pothole and slid off the road’s edge. Wilma bogged down, impossible to drive on. But this Friday, the 13th of May, had another irony in store: 20 metres ahead of Wilma, Berta suffers the exact same mishap, at the same time. Vroni is unable to pull the two vehicles free. Cars slowly queue up behind them — locals and other rally teams. Those wanting to pass are stuck. But then: a Turkish man organises a tractor for us, one of countless helpful Turkish people we have met.

We attach the rope to the tractor, it pulls us free. Wonderful.

What else we experienced:

• We visited the school mentioned and donated supplies. We’ll write about that at a later point.

• We spent the night from Friday to Saturday in a hotel. A proper shower at last. The hotel staff washed our clothes. Thanks to the Wi-Fi, we were able to sort out the backlog on our homepage.

• In the evening we visited a Turkish barber. Everyone entrusted themselves to him. For haircuts, to fix the self-inflicted hair jobs, to trim beards. A superb experience! With straight razors, hot wax, fire and a little massage. And naturally, tea.