12 June — the report from Day 26.

Naturally I did not sleep a wink last night.

From the start in Peking to today, trouble beyond counting has hit us, and every time we got through it by something like a miracle.

But the broken ring gear we found yesterday
is nothing like the problems before it.

There is no replacement part for this piece of a hundred-year-old car, and repair is impossible.
There is nothing left but to believe in a miracle.

Even so, we said goodbye and thank you to the Georgian workshop who had gathered for us until late.

We want to cross into Turkey — saying “we are going to that finish” with a drawing

All we could do was watch the convoy leave for the Turkish border in the morning.

To make up the ground we would have to hand over from the Azerbaijani side to a Turkish contact, redo the border formalities and arrange another transporter.
But even explaining the situation to them was hard work.
There was nothing for it but to draw pictures and insist, desperately, that we were getting to Turkey.

In my head the worst case would not stop playing: what if the ring gear cannot be found?

Reaching the finish on a transporter would not be a rally at all, only being moved. And what about the vast cost?
The feeling of that day when I swore to get to Paris under my own power, past every difficulty, was churning away inside me.

Frantic hunting for information, and negotiating through the night

Until the middle of the night I worked through entrants’ contacts, asking for help through the translation app.

Unable to speak English, I was giving absolutely everything I had.
I contacted the English workshop again to ask whether there was any way besides the drawings, and the answer was that they could not help.

In that case — take the great heavy gear to England myself and argue it out face to face?
No. Not one part of that is simple either.

Arranging flights; and even with the gear removed, there is no guarantee customs would pass an object that size.
The clock down to ten days.

I was angry — a feeling with nowhere to go — and I typed until my fingers hurt, going on and on contacting people, past the limit in body and mind.

And then word came from a Turkish entrant that we could be introduced to a motor club across the border.

But he was in the middle of the rally too and hard to reach.
Impatience and anxiety and something like despair came flooding in, and I found myself asking why on earth I was going to these lengths.

And the answer was simple.

I have worked this hard because I want to see that finish. I even put my cancer treatment on hold for this challenge.

I have come this far because I found something I wanted to stake my life on.
So I will not give up. I settled that in my mind and set off for the border on a transporter.

Into Turkey — and a new ordeal in the transporter’s puncture

We finally got aboard and set off from Georgia for the Turkish border. Shaken about in the cab, I went on desperately working the phone and the translation app until I thought my neck would break.

Just as I was thinking Turkey was close, an ear-splitting bang: the transporter had a puncture.
This is what it means for nothing whatsoever to go your way.

Right then — we will fix a truck puncture too.

Three hours of wrestling with it, and then another transporter to arrange.
By the time we crossed into Turkey, dusk was closing in.
Turkish young people, and a faint calm

At a petrol station we reached late at night, we got hold of crisps and juice.

I was starving, and those crisps were the finest thing imaginable.
Young people had gathered there, fascinated by the unusual car and by us.

I handed out the cards I carry instead of business cards, and they were delighted and all followed me on Instagram.
I never expected to make friends in Turkey like this, but forcing a smile out of a heart close to its limit lightened it a little.

Saved by people again, here too.
Turkey — and a new wall in the way

We managed to fix a meeting with the motor club for the morning.
Having something to do and something arranged saved me from standing still and brooding.

And another problem I must solve while in Turkey came into view.

It was religious observance — a wall I had never thought about.
Our time in Turkey is limited. So are the days to the finish.

If the part is not found in that time, there is nothing but to rely on a transporter again and cross the next border.

Whatever it takes.
To reach that finish, I have to pull a miracle towards me.

With another ordeal waiting, I am about to meet the next day without sleeping.
Even so, while this journey continues, I keep going.

Continued in Day 27 …