To everyone who’s been following us on our journey – thank you so much for all your support. This is a really quick post to say that we’ve made it back home in one piece and will start the mammoth job of editing all our material and start posting more…
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Once more we are travelling west along the North Anatolian Fault, and our destination is the Mudurnu valley- a beautiful, peaceful landscape of mist-filled mountains and serene lakes and valleys created by the fault line. En route we stop off in Bolu. In the main street we are somewhat surprised…
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What is becoming apparent to us as we travel further east along the North Anatolian Fault is the sheer scale of the area and number of people affected by it’s presence. We have driven for days across an expansive and much changing landscape, and whilst the urban connubations are few…
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We all know that travel broadens the mind, and on the whole is jolly good fun. But there are always one or two little niggles along the way. Instead of therapy we thought we’d share them with you here. Big maps and small maps. Big maps have lots of detail,…
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We expected the huge mountain ranges and the wide open spaces in this part of Turkey, but what we didn’t reckon on was just how much agriculture would play a part here. This is a much greener and less arid part of turkey than further east, and it is a…
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The weather is suitably broody as we head in a loop south from Erzincan, where we reach the Karliova triple junction – an area of unprecedented seismic activity where the Anatolian, Eurasian and Arabian tectonic plates meet. Many of the small rural villages in this area have experienced large earthquakes…
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Following the North Anatolian fault westwards, in line with the series of earthquakes that are slowly moving in the same direction, we stopped at the city of Erzincan. Sitting firmly on the fault line, in 1939 Erzincan experienced seven tremors, the largest of which measured 8.2m on the Richter scale…
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We’ve decided to take advantage of being so far east and drive a little further north towards Armenia and Georgia, into the spectacular Kackar mountains. This area once belonged to the Kingdom of Georgia so it feels quite different from the rest of Turkey. Map reading can be a bit…
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Hurtling towards Iran and we’ve been keeping a steady eye on Ahmadinejad’s antics. Unfortunately in the past few weeks his inappropriate comments at the UN and the ongoing nuclear debate mean British-Iranian relations are at a pretty all time low. The official FCO policy is that it’s fine to go…
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In a change from our usual programme, here’s the lowdown on some of the things that are making our day on our trip. Slippers and Socks. It may sound obvious, but on a trip like this you miss your home comforts. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything especially luxurious, but rather…
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We’ve made it down to the surreal, Dali-esque region of Cappadocia in central Turkey. Whilst this involves a significant detour off the North Anatolian fault, we decided to come here because it provides yet another fascinating example of how earthquakes can shape people’s lives and profoundly effect the local geography….
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The defining force behind the next leg of our journey is the massive North Anatolian fault. Scientists have identified a pattern of earthquakes starting in 1939 moving from the most Easterly point of the fault, West towards Istanbul. Our destination is the Karliova Triple Junction – not a BK meal…
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We’ve finally reached Istanbul – the beautiful city which is scarily close to the North Anatolian fault line. This is one of the most active fault lines in the world – Turkey occupying a small tectonic plate that is being squeezed westwards as the Arabian and Eurasian plates move together….
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It is well known that education pays back significantly when it comes to mitigating earthquake risk. We’ve been told on numerous occasions that ‘earthquakes don’t kill, panic does’. It is not an exaggeration to say that many lives can be saved if people know the correct procedures to follow. The…
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Greece is the most seismically active country in Europe, experiencing thousands of earthquakes a year (the vast majority extremely mild) so it was always going to be interesting to talk to locals in Athens about how earthquakes affect their life, especially as the city experienced a serious earthquake in 1981….
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One of the things we’ve been surprised to learn is the growing trend for holding scientists accountable for predicting natural events, particularly earthquakes. It is well known that it is impossible to predict earthquakes, yet a growing number of scientists and technicians have come under attack in recent years for…
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Our aim has always been to drive as close to fault lines as possible. Little did we really appreciate at the time that this would guarantee us such a spectacular journey. Fault lines often manifest themselves as beautiful mountains ranges or calm valleys, creating an enticing environment in which to…
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Earthquake geologists like Ioannis are constantly on the look out for evidence of old earthquakes. That way they can better understand the behaviour of fault lines over long periods of time. Mostly they find clues in the rocks themselves but sometimes the clues are more dramatic like here at Kechriai,…
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We’re in Kalamata to find out about life in the town, which was hit on 13th September 1986 by an earthquake of nearly 6.6 magnitude. Although 28 people lost their lives, in the long term the town made a hugely successful comeback from tragedy. Kalamata is the second biggest town…
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When we first began researching the trip we spoke to Dr Ioannis Papanikolaou, a Greek earthquake geologist, telling him we wanted to find out about any possible benefits of fault lines. His answer was immediate… when you come to Greece you’ll see. And driving from Nafpaktos to Athens we did….
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So it’s good bye to Iceland. We loved it there. It feels like the end of the earth end in a good way. It’s wild, remote and the people are all amazing. They have a very different outlook on life – one that we were somewhat envious of. Since then…
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Today we pointed Lottie’s nose north and cruised up the stunning Danish coastline towards the town of Klitmoller – otherwise known as Europe’s windsurfing mecca. It was all we could do to stop Lottie becoming airborne. After some supremely imaginative re-packing, Lottie now drives like a dream (rather than a…
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